Review: LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER (Penguin Group 2007)
Author, Stewart O'Nan
Maybe it's just because I'm a former waitress, but I found LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER to be a particularly appealing little novel. At 146 pages, it might even qualify as a novella (you don't see many of those these days).
It's about a guy named Manny DeLeon, the manager of a Red Lobster tucked in a corner of the parking lot for a New Britain, Conn., mall. It's a snowy night, a few days before Christmas. It's also the last night that this Red Lobster will be in business.
Apparently, they're not doing as well as they should. So corporate is shutting them down and keeping Manny and a few others on to work at a nearby Olive Garden, where Manny will be demoted to assistant manager. But that's not the only thing on Manny's mind.
There's also his pregnant girlfriend, Deena--the one he's not sure he wants to stay with--and his not-so-secret fling with Jacquie, a waitress at the Lobster (the relationship's over when the story begins, but not gone from Manny's thoughts). Let's just say Manny's got a lot on his mind this particular snowy winter night.
Along with his sense of loss about the Lobster closing (Manny revisits memories of old times, even as he goes around, robotically preparing the restaurant for its final day of business), he feels anguished and guilty about the people he won't be able to take with him to the Olive Garden. Not to mention the gift he still has to buy for Deena, which he'd rather get for Jacquie. But that's all over . . .
This concisely written gem by Stewart O'Nan manages to perfectly capture the feeling of working in the restaurant business (in down and dirty detail), convey the chilly ambiance of New England in winter and tell a story about imperfect people trying to get along and go along in an imperfect world.
The story works on so many levels--from the detailed descriptions of how Manny clears snow from the walk to the empty feeling of corporate indifference Manny is left with at the end of the day (or even the beginning of this one).
The story also has the most vivid and colorful characters--people you'd recognize if you've ever worked in a restaurant. For me it was like, "I know these people. I've worked with them!" And the events of this particular night also work at many levels--funny, poignant, even semi-tragic. And O'Nan manages to do this in a mere 146 pages. That's amazing in itself.
And lest you think Manny is a jerk for having two girlfriends--just read the story. You'll see he's anything but. (Okay, he's not perfect. But he's actually a pretty nice guy.)
Manny may have his flaws (separation anxiety apparently being one of them--he seems almost obsessively concerned with the fate of a decorative marlin hanging on the wall), but in the end, he's just a guy trying to do the right thing. Whatever that is.
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