---
title: Last Night at the Lobster (22 of 50)
description: Nathanael Yellis ponders low-wage work and how good fiction makes you care about things you overlooked in reviewing Stuart O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster.
image: https://static.hsstatic.net/BlogImporterAssetsUI/ex/missing-image.png
---

![](https://static.hsstatic.net/BlogImporterAssetsUI/ex/missing-image.png)

While in high school, I worked at Wallingford Farm, a somewhat touristy food and garden store. My coworkers were an odd mix of local workers: people spending a lifetime in dead-end jobs along with some high-school students like me. As a fairly privileged and definitely homeschooled kid, Wallingford was quite the learning experience.

Stewart O'Nan brought me back to those days. And his was a helpful reality check. It moved me way outside of my social circle and normal thought patterns. I highly recommend this sort of book.

[  
Last Night at the Lobster](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/673915.Last_Night_at_the_Lobster) by [Stewart O'Nan](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18341.Stewart_O_Nan)  
My rating: [4 of 5 stars](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/962790967)

Behold the transportive power of fiction: I spent a day at a Red Lobster and I cared.

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