The Tender Bar Summary
J. R. Moehringer

The Tender Bar Overview

J.R. Moehringer's memoir, The Tender Bar, details the events of his life as a child on Long Island, a teenager in Arizona, a student at Yale, and a floundering adult. He came to realize that he was driven partly by the lack of contact with his absent father though his mother gave constant support. His life became defined by his time spent at Publicans, the neighborhood bar, until he got a series of wake-up calls that prompted him to choose a different path. The main themes are names and identity, the role of the bar in Moehringer's neighborhood, father and son relationships, coming of age, and men as role models.