Long Day's Journey Into the The Olive Garden

Stewart O’Nan, champion of the proletariat, has created a vivid, moving portrait of one man’s struggle to stay relevant as he faces the loss of an identity he has created for himself, in his new book, Last Night at the Lobster. More a study in character than a plot driven narrative, the story centers on Manny DeLeon, the manager of a Red Lobster restaurant that is being closed by corporate due to sluggish sales. Manny is being reassigned as an assistant manager at a nearby Olive Garden and must deal with this demotion while struggling with his affection for his former lover, the waitress Jacquie, and his seeming lack of affection for his pregnant girlfriend Deena, who remains faceless throughout the story, but whose presence hangs over Manny like the snow piling up in his parking lot.
This slim yet meaningful book takes place during one bleak and drab winter day in which the snow builds in intensity as the characters peel away from the store. The Red Lobster, shadowed by the local mall, in its imminent closing, is the slip sliding of hope fading away, like the lottery tickets Manny buys for his workers as one final token of appreciation. O’Nan has captured the essence of his characters, painting with blunt, muted colors; people drifting through life fleetingly. O’Nan has managed, in a scant 160 pages, to create an evocative and meaningful world, moody and poignant, and in the end we wish for a better world for them all.
3 1/2 stars. May 2008