Waitress Was New

This "charming . . . short account of ordinary goings-on in a French café" explores love, work, loneliness, and aging as it follows the daily life of a middle-aged Parisian bartender (Lemony Snicket)

Pierre is a veteran bartender in a café in the outskirts of Paris. He observes his customers as they come and go--the young man who drinks beer as he reads Primo Levi, the fellow who from time-to-time strips down and plunges into the nearby Seine, the few regulars who eat and drink there on credit--sizing them up with great accuracy and empathy. Pierre doesn't look outside more than necessary; he prefers to let the world come to him.

Soon, however, the café must close its doors, and Pierre finds himself at a loss. As we follow his stream of thoughts over three days, Pierre's humanity and profound solitude both emerge. The Waitress Was New is a moving portrait of human anguish and weakness, of understated nobility and strength.