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Last Night at the Lobster Hardcover – November 1, 2007

by Stewart O'Nan (Author)
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 754 ratings
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Perched in the far corner of a run-down New England mall, the Red Lobster hasn't been making its number and headquarters has pulled the plug. But manager Manny DeLeon still needs to navigate a tricky last shift. With only four shopping days left until Christmas, Manny must convince his near-mutinous staff to hunker down and serve the final onslaught of hungry retirees, lunatics, and holiday office parties. All the while, he's wondering how to handle the waitress he's still in love with, his pregnant girlfriend at home, and where to find the present that Will make everything better.
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Previous page
  1. Print length
    160 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Viking Adult
  4. Publication date
    November 1, 2007
  5. Reading age
    18 years and up
  6. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    9780670018277
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0670018277
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set on the last day of business of a Connecticut Red Lobster, this touching novel by the author of Snow Angels and A Prayer for the Dying tells the story of Manny DeLeon, a conscientious, committed restaurant manager any national chain would want to keep. Instead, corporate has notified Manny that his—and Manny does think of the restaurant as his—New Britain, Conn., location is not meeting expectations and will close December 20. On top of that, he'll be assigned to a nearby Olive Garden and downgraded to assistant manager. It's a loss he tries to rationalize much as he does the loss of Jacquie, a waitress and the former not-so-secret lover he suspects means more to him than his girlfriend Deena, who is pregnant with his child. On this last night, Manny is committed to a dream of perfection, but no one and nothing seems to share his vision: a blizzard batters the area, customers are sparse, employees don't show up and Manny has a tough time finding a Christmas gift for Deena. Lunch gives way to dinner with hardly anyone stopping to eat, but Manny refuses to close early or give up hope. Small but not slight, the novel is a concise, poignant portrait of a man on the verge of losing himself. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

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—an everyday feat that many American novels ignore. Almost all critics praised the novel as a triumph in realism. O’Nan has certainly written bigger, more plot-driven stories before, but Lobster shows off his "pitch perfect ear for life in late 20th century America" to great effect (San Francisco Chronicle). It’s a "Zen koan of a book" (Los Angeles Times), and not to be missed—especially if you’ve served your share of scampi in life.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0670018279
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Viking Adult; First Edition (November 1, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780670018277
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0670018277
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.3 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.75 x 7.75 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 754 ratings

About the author

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Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O'Nan

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Stewart O’Nan’s award-winning fiction includes Snow Angels, A Prayer for the Dying, Last Night at the Lobster, and Emily, Alone. Granta named him one of America’s Best Young Novelists. He lives in Pittsburgh.

www.stewart-onan.com

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
754 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Marion Marchetto, author
5.0 out of 5 stars Short But Sweet
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2008
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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?
3 people found this helpful
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Steve B
4.0 out of 5 stars Great read
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2022
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Highly recommended, very well written. I read it years ago, but wanted to enjoy it a second time. You should too.
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Scottie House
3.0 out of 5 stars It was a short Lobster
Reviewed in the United States on October 26, 2012
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I enjoyed the story especially since I am from the area and could identify with many of the references in the book. However, I was shocked at how short the "book" actually was. I can't comment on the number of pages since I read it on my Kindle, but it took me no time at all to read. I think I paid about $11 for a very short read.
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Foster Corbin
5.0 out of 5 stars The Young Man and the Seafood Restaurant
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2008
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Manny DeLeon is thirty-five-ish, drives a white "s--tbox of a Buick," wears a leather coat that came from the Men's Warehouse, has a pregnant girlfriend, is still in love with somebody else, and is the general manager of a Red Lobster Restaurant in Connecticut that is scheduled to close just four shopping days before Christmas. Stewart O'Nan's brilliant LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER, a little novel you will devour in one sitting, gives us a closeup and personal view of Mann's last day, along with the handful of his employees-- two months ago he had forty-four people working for him-- who show up for work or a deary, snowy day.

There are plenty of things to make you smile about this practically perfect piece of fiction, for example, the obligatory unruly child whom those of us old enough to remember when bad children did not control the universe steer away from in restaurants, asking to be seated as far away from them and their oblivious parents as possible. Don't forget the customers who steal sugar, Splenda, Equal and Sweet'n Low after they have insisted on separate checks and the fighting among the waitresses to get assigned to the tables where they are assured of getting the best tips. But this novel ultimately is as serious as stretch marks for O'Nan writes about the mindless ennui that people like these characters-- and what characters they are-- face on a daily basis. Five of them including Manny will go to work next week at the local Olive Garden Restaurant-- more of the same-- while the others will be unemployed. For anyone who has worked in a restaurant or grocery store or a factory-- for however a short a time-- Mann's story rings true on every page.

Mr. O'Nan is so good with words: the snow falling is a "Charlie Brown snow," a regular customer, a widower of twenty years who always orders broiled tilapia, the writer describes as having a "greased-down comb-over." Finally there's the waitress Roz, "all elbows and scrawny arms, her Clairol-blond ponytail bobbing as she swabs the tabletops...old enough to be his [Manny's] mother. She's a pro, with black nurses' shoes and calves like a mountain biker--and a lifer, the only one fully vested in Darden's retirement plan." Many of us have known a Roz although I knew her as Peggy or Jet. She reminded me of "Miss Martha," a waitress at a Georgia Waffle House for thirty-three years, who, in 2001 died of emphysema (probably from second hand cigarette smoke) and, at her request, was buried in her uniform.

Manny, and most of these other characters as well, are good, decent people, nickeled and dimed to death, who, even though mired up in dead-end jobs, put their feet on on the floor every morning, don garish uniforms and show up for work. They endure.

Give yourself enough time to finish this little treasure in one sitting for you will not be able to put it down.It is no wonder that LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER made practically all the best lists of novels for 2007.
18 people found this helpful
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Kips Mowgli
4.0 out of 5 stars Meaning from the mundane
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2020
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If you've done this work
You will certainly get it
Gimme cheese biscuits

This is a short little novel that can be read in a sitting or two. It isn't earth-shattering but does pack a little punch I think, especially for those who can identify. It is very evocative of the experience of working at a mall or a mall-adjacent business such as a Red Lobster. I worked in a mall for way too many years and it was somehow both a special time and a miserable time. The characters in Last Night at the Lobster are immediately recognizable but in no way caricatures. I've thought about them in the weeks since finishing the book. And wished them well.
5 people found this helpful
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Janis Deets Nowak
5.0 out of 5 stars A little book with a big heart
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2024
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If you've ever worked in food service. If you've ever been a manager. If you've ever fallen for a co-worker. If you've ever been a little guy in a big pond. If you've ever given all you've got to give. This story is for you. O'Nan can paint pictures with words. You'll love, laugh at, feel sorry for, cheer and recognize Manny, the protagonist. When the story's over you'll feel like you lost someone you know intimately. I really enjoyed this thought-provoking read.
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Pepe Wolf
2.0 out of 5 stars If you like a book where nothing happens.
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2019
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I’m sorry. Not for me. Well enough written, but I like a plot, and this is all character. It follows the half-lives of a group who come to work on the last day at the Red Lobster. It was about an engrossing as a meal at Red Lobster, all plain without much taste or substance. Certainly no spice. The protagonist is a love-sick nebish who is determined to do the best he can at his dead-end job. Nothing is happening in his life and isn’t likely to. A waste of time.
3 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing happened
Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2013
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Interesting read, but no action whatsoever. Kept waiting and waiting and the big payoff never came. I must be missing something.
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Top reviews from other countries

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R-Kid
5.0 out of 5 stars Quiet Story, Beautifully Observed Humanity
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 2, 2021
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A really well written novel, the whole story takes place in just one day - the story is quiet and steady, slowly building layers just like the snow that falls the entire day. Manny the main character is such a good man, a loveable, fallible human being beautifully observed.
2 people found this helpful
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ZoeKegan
2.0 out of 5 stars disappinted
Reviewed in Canada on January 3, 2016
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I have no reason to dislike this book... but I did. I just couldn't get into it no matter how hard I tried and ended up giving it away. interesting premise for the plot, but I was disappointed.
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the ilios kid
5.0 out of 5 stars a day in the life...
Reviewed in France on January 8, 2016
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rapports humains au boulot....situation singulière.....personnages attachants....
a great read...touching and drole...

O'Nan's longer novels "SNOW ANGELS " and "THE NAMES OF THE DEAD" sont brilliants
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Ralf Raths
5.0 out of 5 stars Schmal, elegant, dicht
Reviewed in Germany on November 1, 2014
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„Last Night at the Lobster“ ist eine wunderbare Vignette aus der Realität. Kompakt und intensiv wird der letzte Arbeitstag des Restaurant-Managers Manny beschrieben – der letzte Tage, bevor seine Filiale des Red Lobster schließt.

Das Buch hat kein dunkles Geheimnis, keinen Storytwist, keine Offenbarungen. Es beschreibt wirklich nur die letzte Schicht in einem der tausenden Lobster in Amerika.

Und genau deshalb ist es unheimlich faszinierend. O'Nan schafft es, den Leser an der Seite von Manny direkt in den Betrieb und die Geschichten seiner Menschen eintauchen zu lassen, sie einige Stunden zu begleiten und uns dann wieder gehen zu lassen mit dem sicheren Gefühl, nur einen ihrer 28.000 Lebenstage begleitet zu haben. „Nur“ und gleichzeitig eben auch: immerhin einen ganzen Tag.

Die Ex-Geliebte, die schwangere Freundin daheim, der klauende Mitarbeiter, der Stress in der Küche und zwischen den Küchenmitarbeitern, die Frage, was einen an einem letzten Tag bewegt, nervige und freundliche Kunden – das reicht DICKE für 160 Seiten, weil das wahre Leben eben nicht nichts ist, sondern alles.

Das Buch ist deshalb niemals belanglos, sondern hat immer ein „massives“ Gefühl: Man kann mitdenken und mitfühlen, und tut es deshalb auch. Was will man mehr?
2 people found this helpful
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old joanna
4.0 out of 5 stars Great writing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2014
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The lobster diner is closing. This will be it's last night. It is snowing. It doesn't sound much like a good plot line does it? However I would recommend this book to anyone.

The story centers around Manny, the manager for several years. In fine prose, we learn more about the people who work there, one of them Manny's ex mistress. For most, their contracts will be over, for a few select, head office will move them to another diner. Small lives made great.
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