Identify Books To The Tender Bar: A Memoir

Original Title:	The Tender Bar: A Memoir
ISBN:	0786888768 (ISBN13: 9780786888764)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	J.R. Moehringer
Literary Awards:	Audie Award for Narration by the Author or Authors (2006)

The Tender Bar: A Memoir Paperback | Pages: 416 pages

Details About Books The Tender Bar: A Memoir

Title	:	The Tender Bar: A Memoir
Author	:	J.R. Moehringer
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Deluxe Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 416 pages
Published	:	August 1st 2006 by Hyperion (first published 2005)
Categories	:	Autobiography. Memoir. Nonfiction. Biography

Narration Conducive To Books The Tender Bar: A Memoir

In the grand tradition of landmark memoirs - a classic American story of self-invention and escape, of the fierce love between a single mother and an only son, it's also a moving portrait of one boy's struggle to become a man, and an unforgettable depiction of how men remain, at heart, lost boys. J.R. Moehringer grew up captivated by a voice. It was the voice of his father, a New York City disc jockey who vanished before J.R. spoke his first word. Sitting on the stoop, pressing an ear to the radio, J.R. would strain to hear in that plummy baritone the secrets of masculinity and identity. Though J.R.'s mother was his world, his rock, he craved something more, something faintly and hauntingly audible only in The Voice. At eight years old, suddenly unable to find The Voice on the radio, J.R. turned in desperation to the bar on the corner, where he found a rousing chorus of new voices. Cops and poets, bookies and soldiers, movie stars and stumblebums, all sorts of men gathered in the bar to tell their stories and forget their cares. The alphas along the bar—including J.R.'s Uncle Charlie, a Humphrey Bogart look-alike; Colt, a Yogi Bear sound-alike; and Joey D, a softhearted brawler—took J.R. to the beach, to ballgames, and ultimately into their circle. They taught J.R., tended him, and provided a kind of fatherhood-by-committee. Torn between the stirring example of his mother and the lurid romance of the bar, J.R. tried to forge a self somewhere in the center. But when it was time for J.R. to leave home, the bar became an increasingly seductive sanctuary, a place to return and regroup during his picaresque journeys—from his grandfather's tumbledown house to the hallowed towers and spires of Yale; from his absurd stint selling housewares at Lord & Taylor to his dream job at the New York Times, which became a nightmare when he found himself a faulty cog in a vast machine. Time and again the bar offered shelter from failure, rejection, heartbreak--and eventually from reality. In the grand tradition of landmark memoirs, The Tender Bar is suspenseful, wrenching, and achingly funny. A classic American story of self-invention and escape, of the fierce love between a single mother and an only son, it's also a moving portrait of one boy's struggle to become a man, and an unforgettable depiction of how men remain, at heart, lost boys.

Rating About Books The Tender Bar: A Memoir

Ratings: 3.96 From 28403 Users | 2645 Reviews

Commentary About Books The Tender Bar: A Memoir

I initially fell in love with this memoir, and for 150 pages could not put it down. This is when Moehringer describes his childhood in a dysfunctional broken-down home in Long Island and his search on the radio air waves for his missing father's voice. He writes hauntingly and convincingly of his childhood anxieties, much of which center on protecting his mother, and his drive to take care of her. He describes his early discovery of the neighborhood bar, where his Uncle Charlie worked, and found

One must have a place in order to be. Without a place to stand, one cannot perceive the idea of belonging. For many, if not most, of us spend a great deal of our growing up years sorting out just where that place is. This mythical location that is more real than the keys of this computer, is made up of: physical location, culture, belief, what is ingested, speech, language and a multitude of other factors that are as imperceptible as the daily recommended allowance of needed vitamins and

I absolutely loved this brilliantly written and heartfelt memoir. Uncle Charlie, Cager and Steve are my new found heroes and all are (were) the epitome of cool. You don't mind if I say epitome, do you? So glad I finally read this...Highly recommend!

Dear J. R. Moehringer, this is one of the best memoirs I've ever read. I finished it in tears. Kudos!

Dear J. R. Moehringer, this is one of the best memoirs I've ever read. I finished it in tears. Kudos!



Publicans, the bar where the author found his mojo, has just been rechristened in Manhasset. I guess it's pretty telling that I liked a 5 star and a 1 star review, because both made valid points about the book. On the positive side, Moehringer writes well (for a Yalie anyway), but his life is a mess, with a deadbeat, absentee father, and a mother barely able to keep them afloat, shuttling between living with her parents or trying to make it in their own place. The other highlight is the zany