Product Description

It's Super Bowl Sunday at the Almost Home Bar and Grill with the hometown Broncos playing for their second championship in a row, and the already-busy night is about to get busier. When the bartender walks off, she leaves the remaining staff to the chaos of the night-and with the real question. Not why did she leave but why do they stay? After closing time and on a school night, Collen's 14-year-old daughter is no stranger to the Almost Home. She'll do almost anything to leave, to move her life forward or somehow return to earlier, better times, anywhere but here. But it doesn't matter, there seems to be no way out. For one night, we follow all of them as they make their cash, close up, and then linger into the after hours, as they always do, their lives colliding, past and present, in the dark back corner at table 14-drinking, talking and now, in the wake of Marna's sbsence, facing questions: Where did she go? Will she return? Whe do we stay? How dangerous is restaurant love? Smart, provocative, and flawlessly on target, Tara Yellen's revealing debut offers keen insights on a group of people left to put the pieces of their own lives back together in the wake of a friend's disappearance. After Hours at the Almost Home will put you in an altered state-it's got kick and goes down like a shot. But its effects might be far more lasting.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #923349 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Yellen's first novel is a valiant attempt to capture, in plainly realistic prose, the complex inner workings of a generic American bar over the course of a single evening. Having moved five times for six different jobs, JJ once again finds herself in a new gig as a waitress at the Almost Home bar in Denver. Her first night happens to be Super Bowl Sunday, with the hometown Denver Broncos playing. While trying to learn the ropes (and messing up plenty of orders), JJ also has to master the bar's web of employee relationships: Colleen, the widow of a bar regular, has nowhere to leave her 14-year-old daughter, Lily, who often ends up at the bar with her; Denny is dealing with a breakup and the possibility of another relationship with Lena, also a waitress at the Almost Home; Keith awaits the end of the night, when he plans to run away with the bartender, Marna. The other cast of bar regulars wait out the game crowd and stay long into the night, engaged in a plot as intricate as a Greek tragedy. The result is a novel that feels like a one-act play, stuffed with subtexts and begging for actors to bring the sometimes stale dynamics to life. (Apr.)
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Review
Welcome to the Almost Home, a bar and grill in Denver. It's JJ's seventh job, but her first time waitressing ("The food slid a bit on the plate,...but nothing fell"). The learning curve is steep; JJ's first day is Super Bowl Sunday. Beer, fries and a bunch of rowdy Bronco fans. Readers should not look hard for any deep messages; this is not a novel with a moral agenda. "Don't ever trust restaurant love," the bartender tells JJ, which is about as profound as it gets. But the employees at the Almost Home could break your heart--all lost and found at the same time. Collen, a waitress, keeps spotting the ghost of her young husband, hit bay a car two years earlier. She brings her 14-year-old daughter, Lily, to work with her. Lily steals the show. How can you learn to be an adult when all the adults around you act like children? " After Hours" is a snapshot of a novel, lovingly contained between the neon sign and the back door. Contents under pressure. --Nancy Simpson of the Boulder Bookstore

About the Author
Tara Yellen completed the MFA program at the University of Virginia, where she was awarded the Henry Hoyns Fellowship. She currently lives in Washington, D.C. This is her first novel.

Customer Reviews

This book will be a movie one day
After Hours at The Almost Home is a tremendous work for any reader who values rich character development, ingeniously clever writing, and deliberate but subtle plot development. This work is no sledge hammer. It challenges the reader to scan between the lines for hints of what is to come. It features disparate characters who will be familiar to most readers, regardless of how much time they spend at local neighborhood bars. The book reads like some of the finest modern independent films, and will doubtless eventually find its way to the big screen. A great read.

One night in screwed up lives
If you wish to read a book detailing some truly screwed up lives, this is the book. Interesting read, but it is hard to imagine that everyone that works in a bar is this totally messed up! I am assuming the author took every psychologically damaged person she has met and put them all in one book.
A fun read, but, seriously....would it have hurt to have someone normal in this story?

A Rising Star at the "Almost Home"
Tara Yellen has a way with words that describes places, people and their lives in a way that compels you to keep turning the page. The setting is a bar in Denver on Super Bowl Sunday, not a locale that I know - or didn't - until I read Ms. Yellens first novel. She breathed life into her characters and made the Bronco's fans and the servers at the "Almost Home" into real people - strangely disjointed yet interconnected people. The "Almost Home" reminds you of a place you may have been to before and the characters' depth, relationships and backstories grab you and keep you on the edge. Ms Yellen is an author whose star will be rising. I can't wait to read her next book!