Last Call at Elaine's: A Journey from One Side of the Bar to the Other Review

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(More customer reviews)Mr. McDonald vividly describes the unique world of Elaine's, an iconic bar and restaurant in the Big Apple. But that's not all he describes in this hard to categorize Memoir. The book is a redemption story. And it's a celebration of a place that will probably never be equaled for its longevity and its sheer glamor. In addition, Mr. McDonald has written a most sensitive and compelling portrait of Elaine Kaufman. Ms Kaufman has always been enigmatic even to the people closest to her and the people that have previously written about her. McDonald enables us to see the strength, fragility and vulnerability of this complex and enormously successful "Queen of New York." She is just human after all. However, the most significant aspect of 'Last Call at Elaine's' is the author's portrayal of his own alcoholism and the concomitant and destructive denial that all alcoholics must have in abundance to keep doing what they do. There is nothing trite, maudlin or sensational about the way McDonald describes this insidious disease. I feel richly rewarded for the sleep I lost staying up to read this book. I am glad McDonald took Elaine's advice to 'Just tell the Story.'

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Brian McDonald was a few years sober when he took a job as bartender at the renowned Elaine's restaurant on Second Avenue at 88th street in Manhattan. During his eleven years at Elaine's, he saw, served, and overheard many famous customers, from Woody Allen to Kurt Vonnegut to Mick Jaggar. He also developed a unique friendship with Elaine herself. Last Call At Elaine’s is an intimate look at the well-known and beloved restaurant, its owner, and its famous literary and luminary clientele.At the same time, McDonald’s memoir is the deeply personal story of how a bartender became a writer, fell off the wagon and got back on, and found himself through the window of a very famous restaurant. Last Call at Elaine's is Brian McDonald's colorful and sensitively drawn memoir of drinking, serving, writing, and finding his way out from behind the bar.

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The Enders Hotel: A Memoir (River Teeth Literary Nonfiction Prize) Review

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(More customer reviews)Growing up in a hotel sounds like a cool and exotic experience, doesn't it? At the very least, it must have offered the chance to meet all kinds of people. And eating all of your meals at a café counter, sitting on an upholstered and spinnable stool, would have been fun, too. Well: maybe. These are the kinds of scenes Brandon Schrand recalls when he thinks back to his childhood. He lets us in on his unique past within the pages of this intriguing memoir.
Schrand's family owned the Enders Hotel in Soda Springs, Idaho, from 1975 to 1992. A three-story brick building with more than 100 rooms, the hotel dates to 1919 and was named for William and Theodore Enders, the German immigrant brothers who built it. Coincidentally, the establishment was also an attraction for "enders" of other sorts: transients, recovering alcoholics, and individuals just plain down on their luck. Schrand's relatives -- a complex combination of personalities as a result of multi-generational divorces -- accommodated pretty much all of them, when they weren't on the move or in recovery themselves. "It seems fitting, inevitable perhaps," he writes, "that we eventually bought a hotel, a place outfitted with so many exits and entrances, and a place that seemed itself a beacon to the far-farers, to people, ultimately, like us." (p. 203) At the same time, Brandon was growing up. An only child with a vivid imagination and a clubhouse that he eventually shared with friends and classmates, Brandon spent his so-called "formative years" doing odd jobs around the building, alternatively interacting or deliberately ignoring the guests (as per his parents' orders), and exploring the natural areas around the hotel. Complete with a geyser that erupted every hour on the hour, Soda Springs was a company town, a tourist destination, and a temporary way station for many a passer-by. For Brandon, it was Home.
The novelties are what make for interesting reading here. Soda Springs. An unusual family situation. Living in and operating a hotel with a bar and a restaurant. Most of us don't come from similar situations. And yet: growing up is in itself a common experience and one that we can all relate to, no matter the location. And though we may be singularly place-oriented when we are children, it is only when we become adults and look back over the years that we realize that the individuals who surrounded us at the time made the difference, all along. As much as we loved special buildings or certain towns, it was the people who made those places remarkable for us. That can be a hard lesson to learn; harder still, to accept.
Writing such a book is a risky business, since it reveals so much of oneself and one's family. (How did Brandon remember all of these boyhood incidents???) This is the kind of memoir that prompts you to write your own. It's easy to see why it's an award winner.

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