The Tender Bar: A Memoir

In the great tradition of iconic memoirs, this one tells the narrative of a boy's battle to become a man and is a memorable portrayal of how men are still, at their core, lost boys. It's a classic American tale of self-invention and escape, as well as the intense love between a single mother and her only son.

A voice has always intrigued J.R. Moehringer as a child. Before J.R. spoke a word, his father, a disk jockey in New York City, disappeared from the world. J.R. would sit on the doorstep with his ear pressed to the radio, trying to decipher the mysteries of identity and manhood in that plummy baritone. Although J.R.'s mother was his world and his pillar of support, he yearned for something more, something that could only be dimly and eerily heard in The Voice.

When J.R. was eight years old and he couldn't locate The Voice on the radio, he went to the pub on the corner and discovered a raucous chorus of unfamiliar voices. Men of several backgrounds congregated in the pub to share their tales and forget their worries including poets and police officers, bookmakers and soldiers, movie stars and stumblebums. J.R. was taken to the beach, ballgames, and eventually their circle by the alphas along the bar, which included Joey D, a gentle brawler, Uncle Charlie, who resembled Humphrey Bogart, and Colt, who sounded like Yogi Bear. They gave J.R. instruction, took care of him, and acted as a kind of committee parenting.

J.R. attempted to find a place for himself in the middle, caught between the gaudy romanticism of the bar and his mother's inspiring example. When J.R. decided to leave home, however, the bar turned into an ever more alluring haven, a place to come back to when embarking on his picaresque adventures—from his grandfather's dilapidated home to Yale's revered towers and spires; from his ridiculous housewares job at Lord & Taylor to his dream job at the New York Times, which turned into a nightmare when he discovered he was a broken cog in a massive machine. The bar repeatedly provided a haven from grief, rejection, failure, and finally from reality.

Following in the great tradition of seminal memoirs, The Tender Bar is a gripping, heartbreaking, and painfully humorous read. In addition to being a powerful portrayal of a boy's journey to becoming a man and an enduring illustration of how men are still, at their core, lost boys, it is a classic American tale of self-invention and escape as well as the intense love between a single mother and her only son.