Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.9 AVERAGE
3.9 AVERAGE
I really liked this book...read it for book club and we had a great discussion about it as well. Good look at a non-conventional "father figure."
Amazing memoir: inspiring, funny all while brining you to tears. It explores how a young man grows up without a father but with many father figures around him.
This was easily one of the best books I’ve read in the past year!! The descriptions are so vivid (usually comically so), and you feel like you’re besties with JR
Premetto: adoro i memoir e le storie di formazione.
Questo libro quindi per me rappresenta quell'ibrido perfetto.
E' un racconto bello, trasparente e, nei limiti del possibile ovviamente sincero. La storia dello scrittore ruota intorno ad un bar e ai personaggi che gli offre che mi fa pensare quanto "ci vuole un villaggio" per crescere una persona. Il parco di personaggi che incontra e presenta è assurda e di una qualità, seppur non sempre immediatamente percepita, soprprendente. L'autore poi è abile a rendere amabile nel racconto ogni passaggio della vita ma soprattutto mi piace come racconti senza problemi i suoi fallimenti, senza di essi Moehringer non sarebbe lo scrittore che è ora.
Bello, bello, bello.
Questo libro quindi per me rappresenta quell'ibrido perfetto.
E' un racconto bello, trasparente e, nei limiti del possibile ovviamente sincero. La storia dello scrittore ruota intorno ad un bar e ai personaggi che gli offre che mi fa pensare quanto "ci vuole un villaggio" per crescere una persona. Il parco di personaggi che incontra e presenta è assurda e di una qualità, seppur non sempre immediatamente percepita, soprprendente. L'autore poi è abile a rendere amabile nel racconto ogni passaggio della vita ma soprattutto mi piace come racconti senza problemi i suoi fallimenti, senza di essi Moehringer non sarebbe lo scrittore che è ora.
Bello, bello, bello.
Manhasset, Long Island, è “un sobborgo di ottomila abitanti a una trentina di chilometri a sud-est di Manhattan” famoso “per due cose: il lacrosse e gli alcolici”. La sua via principale è Plandome Road: una serie infinita di bar in meno di un chilometro, “il sogno di qualunque bevitore”. Per la gente di Manhasset, tuttavia, c’è un bar che è diverso da tutti gli altri. È il Dickens di Steve che, nel corso degli anni è prima diventato “il Bar” e poi “il Posto”.
La recensione completa su http://www.ifioridelpeggio.com/il-bar-delle-grandi-speranze-di-j-r-moehringer/
La recensione completa su http://www.ifioridelpeggio.com/il-bar-delle-grandi-speranze-di-j-r-moehringer/
I got really frustrated with the narrator. Tried to power through for the sake of the book club. But eventually I rage quit.
The author’s retelling of growing up without a father and, in many ways, being “raised” by the men of a local bar where his uncle bartended. It is one of the more moving modern accounts of defining manhood, of the need for father figures, and in the end, how a sanctuary (the very bar that raised him) can also become a prison. A woman in my book club recommended this and I was doubtful, but I’m very glad I read this moving account. Highly recommended.
Halfway through I considered moving this to my "did not finish" category but stuck it out. The closing chapters, epilogue, and new afterward made the whole thing worthwhile.
Very well written. This is a world of which I have no personal experience and yet I am walking away feeling as though I know the people and places in the memoir.
Very well written. This is a world of which I have no personal experience and yet I am walking away feeling as though I know the people and places in the memoir.
reflective
slow-paced
I think the writing is really evocative. The childish idolization of a person (or place + people) comes across well. Some of the descriptions of people are fantastic. Moehringer is in some ways reflective and self-aware of his bad decisions. But the writing gets to be a bit florid, and the middle part of the book is SLOW. There were multiple characters in the bar that were introduced late in the book a la "oh wow I can't believe I haven't mentioned Jiminy Cricket!! He's like the soul of the bar itself!" and then they play a bit role in Moehringer's journey of self-actualization. But if they were actually so important to the bar, it always felt like the reader should have heard about them earlier since the whole book centers around the bar and its central characters.
If this were a fiction book I would have asked for more Bill and Bud from the bookstore. And for the main character to not hinge so much of his self-identity on male role models, or lack thereof. But here we are.
If this were a fiction book I would have asked for more Bill and Bud from the bookstore. And for the main character to not hinge so much of his self-identity on male role models, or lack thereof. But here we are.
I really enjoyed this memoir because of Moehringer's honesty about some of his bad choices, and how he swerved through the journey of life. There was a lot of drinking which I ignored, but I could see how that could be a little annoying to some people.
I felt immersed in his life growing up without a dad, trying to help out his mom and figure it all out. In addition, his character descriptions were hilarious. I especially liked Bill and Bud from the bookstore when he was a teenager. What a trip! We have all met people that "sniffed their fists."
I felt immersed in his life growing up without a dad, trying to help out his mom and figure it all out. In addition, his character descriptions were hilarious. I especially liked Bill and Bud from the bookstore when he was a teenager. What a trip! We have all met people that "sniffed their fists."