| View Larger Image | The Tender Bar
by J. R. Moehringer
| | List Price: | $14.95 | | Price: | $10.17 | | You Save: | $4.78 (32%) |  | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours | | | | | Sales Rank: | 14391 | | Studio: | Hyperion | | | Binding: | Paperback | | Number Of Pages: | 432 | | Publication Date: | August 01, 2006 | | Publisher: | Hyperion |
| |
EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
"Long before it legally served me, the bar saved me," asserts J.R. Moehringer, and his compelling memoir The Tender Bar is the story of how and why. A Pulitzer-Prize winning writer for the Los Angeles Times, Moehringer grew up fatherless in pub-heavy Manhasset, New York, in a ramshackle house crammed with cousins and ruled by an eccentric, unkind grandfather.Desperate for a paternal figure, he turns first to his father, a DJ whom he can only access via the radio (Moehringer calls him The Voice and pictures him as "talking smoke"). When The Voice suddenly disappears from the airwaves, Moehringer turns to his hairless Uncle Charlie, and subsequently, Uncle Charlie's place of employment--a bar called Dickens that soon takes center stage. While Moehringer may occasionally resort to an overwrought metaphor (the footsteps of his family sound like "storm troopers on stilts"), his writing moves at a quick clip and his tale of a dysfunctional but tightly knit community is warmly told. "While I fear that we're drawn to what abandons us, and to what seems most likely to abandon us, in the end I believe we're defined by what embraces us," Moehringer says, and his story makes us believe it. --Brangien Davis |
Amazon.com
"Long before it legally served me, the bar saved me," asserts J.R. Moehringer, and his compelling memoir The Tender Bar is the story of how and why. A Pulitzer-Prize winning writer for the Los Angeles Times, Moehringer grew up fatherless in pub-heavy Manhasset, New York, in a ramshackle house crammed with cousins and ruled by an eccentric, unkind grandfather. Desperate for a paternal figure, he turns first to his father, a DJ whom he can only access via the radio (Moehringer calls him The Voice and pictures him as "talking smoke"). When The Voice suddenly disappears from the airwaves, Moehringer turns to his hairless Uncle Charlie, and subsequently, Uncle Charlie's place of employment--a bar called Dickens that soon takes center stage. While Moehringer may occasionally resort to an overwrought metaphor (the footsteps of his family sound like "storm troopers on stilts"), his writing moves at a quick clip and his tale of a dysfunctional but tightly knit community is warmly told. "While I fear that we're drawn to what abandons us, and to what seems most likely to abandon us, in the end I believe we're defined by what embraces us," Moehringer says, and his story makes us believe it. --Brangien Davis |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 151 reviews)
|
Endearing story 
The author skillfully tells his story while carefully drawing the reader into his private life. The book is written with honesty and humor and without being overly emotional or dramatic. Although the author tells of his hardships and struggles,he does so in such a way that you see his life as colorful and rich rather than tragic. The story shows that love and nurturing can occur in non-conventional ways and from people you would not normally consider caretakers. This is a story of love and caring and the strength of the human spirit. I highly recommend this book.
August 26, 2008 | |
Good, fun read... especially if you're a "local" at some bar 
I'm not much for memoirs, but I picked up The Tender Bar on the recommendation of the clerk at a local San Francisco bookstore, and I'm glad I did.
The Tender Bar, by J.R. Moehringer, chronicles the early life of, well... J.R. Moehringer, who grew up in Long Island, New York, alongside his mother, grandparents, several cousins, aunts and his Uncle Charlie, a bartender at the local pub, Publicans. His father, a popular radio disc jockey, was absent much of Moehringer's life, and his absence is the central storyline of The Tender Bar.
With no father figure in his life, Moehringer becomes attached to the bar, Publicans, as well as the many real-life characters that frequent the pub. Each chapter in the book is about one of those characters, and the memoir moves (though slow, at times) chronologically as Moehringer encounters and befriends more and more people.
Though Moehringer details the years he and his mother spend living in Arizona, as well as his collegiate career at Yale, most of the book takes place in and out of the Long Island bar. Due to the fact that most of the events occur in the bar, most of the chapters involve the characters drinking themselves silly, leading to amusing events and/or interesting conversations on work, life, women, the New York Mets and a host of other topics.
For the most part, it's an easy, fun, well-written read that will make you laugh throughout the book. There are some slow parts, and a lot of places in the book where the author is trying to be deep and serious, which can seem forced and unnecessary. But I liked The Tender Bar, and would recommend it as a good "vacation book," especially if you're on some tropical beach (as I was -- in Barbados -- while reading Moehringer's tale).
August 09, 2008 | |
"What's your story?"
J.R. Moehringer's "The Tender Bar" chronicles the infatuation a young boy develops for a neighborhood bar, the men that frequent it, and the education it provided. And in doing so, he elicits laughter, compassion, and admiration. To wit, a few underline-worthy excerpts: "The two critical tests of a man's mettle, Sheryl believed, were women and liquor. How you reacted to each, how you managed each, went a long way to determining your manliness quotient" (p.130). And J.R.'s reflection on confidence, "I wondered if self-confidence could be acquired, or if, like fathers and flawless skin, it was just something you were born with" (p.163). Or the distinction between a leer and a look: "Women don't like being leered at, but they love being looked at with delight" (p.258). And, lastly, J.R.'s realization that "the secret of being a good man...was [to] follow the example of one very good woman" (p.346). In short, this is J.R.'s story and it is, if nothing else, a memorable and impressionable one.
August 05, 2008 | |
Raised On Alcohol
Journalist J.R. Moehringer has written a rollicking coming-of-age memoir set on Long Island and centering around a small town version of the TV bar Cheers. The story opens with the author at about age six being raised by his mother and grandmother at his grandparents' house, his golden-voiced and leaden-souled father having disappeared into thin air. Before long he finds that his best childhood friends and father figures are a bunch of bartenders and drunks at the most popular bar in town, Dickens. Once he reaches drinking age, it's hard for J.R. not to become an alcoholic. One of the bartenders is his uncle and the bar's policy is that relatives drink free (but must pay for any drinks they give to others).
Obviously, the young protagonist becomes a successful writer. How he reaches that stage provides two great stories--that of the struggling student and journalist, and that of the rollicking young alcoholic. That you are reading the book removes some of the suspense about the outcome, but Moehringer and a cast of Dickensian characters at both Dickens and his grandparents' house makes the journey very entertaining. If you like Frank McCourt's various memoirs, particularly Angela's Ashes, or if your childhood included alcoholic caretakers (parents or otherwise), you'll love "The Tender Bar".
August 03, 2008 | |
This book is great!
I loved this book! It is always entertaining, at times heartbreakingly poignant, and very difficult to put down.
This book beautifully marries form and content. The book is J.R. Moehringer's autobiographical memoir, spanning from his elementary school years into young adulthood. Much of the book revolves around the hours Moehringer spent in a neighborhood bar on Long Island, trading stories and having friendly but impassioned arguments with the other barroom regulars. As you read the book, you almost feel like you're in the bar listening to the conversation. Each chapter is really a barroom story in itself; you can almost hear Moehringer, lubricated by a few drinks, sharing yet another anecdote from his life history.
Some of the stories Moehringer recounts seem too good to be true. Perhaps, like any good barroom raconteur, Moehringer embellishes a little for dramatic or comic effect. At first I wondered if the stories really were factual. By the end, I decided that I enjoyed the book even more for not being sure.
I don't drink much, have rarely been in bars, and have spent little time on Long Island. Nonetheless, I had no trouble inhabiting Moehringer's world.
I highly recommend this excellent memoir!
July 19, 2008 | |
SIMILAR PRODUCTS |
| |
|
|
|
