Luncheonette: A Memoir

by Steven Sorrentino

When his father contracted a sudden illness that left him paralyzed, Steven Sorrentino stowed away his dreams of Broadway stardom and returned home to West Long Branch, New Jersey, to help his family out. Taking over Clint's Corner, his father's luncheonette, Steven found himself at the grill flipping porkroll, serving a counter full of eccentrics, and confiding in Dolores, the crusty head waitress with a particular flair for butchering the English language. From this unusual post, Steven watched his ailing father who, though confined to his wheelchair, refused to accept defeat and even managed to further his career in local politics. Somehow, the more his father triumphed, the more Steven's own life seemed to stall. Guilty and confused, Steven made a shocking and desperate decision -- not knowing that he was about to stumble upon the secrets of his father's resilience. Luncheonette is an irresistible true story about the unexpected lessons life brings -- and of the inspiration we find in the least likely places.

Genres: Memoir, Biography Memoir

304 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 18, 2007

Reviews

[Mark Poons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guy has father. Father owns luncheonette. Father becomes cripple. Guy takes over luncheonette. Guy becomes depressed, father becomes big success. In the end everyone is happy. Except reader.

[Fred · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is hard for me to review this book objectively because this is not just a well written memoir about a father, a son and a luncheonette. It feel more personal than that because I grew up within walking distance of Clint's Corner, the luncheonette in the book and I knew Steve Sorrentino in the early 80s when he moved back from NYC after his father fell ill. Of course I was only in High School and I had no idea all the things he was going through. To me and my friends he was always cheerful and supportive and made a big impression us by helping choreograph our High School's musicals. I know all the places he talks about, many of the people he mentions and have eaten my fair share of pork roll egg and cheese sandwiches (my mouth waters just to write this). Still, this is a great story told honestly with great pace and engaging prose. It is a moving story about a father and a son, about responding to the unforeseen tragedies of the life, about coming out, going back in and coming out again. It is about a luncheonette in a small town and about finding life and love even when you think you have lost everything.

[Denise Provencher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Am I the only person from West Long Branch who hadn't read this book? Steve (Steven) has done a wonderful job of capturing WLB in the 1980's, with an honest and humorous voice. This book is a tribute to a father, and the story of a son finding his own way. Both men are remarkable, as are the many characters in this book. Broadway's loss is our gain!

[Laura Cobrinik · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I first began Steven Sorrentiono's memoir, "Luncheonette" I did not feel comfortable with it...I think that when I had bought it years ago, while researching the topic of "The Disabled in the Library Environment" that this book looked like a good resource. I may have also bought it because this memoir has its roots in Long Branch, New Jersey, a beach resort that I've been quite familiar with.

As I got into the memoir--after Steven's father becomes paryolized, and Steven gives up his dream to live in New York, and moves back to Long Branch, to help his mom and his siblings deal with his father's "so called," limitations. Steven ultimately takes other his father's Luncheonette with all of the "Old time crew." As the story progresses we watch his sister get pregnant, and have the first grandchild for Steven's parents', we watch how Steven's father gains independence while Steven feels more and more like a prisoner in what was once his father's "Luncheonette." Because everyone in his large Italian extended family all say that Steven is "the good son" for taking over his father's business, we see how Steven wants to be good and make a difference for his father and his siblings. At one point, to get his younger brother, John, out of the house, away from the new situation, he asks him to work on Saturday's and Sundays organizing the newspapers for the Sunday customers...but soon John finds that he has other opportunities and leaves Steven still in the Luncheonette. Although we watch as Steven gets more and more depressed about giving up his dream, we learn by the end of the book that Steven's job in the "Luncheonette" was really a maturing experience, and we also learn that "family loyalty" is the most important gift in the world. Because Stevens good deeds that he'd been doing since his father's first hospital stay, about four - ten years-ago, Steven ultimately learns that his family had guessed Steven's secret long ago. In fact, we, the readers, actually forget about those circumstances until the last chapter...

I thought that Steven Sorrentino, was actually a little week in sharing his "secret" throughout the book. I think that the ending would have been better if we heard about more of Steven's conflicts. I hope that Mr. Sorrentino reads this review--and then discovers my own mother's memoir, "A Different Mother," by Rena Trefman Cobrinik, available on amazon, in paperback and on kindle because his book is similar to that book....All in all I recommend Steven Sorrentino's "Luncheonette" and add, stick with this gem of a memoir because as difficult as things are, our family is our most precious gift and support system, where we do not have to "spell all of our thoughts out."
Laura Cobrinik,
Boonton Township, NJ

[Kelly Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Started this in 2019…picked it up and put it down a few times….finally finishing it in 2023. Overall it was good, just not my typical type of read. I did love the page layouts that looked like dinner tickets and the chapter titles. The beginning and ending really grabbed my attention.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good-enough story better than its decent-enough writer.

[Betsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This memoir captures the crazy cast of characters who inhabit the luncheonette, and the sorrow that the author cannot bring himself to share with his family.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

It grew and grew on me from start to finish.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this an enjoyable and quick read. Some of the characters in it are truly hilarious. They are almost caricatures which, at times, made me have to remind myself that this is a memoir, these are real people. (Ironically, I think would be annoyed if I ever saw characters like some of them in a work of fiction. I wouldn't find them believeable at all.) I really liked the author's honesty throughout. He didn't like where he was and what he was doing, but he understood the importance of it and did it with minor complaints. (Good on him. He's a good son.) And his father... wow. What an amazing man. How he stayed so upbeat throughout everything is a mystery to me. I found him to be very inspriational.

[Liz Bromley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never heard of this book-- just picked it up off the sale rack at Tattered Cover in Denver. But I really really enjoyed it. Though the story alternates between the mundane and the remarkable, the emotions dealt with by the author at his moment of truth are absolutely raw. He is tremendously skilled, as he is able to take his most private moments of self-doubt and his most stark self-realizations and open them wide for the reader. No one will read this book and not recognize him or herself in those moments, as we have all been there. But most of us are not nearly as honest about it, even to ourselves.

[Vincent Desjardins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This funny and touching memoir with its unique setting and quirky cast of characters (you won't soon forget Dolores, the salty-tongued waitress) reads like a novel. At the heart of the story is Sorrentino's love for his father, a man, who despite suffering one medical setback after another, never complains and always springs back. What young Steven Sorrentino learns from his father Clint is inspirational without ever being cloying or sentimental. I was moved to tears in the last chapter, yet I found myself having to go back and read it again. I loved this book

[Vincent Desjardins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This funny and touching memoir with its unique setting and quirky cast of characters (you won't soon forget Dolores, the salty-tongued waitress) reads like a novel. At the heart of the story is Sorrentino's love for his father, a man, who despite suffering one medical setback after another, never complains and always springs back. What young Steven Sorrentino learns from his father Clint is inspirational without ever being cloying or sentimental. I was moved to tears in the last chapter, yet I found myself having to go back and read it again. I loved this book

[Lela · Rating 3 out of 5]

I almost gave up this book. Steve was a bit too self-centered New York actor and I didn't find myself charmed by him or his neighborhood characters. I stuck with it, though, because he stuck with his dad's dream and slowly but surely let his go. He grew up and he grew on me. So did most of the characters! Pretty good memoir.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't put this down. A heroic young man, comes home to take over the luncheonette for his ailing father. He's angry and resentful, but he delivers every day and in the end finds a way out of the anger, and is able to leave the luncheonette. A lesson, I think and a wonderful depiction of the daily community and cultural center that is the luncheonette.

[Cara]

A family disaster brings a grown son back to his NJ hometown to run his dad's luncheonette. This biography manages to set up every hoary cliche possible (gay son, small town, transplanted New Yorker, hometown, etc., etc.) and then dodge them all.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because I love small diners and odd places to eat, I loved this book. I could almost taste some of the old fashioned items that they served on the menu. This was a fun, pleasure to read of a book. I felt like visiting my local luncheonette after to savor up a good old fashioned grilled cheese.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Memoir about author and his family, particularily his father and his restaurant- Clint's Corner. Love story, really.

[Karen Powell]

Luncheonette: A Memoir by Steven Sorrentino (2005)

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story about a reluctant luncheonette manager who fills-in for his father who becomes incapacitated from a stroke. Quick read, entertaining.

[Janet]

I really liked this book