Synopsis
This warmhearted but clear-eyed memoir by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist J.R. Moehringer spotlights the somewhat unorthodox location that served as his refuge in childhood and early adulthood. After Moehringer's mother left his abusive, alcoholic DJ father, the two lived with his grandparents in Manhasset, Long Island. As his grandfather was not a terribly sterling individual, either, Moehringer needed to look elsewhere for father figures, and he found them in the habitués at the local bar where his Uncle Charlie worked as a bartender.
| Details | | Publication Date: | 2006-08-01 | | Edition Description: | Reprint |
| Size | | Length: | 416 pages | | Height: | 8.0 in | | Width: | 5.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.2 in | | Weight: | 16.0 oz |
Publisher's Note
A vivid memoir of growing up and coming of age with a single mother describes how the author received valuable life lessons and friendship at the neighborhood bar, an old-time New York saloon populated by a colorful assortment of characters who provided him with a kind of fatherhood by committee. Reprint. 50,000 first printing.
Industry Reviews
"Mehringer's lovely evocation of an ordinary place filled with ordinary people gives dignity and meaning to those lost lives, and to his own."
Publishers Weekly (06/27/2005)
"[A] memoir filled with gladness....A straight-up account of masculinity, maturity and memory that leaves a smile on the face and an ache in the heart." (starred review)
Kirkus (07/15/2005)
"J. R. Moehringer's autobiography brings...[the bar] to life with hilarious stumblebum wisdom and a born raconteur's ease. 'Kid's a scribbler,' one of the regulars says of Mr. Moehringer, in what turns out to be a whopper of an understatement. Kid's the best memoirist of his kind since Mary Karr wrote THE LIAR'S CLUB. Kid's book is a doozy."
New York Times - Janet Maslin (09/01/2005)
"[O]utstanding....The whole memoir is as sneakily effective as the subtle pun in its title, deeply felt where it might've turned cheap and easy....Moehringer has hours and hours of stories that any bar hound worth his stool would bend both ears to drink in. Thankfully, the writer has opted to put them down on paper."
Entertainment Weekly - Gregory Kirschling (09/02/2005)
"[A] beautiful, gravelly love letter...a melancholy romance between a boy and a corner saloon that's as smoky and heart-crackling as a Sinatra 78."
New York Times Book Review - Jonathan Miles (09/11/2005)
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