There Will Be Lobster by Sara Arnell

There Will be Lobster by Sara Arnell

Published by Savio Republic ISBN 9781642939262

Hardcover, $27, 164 pages

Sara Arnell's titled her memoir of a midlife crisis There Will Be Lobster after an incident on New Year's Day in 2015 when she awoke on the bathroom floor covered in her own vomit after an evening of drinking way too much.

She had a black eye, cuts on her face, and her cheek burned from passing out on the radiant-heated tiles in the bathroom. She had to pull herself together to cook brunch for her adult children and some of their friends. As she entered the living room, a lobster that was supposed to be sitting in a pot ready to be boiled crawled out from under the couch.

Sara was having a bad day after a bad few years. She shares stories about the 18 pound tumor her daughter had surgically removed, (a tumor that no one knew the young woman had), her paralyzing fear of being an empty nester, and losing her job as the CEO of a once prominent advertising agency when the agency lost nearly all of its clients. She was losing her identity.

When she lost her job, Sara spent her days in bed watching Bravo TV's Housewives reality shows, not showering for days, wearing her son's sweatpants. She drank way too much, including one infamous Thanksgiving at her son's apartment with his friends where she impressed (mortified?) the young men with her ability to play drinking games with them.

Sara felt "old, ugly and useless", like it was the end of the world. She couldn't shake herself out of this funk. She didn't have friends she could call to get a cup of coffee, calling herself "an accidental socializer", incapable of making plans with anyone, only speaking to people she ran into accidentally. 

I discovered that Sara grew up in the small town of Saugerties, where my husband's family is from, and that added an extra layer of interest for me. There Will Be Lobster is a quick read, with most chapters just a few pages and only 164 pages in total, but Sara packs a punch in this slim memoir. The main point to her story is that if she can pull herself out of a really bad time, maybe you can too.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Sara Arnell's tour. The rest of her stops are here:

Review Stops

Tuesday, July 27th: Run Wright

Thursday, July 29th: Instagram: @readinggirlreviews

Friday, July 30th: Instagram: @pnwbookworm

Monday, August 2nd: Instagram: @gracereads82

Tuesday, August 3rd: Instagram: @neverthless_she_reads

Wednesday, August 4th: Instagram: @bluntscissorsbookreviews

Thursday, August 5th: Instagram: @babygotbooks4life

Friday, August 6th: Instagram: @booksaremagictoo

Monday, August 9th: Welcome to Nurse Bookie

Tuesday, August 10th: Instagram: @books_and_broadway_

Wednesday, August 11th: Bibliotica

Thursday, August 12th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Friday, August 13th: A Bookish Way of Life

Monday, August 16th: Jathan & Heather

Tuesday, August 17th: The Bookish Dilettante

Wednesday, August 18th: bookchickdi

Thursday, August 19th: Instagram: @mrsboomreads

Friday 5ive- August 6, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention this week.

I can't believe it's August already. Why does the summer go by in the blink of an eye, but the winters drag on?

1) It was a quiet week, but on a beautiful sunny Monday I walked nearly 50 blocks to the Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue to shop for children's books for a baby shower, a friend's new grandbaby, and a baptism. I was in my glory, spending nearly an hour in the store. The sales staff was very busy helping two other customers, and it took great restraint for me not to jump in and offer my assistance. But I did not. On the way home, I passed this massive, complete New York City block construction project in midtown. It looked like something from the Transformers movie.

2) So many restaurants and small mom and pop stores closed during the pandemic on the Upper East Side where I live, it's exciting to see that a new business is planning on opening. This one is called The Picnic Basket, and I am waiting to see if Yogi Bear and Boo Boo will be behind the counter when it opens.

3) One of the books that occupies a spot on my coveted Favorites Shelf on my bookcase is Mary Karr's brilliant memoir Lit. Karr's first memoir, The Liar's Club, about her growing up in a dysfunctional family in East Texas in the 1960s, ushered in the many memoirs that now line up on bookstore shelves. She was a recent guest on Katie Couric's Next Question podcast, and it was a fascinating discussion. I found her speaking about becoming a Catholic as an adult, and how her peers and friends dismissed her because of it, so enlightening. Karr became a Catholic while a professor at Syracuse University (where she still teaches) and it was because of meeting an older Irish priest who helped her that it happened. Give it a listen and read Lit.

4) If you are missing Broadway, Apple TV+ has a treat for you- Schmigadoon!  Keegan-Michael Key and SNL's Cecily Strong star as a couple who have been dating for a few years and while on a outdoor couples retreat get lost. They end up in the town of Schmigadoon, which looks like the set of a Broadway show, complete with people breaking out in song and dance at the drop of a hat. In order for Key and Strong to be able to return home, they must find true love. Is it with each other? It's so delightful, filled with wonderful performances from Broadway stars like Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth and Aaron Tveit. The songs and sets will remind you of famous musicals like Carousel and The Sound of Music. You will not be able to stop smiling or humming along. 

5) I read three books this week. Naomi Hirahara historical fiction, Clark and Division, follow a Japanese-American family as their lives are turned upside down when they are forced to move to an internment camp in California after the Pearl Harbor attack. They lose their livelihood, home, and possessions, and eventually are moved to Chicago, where their older daughter was sent to live. When they arrive in Chicago, they discover their daughter was killed when she jumped in front of a train. Younger daughter Avi doesn't believe her sister jumped and is determined to find out how her sister died. Hirahara does an amazing job balancing the mystery of a young woman's death and letting the reader see how this group of Japanese-Americans were treated during WWII, losing their American dream in the process. I highly recommend it. 

Sara Arnell's memoir of her midlife crisis, There Will Be Lobster, takes us through a very rough patch in her life.  Just as she faces life as a lonely empty nester, she loses her job as CEO of a once prominent advertising firm. She spirals downward, drinking too much, not showering, staying in her bed all day watching various Real Housewives on TV. Arnell packs a punch in this slim memoir, with most chapters just a few pages. It's riveting.  My full review publishes August 18th.

A few years ago, I read Laurie Gelman's hilarious novel, Class Mom, about a woman with two grown adult daughters and a son in kindergarten. Jen Dixon was such a terrific class mom for her two daughters, she reprises the role for her son's kindergarten class. Her snarky letters to the parents in the class became legendary, and the book made me laugh out loud. In the third book in the series, Yoga Pant Nation, Jen is now class mom for her son's fifth grade class, and once again we are treated to Jen's parent letters. She's also now a certified spin instructor and trying to find a job as a instructor, while also dealing with her aging parents who seem to be having some troubles. As a former class mom and current Peloton riding enthusiast, this novel was speaking my language. (I also loved Jen's loving relationship with her husband.) Be careful where you read this one, you'll be giggling out loud and people will wonder what you are up to.

It looks like we are going backwards with COVID. Please be safe- get a vaccine to protect those who cannot, and wear a mask indoors. We can beat this if we work together.