From the time of Homer, a boy’s search for his father has been a classic theme of literature and memoir. In The Tender Bar, J. R. Moehringer’s memoir of growing up without a father, a boy finds many fathers — the denizens of Publicans, a tavern in Manhasset, NY.
From the time of Homer, a boy’s search for his father has been a classic theme of literature and memoir. In Manhasset was the fictionalized setting for much of The Great Gatsby, and the spirit of Fitzgerald haunts this book, in not only in Moehringer’s writing style but also in his hard drinking. From a tender age he longs for connection with a father figure — his grandfather is an antisocial eccentric, his uncle is a compulsive gambler, his father, a famous radio personality, is nothing more than The Voice on a shifting dial — and he finds this connection in the well-lubricated male camaraderie of Publicans. His story of how he finds his own voice as a writer and as a man provides the dramatic tension that kept me reading compulsively to the end.
I found this memoir very well done. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, Moehringer writes next.