Rebecca Barry

“But it was daytime. The sun was out and the rules were different. He dropped his eyes and they passed each other without speaking, the way people who drink at the same place often do once they step out of the bar and into the world.”

“Across the street she could see the mourners staggering out of the lodge, two or three at a time, some singing, one woman weeping. 'Say what you will about drunks,' she said out loud to the dark room around her, 'but no one will love you like they can.'”

I like linked stories and I like drinking, so this collection, centered around Lucy's Tavern, in a small town, in upstate New York, turned out to be a perfect fit for me. The same broken and lovelorn characters, weave in an out of these stories, buying rounds, mooching drinks, and finding someone to go home with, after “last call”. My friends know, I love my craft beer and an occasional cocktail, but drinking on this level, with this kind of reckless abandon, has no appeal for me, but I sure like reading about it. Another round, bartender!… (mer)

Bourbon, beer and more: What a treat this new book by Rebecca Barry is! Short as it may be it packs a wallop on two levels...the host of characters replete with humorous dialogue and their inter-connected emotional states. Drink is central but it's a foil for everything else.

Set in upstate New York, the people who wander in and out of "Later, at the Bar" all have some major quirks. It's like reading an entire year's worth of episodes of "All My Children". Barry's narrative sails along unencumbered as bourbon is poured, beer is guzzled, cigarettes are lit up and tattoos are shown. Oh yes, there are plenty of tattoos! Marriages come and go on short notice, men leave women for other women and other men....well the list goes on. But the author makes each character a loveable and largely complex one. The final scene, where friends of Harlin gather, (as told through the eyes of Grace) is the culmination of a book that dares to embrace the underside of life and make it appear as normal as doings in your own hometown. In the end, people take care of each other. That says it all.

Rebecca Barry has given us a classic. It is funny and warm and bound to draw you in and make you stay for a glass or two. I highly recommend "Later, at the Bar" for its wit, charm and all of its endearing qualities.… (mer)