Category Archives: O’Nan

O'Nan

Last Night at the Lobster

In the final hours of a closing restaurant, the manager is losing both his job and the employee he loves.

He wants to make a final declaration out here in the dark before they rejoin the
others – “I love you” or something equally futile – but she’s already headed for
the door, escaping him again, as always.

Stewart O’Nan’s writing is simple yet paints the atmosphere with well-chosen words. Here, we sense how futile the effort is with words such as dark, door, escape, always. I enjoyed Last Night at the Lobster for the quiet dignity O’Nan shows in an unlikely hero.