Luncheonette: A Memoir

by Steven Sorrentino

Overview

When a rare condition suddenly rendered his father paraplegic on Christmas Eve 1980, twenty-three-year-old Steven Sorrentino stowed away his dreams of a Broadway career-not to mention his budding sexuality-left New York City, went back into the closet, and returned to his small hometown in New Jersey to take over Clint's Corner, his father's luncheonette. Steven found himself at the grill flipping porkroll and slowly flipping out, serving a counter full of eccentrics, and befriending the ribald Dolores, his crusty old waitress with a particular flair for butchering the English language. From this unusual post, Steven watched his wheelchair-bound father refuse to accept defeat, even furthering his career in local politics. Somehow, the more his father triumphed, the more Steven became the paralyzed one. 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 story about a son's complicated loyalty to his father, and the inspirational life lessons found in unexpected places.

This fifteenth anniversary edition includes a new author's note, photos and more.

"With echoes of Wally Lamb and David Sedaris, and a voice all its own, Luncheonette is a survivor's tale told with compassion and style, and all the edges left sharp."
-Jerry Stahl, author of Permanent Midnight and I, Fatty

"With his pitch-perfect blend of poignancy, wrenching gallows humor, and above all, truth, Steven Sorrentino's arrival on the literary scene is our collective good fortune."
-David Rakoff, author of Fraud

"Winsome...likely to be compared to the work of David Sedaris...This loving, humorous portrait, resplendent with colorful diner characters and witty malapropisms, is highly recommended..."
-Library Journal

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781735212104
Publisher:	Gerard West Media
Publication date:	07/21/2020
Edition description:	Fifteenth Anniversary ed.
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

STEVEN SORRENTINO began his career in public relations in 1987 as a publicist for Harper & Row, staying with that company during mergers and acquisitions, becoming Vice President and Executive Director of Publicity for HarperCollins Publishers.

While there, Sorrentino directed campaigns for numerous #1 New York Times bestsellers including Bryan Burrough and John Helyar’s Barbarians at the Gate; John Gray's phenomenally successful Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus; Marianne Williamson’s A Return to Love; Margaret Thatcher's Downing Street Years and Path to Power and more. Additionally, he worked with a wide array of controversial and political figures; film, television, and sports stars; and literary authors—including Reverand Ralph Abernathy, Michael Beschloss, Armistead Maupin, Wally Lamb, Jay Leno, Ginger Rogers and more.

In 2006, Sorrentino became Director of Author Promotions and Special Events for Barnes & Noble, Inc., the nation’s premiere book retailer. As the key liaison with sales and PR reps for major publishers and music labels, he oversaw an operation that booked over 3000 events yearly with writers, high-profile political figures, celebrities and musical artists in various event formats and special programming.

Integrating his passion for the performing arts into his position at Barnes & Noble, he created, booked, produced and hosted “Live at Barnes & Noble”, an event series with a theatrical format featuring performances by Liza Minnelli, Chita Rivera, Patti LuPone, Stephen Schwartz, Betty Buckley, Donna McKechnie, Marvin Hamlisch, and many other Broadway luminaries—as well as cast performances from Jagged Little Pill, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, Be More Chill, The Band’s Visit, Come From Away and nearly one hundred other Broadway and Off-Broadway shows to promote original cast recordings. He has conducted onstage interviews with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Joel Grey, Barbara Cook, Cloris Leachman, Ben Vereen, Andy Williams, Burt Bacharach, Sutton Foster, George Hamilton, Linda Eder and more.

Steven Sorrentino has also worked as a publishing and PR consultant, done personal coaching and is currently working on a novel. He lives in New York City.

For additional info, visit StevenSorrentinoStudio.com.

Hometown:

New York, New York

Date of Birth:

February 15, 1957

Place of Birth:

Long Branch, New Jersey

Education:

B.A. in English/Journalism, Baruch College, 1986

Website:

http://www.stevensorrentino.com

Editorial Reviews

Steven Sorrentino has a compelling story to tell, and he does it with an engaging combination of frankness and élan...the book succeeds in casting a net that is much broader than issues around sexual identity. It is about family, responsibility and choices that go into shaping a life...And while Luncheonette would be an entertaining read if it simply relied on the large cast of players, what gives the book its heft is the gradually revealed relationship between the author and his father.

Denver Post