Galley Talk: Last Night At The Lobster

When we're all still able to enjoy such a mild transition into the fall season, it takes a certain resolve to reach for a book set in December, with a cover throwing the chill of a dark, snowy night at you. But what's inside Stewart O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster (Viking, Nov.) emits a definite warm radiance. He should find plenty of readers for his all-seasons story of the waning days and hours of a Red Lobster chain restaurant. Scenes like this happen all over the country, and no one, not even hometown papers, writes of how and what makes people keep going in such bleak circumstances. Big faceless corporation says the local outlet has to close. The workers employed will be scattered to the winds, some looked after, some not. O'Nan graces these characters with a presence they probably aren't self-aware of. And protagonist Manny, who makes it all happen, who also makes a lot of tangled love life happen—his part alone is worth the pleasurable price of reading this sweet, soulful story.