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The Tender Bar: A Memoir |  | Author: J. R. Moehringer
Publisher: Hyperion
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy Used: $0.01
as of 9/8/2010 02:19 PDT details
You Save: $14.94 (100%)
New (61) Used (435) Collectible (5) from $0.01
Seller: green_earth_books
Rating:  184 reviews
Sales Rank: 88026
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st Thus.
Pages: 370
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.9 x 1
ISBN: 0786888768
Dewey Decimal Number: 070.92
EAN: 9780786888764
ASIN: 0786888768
Publication Date: August 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
paperback, excellent binding, clean pages, a few ben corners and one corner bend on back cover
Amazon.com Review
"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
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 184
 Funny tales of a man with one name. September 4, 2010
Harkanwar Anand (New York, New York)
In this book we read about the life of a man who looks for a father in about every gentlemen and scoundrel he comes across. This book is also about his mother, about his growing up fatherless even though his father is alive somewhere out there in the world, he tries to find a father in other men. It seems to me that the author was looking. Readers like me will want to take notes but never get a pen or even a Blackberry. JR's world surrounds his Uncle Charlie and how much he looked upto him for growing up. Charlie is a difficult to believe character for his mannerisms and charms are absolutely legendary but at the same time, he's a bit of a talkative funny unsmiling bartender who never got his share in life.
The funniest thing about the book and also the funniest thing about Tender Bar that stays with you is the author's struggle with his name. I have a difficult name and many variations of it so I keep losing myself with different sets of friends who know me as a different alias so for this reason I kind of related with the author. The correlation ends right there. This book is quite similar to Angela's Ashes though it lacks that powerful gulp and sorrow the Irish-American book had. I give it four stars for reasons I can't quite pinpoint or explain. JR did make me laugh and also want to tear up on a couple of occasions. We all wish we write a book about our life, this one man did and he did remarkably well. Lovely language.
Tip - Avoid reading while traveling long distance, just dont ask why
More than just a bar August 9, 2010
shawn dettmann (Baraboo, WI United States)
This book is one of the most amazing memoirs I've read. If you have every frequented a local establishment, you'll relate to a large portion of this book.
Very moving memoir July 21, 2010
Lolalipstick (New York, NY)
I really enjoyed this memoir. My husband had started reading it, but said it didn't grab him, so I picked it up and was immediately drawn in. JR is a very talented writer, and I would find myself laughing out loud (which is very rare for me when I read a book) and tearing up (not so rare for me, depending on the subject matter).
I read a few reviews elsewhere that felt like the epilogue was tacked on. I can see that argument, although I didn't really feel that the book had "ended" before the epilogue, and I felt as though his affection for all these people was what brought him back to revisit his old life 10 years later.
I will agree with some writers that, sometimes, I felt a little impatient with JR, but I think that's because he was being honest about his shortcomings. He definitely has his issues, and his obsession with Sidney was rather annoying--but I think that was the point, and he was describing the intense feeling of first love. There were a few situations that were obviously going to turn out badly, and he forged ahead, but hey--that's apparently what really happened.
All in all, a very enjoyable memoir. I think what made it so enjoyable was JR's emotion. He loved his mother, he loved Uncle Charlie and the crew, and he loved the bar.
 Compelling Memoir July 13, 2010
Bookworm, Beaverton, OR
I was raised at church; wish now that I'd been raised at Publicans.
Could not put this book down until it was finished, and then I wanted more.
Comforting, Enjoyable, and Oftentimes Comedic June 25, 2010
Bobby T (South Riding, VA)
At the risk of repeating what's already been written, I'll make my review short and to the point. This book was a pure joy to read. A *tad* bit slow at times, but what book isn't? The author's ability to share his life's journey with the reader is as enjoyable and warm as you'll ever find. There were moments during this book that I desperately, desperately wanted to go back in time to join JR during his ventures. Or at least observe from a far. I'd give anything to visualize his Uncle and his Uncle's bar buddies while frolicking at the beach or going belly up at the bar. I'll give nothing else away, but I will tell any potential reader that you won't be disappointed. Reading this book was like eating a really, really good steak. You just take a bite, put the fork down, and slowly chew each piece savoring it's flavors and appreciating it while you have it....because soon the steak, just like the book, will be finished.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 184
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