Hero

By Frederick Dillen

Book Overview

Set in a Manhattan steakhouse with high-ceilinged dining rooms, linen-covered tables and a filthy, sweaty kitchen, this novel tells the tale of an aging waiter - jokingly nicknamed 'Hero' - who moves... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1883642191
• ISBN13: 9781883642198
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Steerforth Pr
• Length: 130 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

brilliant and absorbing

Holy Guacamole. What a book. What an ending. If you're here you already know the premise--an aging waiter works at a steakhouse. Simple, right? Well, if you've ever worked at a restaurant, you'll know that it's anything but--it's a swamp of interpersonal negotiation with customers, fellow employees and management; an endless frantic Zen-like experience of being absolutely aware of what you're doing in the moment; and a job that requires considerable physical strength and stamina.So how does a 70 year old ex-drunk career waiter who is doing his best to be invisible handle a love-lorn customer, unforgiving management, deplorable behind-the-scenes work conditions, and a banana boat full of co-workers that Dillen describes with a no-holds barred brutality? Have you ever come across James Hillman's book the Force of Character about changes in aging? Rage is one of those things that just seems to get more prominent, and rage is how Hero becomes, well, a hero.I'm not talking self-righteous indignation here. I'm talking about the kind of fury that comes from that deep place, fury that takes you by surprise. And for Hero,a man who is trying his best to be invisible, to wrap the cloak of the restaurant around him, this fury is a bit of a problem. Or is it?This is a book that finishes off like a gourmet dinner with a particularly fine wine--it hits all the right spots, leaves you absolutely satisfied and thinking for days .(And then, of course, you tell all your friends!)

Brutal, honest and darkly comedic

An engaging and raw story of an aging career waiter taking risks to help a fumbling youth in a hellish compassionless New York kitchen-I couldn't put this book down. An easy and consuming read told with truest humanity, realism and hope.

A model of economical storytelling

This is a hugely accomplished work offering the lean power and tragic vision we remember from Hemingway when we forget how awful he really was most of the time. Hero is the darkly funny and painful account of an alienated waiter at a New York steak house, his brutish colleagues and his heartbreaking brush with salvation. A spare and beautiful first novel that does so much in so little space it's just hard to believe.