Last Night at the Lobster

I picked up Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan randomly from my school library's small fiction collection, mostly because I find Red Lobster hilarious. See, there are no Red Lobsters in Massachusetts, and my mother gets in a rage whenever she sees a commercial for one on TV - "the closest Red Lobster is in Connecticut" she yells at the screen, "stop telling me about them!" So a book about a Red Lobster in Connecticut closing made me laugh.

I had never read anything by O'Nan, but I've heard good things. At first, I was a little turned off by his writing style - it's almost overly-literary for such a mundane topic. But it didn't take me long to appreciate it, as details are described in ways that make them completely true to life. O'Nan managed to make something as boring as a defunct chain restaurant beseiged by snow seem compelling. I'm not saying that Last Night at the Lobster is an earth-shattering book in any way, but it's an enjoyable, highly readable short novel. I'm glad that I've given O'Nan a shot, and I look forward to reading more of his books.