Later, at the Bar: A Novel in Stories

There's the tipsy advice columnist who has a hard time following her own advice, the ex-con who falls for the same woman over and over again, and the soup-maker who tries to drink and cook his way out of romantic despair. Theirs are the kinds of stories about love and life that unfold late in the evening, when people finally share their secret hopes and frailties, because they know you will forgive them, or maybe make out with them for a little while. In this rich and engaging debut, each central character suffers a sobering moment of clarity in which the beauty and sadness of life is revealed. But the character does not cry or mend his ways. Instead he tips back his hat, lights another unfiltered cigarette, and heads across the floor to ask someone to dance.

A poignant exploration of the sometimes tender, sometimes deeply funny ways people try to connect, Later, at the Bar is as warm and inviting as a good shot of whiskey on a cold winter night.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

good writing but no character "connection", 2008-08-28
It was unanimous from our book club members: We liked much of Berry's writing -- great turns of phrase, a strong sense of local flavor, humor -- but we never felt as if we got to know the characters. They were just never developed enough that we developed empathy for them. Perhaps if I hung out in a bar more, I'd feel as if I "knew" these characters? And the one character who was never developed at all and would have been so, so interesting was bartender Rita. So, overall, an easy read, and some of the individual chapters we liked on their own. But I love to feel as if I've gotten to know a character, and that just didn't happen for me with this one.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Imperfect People in an Imperfect World, Doing the Best That We Can, 2008-07-10
We're all imperfect people in an imperfect world doing the best we can...

That's what this book is about:imperfect people dealing with families, loved ones, loss, loneliness, hopes, dreams and fears, doing the best that they can....

And the sharing these lives, the good, the bad, the ugly, and all their human foibles, at a bar called "Lucy's." A bar far more similar to the bar in "Northern Exposure" than the bar in "Cheers."

This book is about living life. A quote on page 132 puts it into perspective, "It isn't enough to love someone (a spouse), 'she thought,'You have to live with them, too." Now that's the rub...

Well-written and characters are well developed. Several chapters toward the end--the last four--are exceptional and their stories linger like fine wine or the memory of a cold beer on a hot summer day.

This is not a cheery, happy, sunny book. It's a real book about real life...and a good one, too. You may well appreciate the people around you more after reading this book. And you don't have to be in a bar to do that...

Now, what was the name of that bar in Northern Exposure, the one is Cicily, Alaska? "The Brick?" That's what this bar is like...


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Bittersweet Barflies, 2008-06-30
This is a novel told in vignettes that could stand individually as sharply observed short stories. It's about a group of barflies who congregate at a small town, upstate New York tavern. It was a good read, sad and stupid and poignant and true, about drunks who mean well but do their best to ruin their lives. Barry compassionately writes of characters that lesser talents would find hard to write sympathetically about, weaves a compelling plot out of lives that follow predictable, pathetic trajectories into self-imposed quagmires, and sheds a soft light on the sad beauty of a dismal bar and the bleak surrounding landscape. I recommend it highly to barflies, Bukowski fans, and lovers of literary fiction.



0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Great Depiction of Upstate New York, 2008-03-03
I enjoyed this book a lot, because I thought it embraced the somewhat freakish and desolate quality of life in upstate New York. The author treats her subjects as if she not only "gets" them, but is one of them, which makes all the difference in this kind of writing (as opposed to what I generally call "animals-in-the-zoo" treatment.) There are some brutally sad scenes and some extremely touching moments, mixed in with the occasional LOL aside. Although it's a quick read, it comes across as thoughtful and consistent -- i.e., the ending is as good as the beginning, which is rare -- and stays with you for a long time. I look forward to more from Rebecca Barry!


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

a 5-star book with a 3-star end, 2008-03-01
I fell in love with the regulars at Lucy's Tavern right off the bat. I often felt as if I knew them all, and I was immediately immersed in their intertwined lives. It was painful to watch my new friends as they slowly but surely drank themselves into oblivion to escape the ordinariness of their daily existence and the confines of their small town--and Lucy's Tavern. The regulars would make a mess of their lives, and then try to make sense of it all--later, at the bar. While some of the characters dream of a different life, their inertia (and perhaps fear of what life might have in store for them) keeps them glued to their bar stools. Only at the end does Linda escape, but this is related in such a perfunctory way that the reader is left with a sense of incompleteness.

And that was my problem with this novel: the end. Everything is wrapped up too neatly, as though the book was an hour-long television show and Barry had only five minutes left before the next show began. Imagine how empty you'd feel upon learning that a good friend had suddenly disappeared; that was how I felt when I reached the last word of this novel.

I wish that I could have given this book five stars, but the final chapter was too disappointing for me to feel justified in doing so.

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