#362 The Dive Bar- Katherine Heiny
This is the first story in the debut book by Katherine
Heiny, Single, Carefree, Mellow. This is my first time reading anything by
Heiny…she had me at Dive Bar. I like dive bars, I like drinking at dive
bars…hell I just like drinking. Of course this story isn’t really about a dive
bar.
What I do like about this story is the setting, New York
City. There are a lot of writers that are from, have lived in, or pretend to
understand NYC. Not all of them succeed. Having moved away from NY just a year
ago, and recently returned, reading about the bar and singles scene in Manhattan makes my heart twitch
just a bit.
It’s small things, but familiar things, like Sasha and
Monique deciding where to drink by walking towards each other on
Broadway, and just stop in whichever bar they meet in front of.
“Sarah looks up and sees Monique down the block, and has
that thrill you get from seeing someone familiar on the streets of New York,
like looking through a box of old paperbacks at a garage sale and finding a
copy of a novel you love.”
This collection is about being single. Heiny’s writing style
is easy and treats this topic without pretense. So far, she gracefully avoids
stereotypes of gender norms, which is hard when dealing with such a topic.
Now I want to go hit up a dive bar and talk with a friend
about topics, both meaningful and not.
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