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    Last Night at the Lobster
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    Last Night at the Lobster
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    Last Night at the Lobster
    Ebook133 pages2 hours

    Last Night at the Lobster

    By Stewart O'Nan

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    'A book that embodies what's best in us.' - Stephen King

    Washington Post Best Book of the Year,2017
    San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, 2017
    Entertainment Weekly Best Book of the Year,2017

    The Red Lobster chain restaurant perched in the far corner of a run-down American mall hasn't been making its numbers and has pulled the plug. But manager Manny DeLeon still needs to navigate a tricky last shift with a near-mutinous staff and the final onslaught of hungry retirees, lunatics, and office parties.

    All the while, Manny wondering how to handle the waitress he's still in love with, what to do about his pregnant girlfriend, and how to find the Christmas present that will make everything better.

    Stewart O'Nan has been called 'the bard of the working class', and Last Night at the Lobster is a American cult classic and a masterpiece of precision and empathy.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAllen & Unwin
    Release dateApr 6, 2017
    ISBN9781952535208
    Unavailable
    Last Night at the Lobster
    Author

    Stewart O'Nan

    Stewart O’Nan’s award-winning fiction includes Snow Angels, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Emily, Alone. His novel The Odds was hailed by The Boston Globe as “a gorgeous fable, a stunning meditation and a hope-filled Valentine.” Granta named him one of America’s Best Young Novelists. He was born and raised and lives in Pittsburgh. 

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    Reviews for Last Night at the Lobster

    4/5

    580 ratings81 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Corporate headquarters has pulled the plug. It’s four days before Christmas, and it’s Manny’s last shift as manager of the Red Lobster. He’ll have to contend with snow, cranky holiday shoppers, staff who may or may not come to work, and carving out time to shop for a gift for his pregnant girlfriend — all the while dealing with his own emotions about the waitress he’s still in love with. This melancholy slice-of-life story strikes me as realistic and well-written. There are no big surprises in terms of plot, but by the end you find you care about these characters and their drama. If this sounds like the sort of book you enjoy, I’d recommend it.
    • 4/5
      Lisa at Lit and Life recommended this short novel about a Red Lobster restaurant in a Maine mall on its last night of business. The last shift sees a motley crew present (many have already found work elsewhere), and a blizzard that keeps away the supper trade.It’s character-driven, but there’s not a lot of time for character development. Again, I was mildly disappointed.3½ stars
    • 5/5
      Amazing characters and writing. I felt like I was in the story and knew these people. Wonderful book and a quick read.
    • 5/5
      Manny is the manager of a rundown Red Lobster in New England. He comes to work at 11:00 A.M. on Dec. 22 just like he always does, ready to do the best job he can at his Lobster. It's a Saturday, always the busiest day of the week and he wonders who will show up for work that day. In 12 hours the restaurant will close. Not for that day like all the other Saturdays through the years, but for the last time. In just 12 hours the restaurant will no longer exist and the employees will no longer exist either. The book begins with Manny driving into the parking lot and it ends with Manny being the last to drive out. In between O'Nan doesn't make one misstep. His characters are genuine and the setting is one that I can see, smell and hear. It turns out to be a bad weather day with a snowstorm driving customers home. Since only a few come in the employees have time to talk. We learn about a shattered romance, about silly rivalries, about good intentions, about loyalty. Some characters have painful shortcomings and some have survival skills. Manny is a sterling guy just hoping he can figure out how to talk to the waitress that doesn't want him no matter how much he loves her and what to do about his pregnant girlfriend he's not sure he wants to marry. The story is touching because we know these people and wish they weren't caught up in this storm.
    • 4/5
      It's just a few days before Christmas, but there's no holiday cheer at the Red Lobster restaurant in New Britain, Connecticut. The corporate overlords have decided to close down the underperforming eatery, and it's left to Manny to make sure his rapidly dwindling staff keeps up standards on this last day of operations. To make matters worse, a snowstorm is moving in, making travel hazardous and giving both staff and customers even less incentive to go above and beyond. O'Nan has written a book that is almost claustrophobic in its deceptive simplicity, with the entire narrative other than one scene set within the restaurant's walls. The manger, Manny, is imbued with a sad, quiet dignity that is complicated by his hopeless romantic entanglement with one of his employees. Most of his staff has already checked out mentally, but Manny can't keep himself from doing everything by the book and giving the few customers who show up a quality dining experience. He's anxious that everyone should walk away from this last night at the Lobster with good memories, an impossible task under the circumstances but noble even in its impossibility. On a more superficial note, the glimpse "behind the curtain" of how a chain restaurant operates was also fascinating to me. I cringed in sympathetic horror as Manny and his staff tried to cope with a pint-sized terrorist, an unexpected large office party, and the elderly lunchtime regular who has no idea that his daily refuge is being yanked out from beneath his feet.
    • 3/5
      Short. Good bits, boring bits, confusing bits, and a few not-quite-realistic bits. If you've worked in a restaurant, or retail or service, you might like it. I've been a cashier and a CSR so I kinda empathized.
      And I didn't expect any plot, so that lack was not a problem. But it was like the author cheated by providing us with these icons of Last Day, Red Lobster, Shopping Mall, Waitress Named Rox, Snowstorm.... Nothing was enlightening, nothing fresh was revealed or proposed. But at least I remember it well enough to add to this review, here in late March 2011 - that could be considered a plus.
    • 4/5
      Beautifully written character study. O'Nan isn't always my cup of tea, but I liked this one.
    • 3/5
      This is a little slice of life novel that takes a look at the workers and customers on the last shift of a Red Lobster restaurant. It is a look at simple working class people doing what they have to do. The restaurant is closing and only some workers show up for the last day's shift, and those who do are there pretty much for Manny, their manager. All sorts of interpersonal relationships at play, but mostly this is about Manny sorting through his life at that moment. If you have ever worked at a place like this sometime in life you will immediately recognize the atmosphere everyone is in. The author clearly has captured a bit of reality in this fiction. Good stuff.
    • 4/5
      Here the feelings and memory of Manny are told. He is the manager of the Lobster. It is the last day the restaurant is open. Some employees have a new job others are looking. Manny has hired his employees for various reasons. The harmony among themselves is not always the best and animosities escalate on this last day.I liked the story. It is subtly written and easy to read.
    • 4/5
      At first I was put off by all the detail O'Nan puts in, but that's really the point - his protagonist is a man lost in and comforted by detail, routine, checklists. And the details also make the snowstorm that ends the last night at a closing Red Lobster restaurant so real, I almost told my partner not to slip in the slush. So it became at the end a vivid, bittersweet story of real life, with all its small decisions and disappointments.,
    • 4/5
      This book is certainly not for everyone, but it certainly spoke to me. By the end of the book I felt like I had lived through it myself -- that I had worked the last day of a Red Lobster restaurnt during a snowstorm. This was my first but not last experience with this author.
    • 4/5
      The Red Lobster restaurant is closing for good. The author takies us through the last day of opertions through the eyes of Manny, the manager. He deals with problems of inventory control, staff who don't show up, bad weather and with his feelings for waitress Jacquie, with whom he is still in love although their relationship has ended. All of these problems are made more poignant by the fact of the restaurant's closure. Manny is a well developed character, who is seeking some sort of closure to his problems as his restaurant closes. But, unlike the Red Lobster, life goes on.This is a really good story about people who work together for years yet drift apart so easily when the job ends. It's about getting on with life despite major changes and transitions. It's about how much in life is only seemingly permanent and made me think about holding on to what's really important.
    • 4/5
      Quite a good novella; Manny is the manager of a Red Lobster that is on its very last shift, only 4 days prior to Christmas and during a snowstorm. One of the things I like about O'Nan's writing is how he intertwines simplicity and complexity in his characters and that happens here with Manny. The supporting characters aren't as multi-layered but they fit the story well. The other thing I enjoy about O'Nan's work is that the stories are flawed/bleak/grim/sad but also moving/touching/beautiful - and again, I see it here. I don't know that this would be impressive as a first Stewart O'Nan read -but if you've sampled him before, add this to your line-up.
    • 3/5
      As another reviewer noted, anyone who has worked in a restaurant will identify with the precisely detailed descriptions of the setting and people in this book. But, I couldn't really care much about the characters and there was little plot.
    • 5/5
      My review: This is the second O'Nan book I have read, after Snow Angels. Even though Lobster does not have a dramatic plot, it was a beautifully written novella. It is a simple story, the last night of Manny managing a Red Lobster before it closes and he is transferred to work at an Olive Garden. Lots of thing go wrong; staff that doesn't show up, a blizzard, and the loss of an old love, but he is determined to stay open and be responsible. Manny is really the only character that is delved into but the rest of the characters add some flavor. It is difficult to describe but I think this exemplifies what a good writer can do with the most simple of stories. And O'Nan is a great writer. I enjoyed this one and have Songs of the Missing on my tbr list.my rating 4.5/5
    • 4/5
      What if James Joyce lived in working class suburban New England during the second administration of George W. Bush and wrote a novel about his experience as the manager of a failing "Red Lobster"? It's like Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed" crossed with an Edward Hopper canvas - emphasizing the dignity of overlooked people in lives straddling alienation and connection.
    • 3/5
      The idea behind this just feels so slight to me. It's a good slice of life novella...but it is so small, it almost should have been condensed more to a story or blown up and really explored so much more. The way it is...it's just slight without lyrical writing to support the slight-ness.
    • 5/5
      As a native of Connecticut I am familiar with the setting of Last Night at the Lobster. So for me this story also brought me memories of my home state. O'Nan evokes the feelings of 'being there' with his beautiful descriptive passages. I could almost feel the biting wind driving the swirling snow of the early hours of the blizzard. By now you'll know that the story centers around the manager of a chain restaurant that is literally on the verge of closing. Not a glamorous job by any means, however, Manager Manny DeLeon has embraced the position and is a study is corporate loyalty. Not so his employees with whom he must deal on this closing day. The cast of characters is as complex as life itself. The reader is given much to digest in a short space but the facts are succinct and easily understood. There's Eddie the handicapped employee who arrives via van, Ty the Executive Chef, Roz the head waitress, Jacquie who was at one time Manny's lover (and whom he still thinks he loves), and several disgruntled others who will shortly be out of work. The blizzard conditions and lack of customers only deepen the clarity with which we see the behind the scenes areas of a corporate outpost. The story is original, the cast unique, the entire novel a truly wonderful read especially on a snowy day. My only question is: what happens to the lobsters in the tank?
    • 4/5
      A short, well drawn portrait of inner conflict and life behind the scenes of restaurant chains, this book was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist in 2007. Manny DeLeon is the manager of a Red Lobster restaurant chosen by upper management to be closed. He has two girl friends, one of whom is pregnant, in the process of becoming an 'ex' but whom he can't quite let go of. The Red Lobster company owns Olive Garden, and has offered Manny a position at OG as an asst manager. It's a job, but it's a demotion. He can also bring along 4 others from the many who work at the Lobster with him, and making those choices is not easy for him either.The story plays out in less than 24 hours, starting the morning of the last day the restaurant will be open. The closure has not been publicized, but the staff has been told, and mutinously, most don't show up. A true New England Blizzard has already begun, it's Christmas week, and in true New England style the 'plow guy' is nowhere to be found. As he clears the walk and spread snow-melt, Manny tries to decide whether to keep the restaurant open with the few staff who have come to work--mostly to pick up their checks--and very sparce patronage. He desparately wants to make a good showing on his last day.Throughtout the day, we are treated to a series of incidents as the nasty waitress deals with the obnoxious 4 yr old and even more obnoxious mother, the prima donna 'hostess' refuses to chip in to help out, the retirement party (the only big business of the day) complains about one thing or another, the cook continually criticizes everyone and everything, every member of the staff threatens to walk out, the pot of freshing cooked pasta hits the deck, a bus load of sick old folks pulls in the use the 'facilities', the power flickers and fails, booze is disappearing from the bar, and Manny tries to concentrate on just getting through the last day.The subtle psycological drama being played out here is exquisitely written. Humor lightens the severity of the story, but in the end, it's an excellent portrait of life today."Stuff" happens, life goes on--not always the way we want it to-- and not many people even notice.
    • 5/5
      Manny has tried to do everything right. He proposed to the girl he loved, but she turned him down. He's tried to take good care of his employees, even the slackers who come in reeking of marijuana. But his Red Lobster hasn't made the sales that corporate wants, and it's the final night of business. As a massive snowstorm blows in, Manny wrestles with sadness over the closure, his unabated love for the girl who got away, and disgust at his own lack of emotion towards his pregnant girlfriend. It's just days till Christmas, but Manny has nothing left to give.I loved this little book. It's really a character portrait. I really felt for Manny, who just a working class guy trying to do the right thing. The Red Lobster is a character unto itself, too. O'Nan did incredible research on every little detail that goes into a day on the job there. It all felt incredibly real. If you've ever had a last day on the job and know that feeling of "man, I've done this a million times and could do this in my sleep - how can this be the last time?" you'll understand the underlying sentiments in Last Night at the Lobster. The descriptions and dialogue are dead-on, too. I definitely will seek out more of Stewart O'Nan's work.
    • 3/5
      Well-written slice of life story about the manager of a Red Lobster on the last day of the operation and his crew. Manny DeLeon faces the restaurant's last day, 4 days before Christmas, with a blizzard in the forecast. It's amazing any of his employees show up, especially since he can only take 4 of them with him to employment at Olive Garden on Monday. O'Nan describes the scene, emotions, and characters effectively in few words. Somber, not a typical holiday story, but very timely given today's economic situation.
    • 3/5
      A quick fun read, about the last night of a dying Red Lobster restaurant, I wish it had been a little funnier and more of the employees had lashed out at the customers and each other.
    • 4/5
      Six-word review: The shining art of simple narrative.Extended review:Four stars for this tiny little book, 146 pages in which not very much happens, and what does happen is a miniature drama played out on a miniature stage by characters whose sheer ordinariness is almost a distinction in itself? Yes, because to give it anything less would seem false to the idea of perfection.A chain restaurant is closing. On its last day and night, just before Christmas, a reduced staff--some of whom are facing unemployment--have to stay on task through the final cycles of the day's routine. Manny the manager takes responsibility for keeping up morale and seeing that the bases are covered, all the while dealing with an inner struggle of his own.I read this through in just a few hours. And now I'm off to look for other work by this author.
    • 5/5
      Manny opens up the Red Lobster in New Britain, CT for one last night before it closes for good.Everything about this tiny novel is beautifully summoned: central Connecticut's aging retail structure, pointless edicts from Corporate, what it feels like to be laid off and then have to come back to work, how menial work can make you enraged, and the odds and ends of feelings left over from a relationship.
    • 4/5
      A perfect miniature animated by the spirit and regrets of a hero who knows how to do most things right -- but not all.
    • 2/5
      This story didn't seem to 'go' anywhere. Main character seemed like a very nice man, though, committed to his job and staff, and sorry for the closing of the restaurant and its effect on them, and you learned a bit about running a Red Lobster. Not very compelling.
    • 4/5
      It's the last day for this Connecticut Red Lobster because the store has not been performing as well as others. Manny and his incredibly shrinking staff deal with the customers, the emotions of a last day and departures, and other normal everyday issues. While there is not a lot of plot action, I suspect that persons who have worked in the restaurant industry as wait staff, cooks, managers, etc. will enjoy this quick and short read. While there is a little bit of foul language, it's not as pervasive as that found in other novels and not beyond what you might expect under the circumstances and from the character using it.
    • 4/5
      Fast read -- 146 pages and smaller (h/w) than your average hardcover. I loved O'Nan's A Prayer for the Dying some time ago, but I hadn't read anything else by him since then because the newer plots didn't grab me. This one was getting exceptional reviews and sounded like a nice slice-of-life piece. And it was. The characters were realistic and (mostly) sympathetic. I was originally leery of the main character and his mistakes, but I ended up liking him too. Never waited tables myself, but the setting felt plenty realistic from an outsider's perspective. Appreciated the lack of smarmy dramatic twists. Very little fleshing out of some of the supporting characters, but -- again -- it was 146 pages and small, so the fleshing out really didn't feel necessary. We already know those people, after all.
    • 3/5
      Short sad book, about the last shift in a Red Lobster restaurant that is being closed due to poor sales. It is located in a dying mall in a working class neighborhood in Connecticut. As a snow storm rages, the few workers who show up are trying to deal with their loss, their shared memories, and antipathies. Some are angry with each other, the manager, who is as ineffectual as they are in terms of making a better life. Some are apathetic, and just drift along towards whatever life has in store for them.They are nothing more than disposable dixie cups to the corporation that employs them. Because they are living paycheck to paycheck they don't have the time or resources to focus their lives other than on their jobs. Their relationships with their each other are fraught with slights, jealousies; they armor themselves against too much honest human contact.Set against this is the story of the manger and one of the waitresses who are dealing with the ashes of an illicit romance that has failed. Both parties have spouses, and the manger has a new baby. They also have to guard against the impression of favoritism with the staff.The book follows the last day, the ups and downs. It shows the few customers and the day to day operation with a twist. There will be no tomorrow for the staff and the customers. Eventually the restaurant closes and they drift off into the storm. Along the way some are revealed to be loyal, some are revealed to be dishonest, and one to be violently vindictive.The writing was good, the setting and characters were done well. The only issue is there seems to be no point or gaol of the characters in the story. Perhaps that is the choice of the author to show that life just drifts on, and contacts are lost and people are lost. It still leaves an unsatisfying feeling.
    • 4/5
      Lobster is a well told tale about the lives of ordinary people. I thought it was interesting and simple, but it kept me wanting to read. I love it when stories can make ordinary people, in ordinary situations, relatable.