Last Night at the Lobster Book

Eating at the humble Red Lobster won't be quite the same after reading this bittersweet ode to the service industry.

It's a grey, snowy Saturday a week or so before Christmas, and the Red Lobster near a rundown New England mall is about to close down - for good. Sales just aren't up to scratch, and all the staff has been let go, except for five, who are being offered jobs at an Olive Garden a few towns over.

In fact, today is the restaurant's final day, and it's up to hard-working manager Manny DeLeon to oversee this final shift. Complications ensue: many embittered let-go staff haven't shown up; the forecast calls for a big snowstorm, and the mall plow is nowhere to be seen; oh yeah, and there's Jacquie, the waitress Manny's had an affair with, to deal with (she's got a new boyfriend, while Manny's own girlfriend is currently pregnant).

And let's not forget the workplace grudges, the bartender who might be siphoning off booze, and the parade of diners who barge through the doors for lunch: a huge retirement party, two young moms, one with a child from hell, people trying to pawn off expired coupons.

Writer Stewart O'Nan's gift is being able to describe all this in details that are vivid, honest and entertaining. I never knew how interested I would be in the workings of a chain restaurant before reading this book! Manny, still smarting from the end of the affair - as well as the death of his abuelita (grandmother) - is a perfectly ordinary yet fascinating figure: trying to get by financially, unhappy with his personal situation yet unsure what to do,

Manny is the book's moral centre, and I loved being in his mind, even just for 150 pages.

It's the sort of book that will make you re-examine your own daily routines, the little things that matter, that show us what we're made of.

I have to admit that I didn't think O'Nan would be able to offer much of a climax, but he did, and it's one that's beautifully, subtly set-up throughout the book.

A couple of years ago, I read O'Nan's novel about the final days of F. Scott Fitzgerald: it was a beautiful book, sad and true. I'm sure I'll read more of his work. But this book, although brief, will linger in my mind for a while.