Lobster Tales

Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan

I always get nervous when a White author, especially an American White author, writes a story about people of color. As we were introduced to the characters one by one, I realized that all of them are either Black, Latino, or undescribed. I found the undescribeds annoying. It read to me as if we had to be told the when the characters weren’t White, as if only non-Whiteness needs to be described or remarked upon. Maybe it’s nothing, but it’s not nothing to me. I don’t think it was intentional. But it is something that I noticed. It was very offputting.

I know what O’Nan was trying to achieve with this book. He actually does a fairly good job of showing working class people showing pride and dignity in their jobs. The restaurant is closing for good at the end of the day, there are only five days until Christmas, and a monster snowstorm has already started. Yet, these people are at work and are working hard. But…you can tell that, save a bus of Chinese passengers just stopping for a minute, all of the customers are White. So what Last Night at the Lobster tells is the story of a crew of Black and Latinos serving White people for a full day. And OK. That doesn’t have to be bad. The story could be good. But it isn’t. Not at all.

The entire day is told from Manny’s point of view. Manny is the manager. He is our hero. I say “hero” because O’Nan spends many pages putting us inside of Manny’s head as he is constantly trying to do the best for his customers, his employees, and his restaurant. Because, as O’Nan tells us, Manny thinks of the restaurant as his. And even though the restaurant is already doomed to close its doors forever, he wants the last day to leave a good impression on the bosses before he begins working two days later at a different restaurant as assistant manager. Yeah, color-wise, this story does not work for me at all. Oh, about Manny the hero? The first thing he does after we meet him is toke up in his car before beginning his heroic shift. And throughout the day, he spends time thinking about his table-touches, trying to please customers enough to get them to shake his hand, and in general is just aiming to please.

None of the characters are really likeable. As a reader, I felt no emotion for any of them, no compulsion to root for any of them. And, really, the only conflict wasn’t really a conflict. It’s just Manny being Manny (Stewart O’Nan is a Red Sox fan), which means he’s nervous and paranoid about issues that amount to nothing and spends all of his time trying to make a good impression.

Last Night at the Lobster isn’t bad. It’s just very, very boring. And the server-clientele racial dynamic isn’t a pleasant one. Overall…it’s just kind of there.

Oh...does the author only know one Spanish word, abuelita? Its repeated use was so out of place.

D+