I bought this on a complete whim. I hadn't heard of it. I almost never buy books I haven't already heard of. But the title jumped out at me. And it was adorably small (5.5 x 7.5). And I opened it to a random page and liked what I saw.

Turns out it has gotten some very good reviews.

Basically, it's 10 chapters about barflies in a small blue collar town in upstate New York. Each one stands on its own. And basically all character studies. Nothing happens. There are no lessons learned. They just muddle through their lives. But it's a really nice read. Real. And not in a depressing way.

I think part of whether this appeals to people is based on their own expectations and experiences of bar culture. This was very true to my own life. It's not, however, a major metro cosmopolitan sort of book. Not that sort of bar.

Some favorite excerpts:

"It was evening and the bar was beginning to take on the cozy, womblike feel it always got after happy hour, when people had just enough to drink to like themselves and forgive each other."

(Grace is crying)

"Lanford took a cocktail napkin out of his pocket and checked it for phone numbers. Seeing none, he handed it to Grace, who took it."

"She looked at the people around her: Earl in his one fine suit checking out Ada Wilder's ass; Ada standing there with her hand on her hip, letting him. Cyrus trying to look over his neck brace and down Janet Wilder's dress, Anne-Marie saying something to Martin, and Martin looking past her as if he'd already heard it a thousand times." ( )

Usually I would quote a blurb about the book taken from it’s cover or jacket. However, inside there’s a description about the book by Hannah Tinti, author of Animal Crackers and The Good Thief. I liked it so much, I’ll quote her instead:

"There is a kind of magic that happens at the right bar, with the right people, at the right time of night. A certain song comes on the jukebox, the bartender starts to sing, and two people wobble off their stools, lean into each other, and begin to sway. For a moment, it feels like the center of the world. Later, at the Bar is seasoned with characters who live for this kind of magic , who love hard and drink harder. Rebecca Barry skillfully weaves together their stories as if she is making her way through a room full of friends, then finds you a seat at the bar, leans over, and spills all of their secrets. They are full of heartache and hope, and you will want to stay with them, until everyone puts down their drinks and starts to dance."

The tavern in Barry’s story was founded by Lucy, nurtured it because she “loved live music and dancing and understood people who liked longing more than they did love – it became the center of the community.”

However it is not merely the center: it’s the lynch-pin.

When I first heard of this book, I thought it was a collection of short stories about individuals who frequent a bar, that each story may, or may not, be related to one another.

This is not the case. Yes, each chapter can stand on its own, but the author skillfully integrates one into another that this truly is ‘a novel in stories’.

I like the contemporary tone of the story and the characters written so well I actually recognized a few of them. They reminded me of someone I once knew – or still know.

It is this more than anything that struck me hardest. I used to watch Monday Night Football religiously at a restaurant/bar and formed strong friendships with some of the other patrons as well as some of the staff. In doing so you learn a lot about people. Sometimes even yourself.

These are the memories Barry’s writing brought back. She also shows the potentiality of what may have happened had many of those relationships continued through the amount of time that passes in Later, at the Bar. And if they remained centered around a bar.

I read this for a Read-A-Thon, and I have to say it was my favorite. Definitely a keeper, and definitely worth 5 Stars! ( )

If you believe that drunks and barflies are nice people and loyal friends, you'll probably like this book. Otherwise, it gets a solid "meh."

I liked the book well enough, but given all the praise, I expected something pretty great. It wasn't. For me, only two of the characters were compelling and they even seemed pretty standard. The linkages between the stories is handled well, and it's refreshing to leave the bar and get a broader sense of the (often sad) lives of these characters. But Later At the Bar is much like being in a bar yourself. There are some good times to be had, the drunks are kind of interesting, but in the end their antics are a little tiring and you want nothing more than to send them off for some strong coffee and go back to your sober life. ( )

http://tinyurl.com/5lrzns

I feel about this book as an amateur Amazon reader did: 5-star book with a 3-star end. Although, I might be so bold as to say it was a 1-star end.

After all the studied and meticulous portrayal of characters, those that no matter how sad and lonely they are and despite all their missteps you appreciate for who they are and why they are, Barry ends the book with a sentiment that I could not get behind.

Yes, all these characters hang out in a bar and drink a lot. And are clearly drunks. But we care for them because of their life choices, not their drinking (albeit its own life choice). Consequently, the sentiment "Say what you will about drunks . . . but no one will love you like they can" sounds like it's all well and good to be a drunk. In fact, it's better to be a drunk.

Ugh. How unfortunate, as Barry really can write. I suppose one could argue that drinking being such a central theme of the stories, it had to be tied into the last paragraph. Instead, I think the more prominent theme of "gee, life's a pain, and most people never, ever learn to figure it out, but continue onwards anyway" should have gotten final billing. ( )