Anna Bruno

Reading this story was like peeling layers of an onion. The more you understood the plot, the more interesting it became throughout the story. I liked the fact that the sparrow trapped in the bar was foreshadowing of bad things to come. I could relate to my own experience. I was starting my fourth year teaching at a certain country school, and administration on all levels changed. Evil became rampant. So many dysfunctional things happened around and to me. If I wrote my own book, it would be a biography. That same year, as I would drive closer to my work, I would see a flock of the ugliest big black birds flying overhead. I would throw my hands in the air and declare, "Get behind me, Satan!" My son thought I was nuts. I am a Christian, but pride myself on not being a whacko one. I saw those birds over and over and over that year, unlike other years. The work situation was extremely bad. When I finally decided to flee that job literally on the last day, I had parked around back, packing away my stuff in the trunk. I kid you not. TWO DEAD BLACKBIRDS were sprawled at the bottom of a light pole I had to drive around them. I still shudder thinking about it. I do feel it was a sign from God. Anyway, enough of me! I thought the sparrow, although mentioned only briefly a few times in the book, provided the foreshadowing of things to come very well. I also love the artwork of the sparrow on the book cover.

The setting reminded me of the show CHEERS, but on a darker, more morbid level. I was caught by surprise how that one bar neatly tied in every angle there was to know about the story at the very end. The fire could have been like the "phoenix rising from the ashes" optimism if the story had been written differently. However, it was the total opposite, so if you need a happily ever after ending, you might want to skip this. However, not all was bad. It did end on a hopeful note. I was glad that the main character Emma was able to realize her own shortcomings by the end of the book. This story deals with friendships, destroyed friendships, loss, grief, financial values, and much more. So much was covered in just one book. I think it will make the reader question his/her own values about many things. Enjoy!… (mehr)

Great bar descriptions, really terrific understanding of bar culture and bar regulars.

Each chapter is an hour in the bar, but most of the story is told in flashback and memory. There's a good set-up for tension -- that Emma will have to go to a meeting at 9 pm and the hours are building toward it -- that never pans out. When 9 comes and goes and there seems to be no real consequence for missing the meeting, that device falls a little flat.

She does well at setting up Lionel's death, making it totally believable and not what you expect but, at the same time, exactly what had to happen.

Overall, really good. A little thick with description and memory. And it's a bit difficult to imagine what this narrator is doing. That is, the story is told as memories and observations, but who is she telling this to? Herself, I suppose, but it seems like a lot of memories for the time span. Plus, in the main story, she is getting drunk, but her perceptions and her voice don't really change.… (mehr)

I do not remember where I first heard about this book but I ordered it from our curbside only pickup library and found it very hard to put down once I started it. It did take a little while to understand the structure and narrative but the author did a seamless job of integrating the current setting-one evening in a bar-with the backstory of the main characters. She also did an admirable job of bringing in other characters, mostly regulars from the bar, to add to the story. I really liked the book and hope that Ms. Bruno writes more.… (mehr)