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Luncheonette: A Memoir

Name: Luncheonette: A Memoir
Author: Steven Sorrentino
ISBN: 9780061877704

by Steven Sorrentino

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Overview

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.

About the Author, Steven Sorrentino

Steven Sorrentino has worked in public relations since 1987. His professional experiences range from corporate vice president to short order cook. Luncheonette is his first book. He lives in New York City.

Biography

Steven Sorrentino has worked in public relations since 1987, where he began as a publicist for Harper & Row, staying with that company during several transformations and becoming Vice President and Executive Director of Publicity at HarperCollins Publishers.

He directed campaigns for numerous #1 New York Times bestsellers as Bryan Burrough and John Helyar's Barbarians at the Gate, Oliver North's Under Fire, Newt Gingrich's To Renew America, and Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street Years and Path to Power. He managed the original publicity campaign for John Gray's phenomenally successful Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus.

Sorrentino has worked with a wide array of controversial and political figures; film, television, and sports stars; modern-day spiritualists and literary authors. These include the Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Wayne Gretzky, Marianne Williamson, Bob Colacello, Jay Leno, Cybill Shepherd, Valerie Harper, Eric Bogosian, Gary Hart, Christopher Darden, Donald Spoto, Leon Uris, Dan Quayle, Bobbie Ann Mason, Armistead Maupin, Thomas Moore, and others. One of the highlights of his career in PR was creating a campaign for one particular Hollywood memoir and then taking it on the road with its author: the legendary Ginger Rogers.

In his capacity as spokesperson for authors, the publishing house, and occasionally the industry, Sorrentino has been interviewed on Entertainment Tonight, Nightline, CNBC, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC.

In 2001, Sorrentino ended his fourteen-year career at HarperCollins to write a memoir about his experiences as a young man taking over the family business when his father suddenly became ill. Luncheonette was published in February 2005.

Steven Sorrentino lives in New York City.

Author biography courtesy of HarperCollins.

Good To Know

Some outtakes from our interview with Sorrentino:

"I am an amputee (I was born with six toes on my left foot!)."

"I've been yelled at by Margaret Thatcher."

"I once spent $2,200 on a Hair Club for Men piece that I wore for only 24 hours. Not one to waste my money, I stuck it back on my head a few years later when I went to a Halloween party as Joey Buttafuoco."

"There are lots of things I do to unwind or relax or entertain myself: I love to play the piano and sing, cook Sunday dinner for friends, and spend a week here and there in Paris. I love watching old sitcoms over and over again, especially The Nanny, The Golden Girls, and I Love Lucy and figuring out what makes the jokes work. I love seeing plays and musicals over and over again to identify all of the directing and acting choices, absorb the choreography, and analyze the book. I love really lowbrow basic desserts like whipped cream birthday cakes, Krispy Kreme donuts, cupcakes, and inhumanly portioned diner pies."

"Things that really push my buttons: I hate clothes shopping, cleaning, and most reality shows (except How Clean Is Your House? and Extreme Makeover Home Edition). I really hate experimental theater and really, really hate gourmet desserts served in tiny portions with raspberry sauce drizzled on the plate."

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly

Aspiring actor Sorrentino's plans of making it big in New York are squelched when his father contracts a debilitating illness that paralyzes him from the chest down. Dutifully taking over dad's role as proprietor of Clint's Corner, a New Jersey shore luncheonette, Sorrentino goes from being a 24-year-old gay performer to a firmly closeted, burger-flipping "Jersey Boy." While his loyalty to his Italian-American family is strong, as time passes and his father begins to recover, Sorrentino finds himself increasingly cemented in his new life, watching his ambitions fade as he struggles with his identity and sexuality in a parochial town where everyone knows everyone else's business. Sorrentino does a nice job portraying the diner's quirky cast of characters (including a Polish waitress who swears like a sailor in several languages and regulars like "Half-Cup Harold"), yet despite these amusements, he eventually becomes so caught between family responsibilities and his own dreams that depression sets in. With the help of therapy and the sale of the restaurant, Sorrentino finally overcomes his inertia and helplessness, regains an identity and a life back in New York, celebrating his father's life (as well as mourning his death, 16 years after his paralysis). The grand resolution seems tacked-on, but the book's core struggle is poignant. Agent, Stuart Krichevsky. (Feb. 1) Forecast: Sorrentino's position as former head of HarperCollins's publicity department should help this otherwise low-profile book get media coverage. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

In this winsome memoir, likely to be compared to the work of David Sedaris, former HarperCollins publicity executive Sorrentino makes a different kind of imprint on the publishing world. His memoir recounts his accidental "career" as a luncheonette manager and short-order cook. More important, the book pays tribute to the author's beloved father, Clint, luncheonette owner, politician, and music lover. Sorrentino's unlikely adventure begins on Christmas Eve 1980, when he travels home to New Jersey from his thrilling new life as a gay man and struggling performer in New York City. The triumphant holiday visit morphs into a lengthy sojourn when Clint succumbs to paralysis from a rare neurological disease. Ever the loving, dutiful son, Sorrentino remains at home to run the luncheonette for his wheelchair-bound father. As months turn into years, Sorrentino sinks into depression while, remarkably, his father weathers major adversities with nary a complaint. Ultimately, Clint's sterling example inspires Sorrentino to take charge of his own life. This loving, humorous portrait, resplendent with colorful diner characters and witty malapropisms, is highly recommended for all public libraries.-Lynne F. Maxwell, Villanova Univ. Sch. of Law Lib., Villanova, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Just when debut memoirist Sorrentino was thrilled with his new life in New York City, his father became paralyzed from the chest down, and the author returned to his conservative little hometown. Sorrentino offers a very tender story, if increasingly fraught, about the Christmas he went to spend with his family in West Long Branch, New Jersey, after which he didn't return to his NYC apartment for four years. That Christmas Eve was back in 1980, when the writer was 24. Whether or not a quarter-century distance has beveled his perspective, his sense of humor, and responsibility seems abiding and indelible. The Sorrentinos were a delightfully functional family, a liberal bunch in a Republican town, who had worked hard, had their ups and downs, but kept an even keel and maintained strong ties to a wide and local network of kin. Steven decides to stay and run the family's luncheonette, a recent purchase of his father's after his investment business went kaput in the downturn of the 1970s. It was a sacrifice, but never a question. Sorrentino had just moved to New York, where he was as happy as he could possibly be pursuing his career in musical theater and his gay love life. (His sexual orientation was apparently always an open secret in the family, though the rest of the town "didn't seem to notice that the Sorrentino boy [then age eight] was having a little too much fun in his mother's sling-backs.") In tones warm, tart, and exasperated, Sorrentino chronicles his days getting to know the business and its regulars, watching as his father's health swung up, then deteriorated, and assuming civic responsibilities while suffering the loss of career and love. These losses blossomed into a very realcrisis, yet in recounting them the author manages to wink at the past rather than stare at it. Describes with a natural ease the vigilance necessary to keep the faith, value life, and live in the present. Regional author tour. Agent: Stuart Krichevsky/Stuart Krichevsky Agency