by Stewart O’NanPenguin
~ Review in Halifax Herald, March 2009
“Midmorning and the street lights are still on, weakly.” Manny DeLeon drives to work through mall traffic on a gray winter day. He is 35, and manages the Red Lobster, a strip mall restaurant, which is about to close for good. Manny and five of his 44 staff will transfer to the Olive Garden. Christmas is in four days.
O’Nan’s easy writing breathes life into Manny and his staff. He does it slowly, skillfully, until we are rooting for them, but for Manny most of all. He guides the story forward, a hardworking, loyal guy stumbling through life, sentimental, without introspection. He takes life as it comes.
Last Night at the Lobster chronicles Manny’s last day as he rallies his staff and opens the doors for the last time. They move through well established routines. He hopes Jacqui will come. He really wants that. He salts the parking lot, buys a Christmas present for his pregnant girl friend. The kitchen staff turn up and serve lunch to ‘escapees from the mall’. The storm worsens, tempers fray and one by one his staff takes a hike into the snow.
O’Nan has been called ‘the bard of the working class.’ He writes of hard working, ordinary people who take pride in their work, not because they have to but because it’s in them. Last Night at the Lobster begins slowly, following Manny through his easy working day rhythm to the end. He locks the money in the safe, closes the door for the last time, and trudges into the snow. Tomorrow at the Olive Garden.
Stewart O’Nan was named by Granta as one of America’s Best Young Novelists. He is the author of several books and lives in Connecticut.
