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Last Night at the Lobster

Stewart O'Nan

Discussion: March/April 2008

Discussion leader: Lisa Hickman

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March/April 2008

Little Heathens by Mildred Armstrong Kalish
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last updated Dec 20, 2010 09:25PM

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan
By Lisa · 6 posts · 19 views

last updated Mar 24, 2010 07:48PM

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What Members Thought

Jun 13, 2009 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2010

What a sweet little book - such an easy read yet very impactful and interesting. It's really a character study when it comes down to it ... and the characters really are interesting and compelling. I found the sense of place to be very well done by O'Nan - he really gave you a feeling for the time and place of the novel. At times, I felt as if I was there with the characters of the book, watching them experience the events of the book. It's also rather elegant in a very simplistic way. I loved t ...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

In his 10th novel, Stewart O'Nan proves once again why he's the "bard of the working class" by exploring how the closing of one chain restaurant profoundly affects many lives. Last Night at the Lobster may be a small story, dealing with the mundane details of restaurant life, but O'Nan's complex characters provide a service

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Feb 27, 2009 Lisa Hickman rated it really liked it

Shelves: literary-fiction, bookmarks-2008, library-books

With only a few shopping days left before Christmas and a blizzard on the way, the parking lot restaurant staple of malls, The Red Lobster, is closing its door for good at the end of the night in this Connecticut town. There's not a lot of excitement or plot surrounding this book, but the characters are wonderfully realistic. The book takes place over the course of the last day at the Lobster, and is a sentimental, touching look at how Manny the manager and the rest of his blue-collar employees ...more

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Jun 23, 2009 Cherylann rated it liked it

Shelves: realistic-fiction

Life is bleak. That's what I learned from Lobster. O'Nan's writing is wonderful, and for that reason alone people should read this book. However, by the end of the novel, I was depressed. The plot is bleak - the Red Lobster is closing, and Manny, the manager, can only take 5 of his crew with him after the close, which means he had to fire a bunch of people. After the close, Manny, although he still has a job, will be demoted to the assistant-manager of the Olive Garden. I got the sense Manny was ...more

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Jan 13, 2009 Tom Carrico rated it it was amazing

Last Night at the Lobster
Stewart O’Nan

Some authors write great epics about heroic people. Others write about ordinary people in extra-ordinary circumstances. I’ve always admired authors who could tell stories about ordinary people and their every-day lives and make those stories interesting. It’s an added bonus if the author can make those same stories humorous, poignant and thought provoking at the same time. Anne Tyler is one of those authors. So is Stewart O’Nan. In this novel Stewart O’Nan c Last Night at the Lobster
Stewart O’Nan

Some authors write great epics about heroic people. Others write about ordinary people in extra-ordinary circumstances. I’ve always admired authors who could tell stories about ordinary people and their every-day lives and make those stories interesting. It’s an added bonus if the author can make those same stories humorous, poignant and thought provoking at the same time. Anne Tyler is one of those authors. So is Stewart O’Nan. In this novel Stewart O’Nan creates a culture of average lower middle class workers and restaurant customers who collectively tell an all too familiar story of displacement, insecurity and anxiety. He introduces these characters quickly but deftly and uses dialogue to help us know and understand them like they were old friends.

Last Night at the Lobster is O’Nan’s twelfth novel. He also has several non-fiction titles to his credit, including one he co-wrote with Stephen King about the Boston Red Sox. The author grew up in Pittsburgh, went to undergraduate school at Boston University and now lives in Connecticut. Small-town New England is the setting for this wonderful short novel.

The novel describes closing night for a marginally successful Red Lobster just off of an interstate highway in Connecticut. Upper management has decided to close the restaurant instead of spending what it would take to remodel it. The story is told by the Lobster’s long-time manager, Manny DeLeon. Manny takes great pride in “his” restaurant and although he is grateful that he has been offered another job, he is not looking forward to the demotion to assistant manager at a new Olive Garden.

The novel opens with Manny parking his dilapidated Buick Regal in the Lobster parking lot and smoking a joint before opening. A major snowstorm is beginning as well. Manny has to deal with his disgruntled employees, some of whom have been let go and four of which are following Manny to the Olive Garden. There are petty jealousies amongst the waitresses and major attitude problems with the kitchen staff.

The rest of this short novel (or long short story) details the frustrations and disasters which occur on this last evening. A large office party comes in and neither waitress wants them because large parties are notoriously bad tippers. Two women have lunch with a totally undisciplined toddler. The final blow comes right before closing when a busload of Japanese tourists come in to use the bathroom (the bus driver claims that they all got dysentery at a Red Lobster farther south on the interstate).

All the while Manny has to juggle a minimal inventory, malfunctioning equipment, a blizzard and employee insurrection. Few of you know this about me, but I abandoned a career in the restaurant business to pursue medicine. I had rocketed through the fast food industry and was the “Special Whopper” bench guy at the Falls Church Burger King when I realized there had to be a better way to make a living. While in college I also worked for a year or so at Blackie’s House of Beef at 22nd and M Streets in D.C. (Anyone ever go there? Remember the blue cheese and crackers before dinner?). I can recognize some of my own restaurant experiences in this melancholy, but at times hilarious, novel.

Last Night at the Lobster does have a purpose other than pure entertainment, however. I think that the value of the book is that it points out the comfort of familiarity and the reassurance of routine. The closing of this restaurant rocks Manny’s world, as well as that of all of the other characters in the book, including the regular customers. Uncertainty and change do not always bring out the best in people, as this book demonstrates quite well. One reviewer calls Last Night at the Lobster “a perfectly observed slice of working class life.” This book was written and published long before this current economic crisis and job loss. However, the author creates very real characters and uses dialogue superbly to tell a fabulous fable for our times.

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O’Nan is available in trade paperback from Penguin Books.

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Feb 02, 2012 Linda Boyd rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, linda-s-2012-challenge, linda-s-audio-challenge-for-2012

This book was a little strange, it takes place 1 day in a Red Lobster restaurant and basically Corporate is going to close this particular Red Lobster and this is the last day the employees have to work together. It was just okay for me. 2 stars.

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Aug 04, 2010 Molly rated it it was amazing

I loved this book, the character development was awesome and it highlighted such a mundane event.

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Jan 19, 2011 Gayla Bassham rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2011-reads

Beautifully written character study. O'Nan isn't always my cup of tea, but I liked this one. ...more

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Jan 14, 2013 Dee rated it liked it

Shelves: 2010-2019

This was a strange little book. Read it in a night and found it very quirky. It's about a manager during the last night shift at a Red Lobster that is closing down. ...more

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