Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club

Locations
Call Number: Fiction / Stradal, J. Ryan, Adult Book / Fiction / General / Stradal, J. Ryan
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch, Westgate Branch

"This novel is the story of Mariel and Ned, a couple from two very different restaurant families in rustic Minnesota, and the legacy of love and tragedy, of hardship and hope, that unites and divides them"-- Provided by publisher.
Mariel Prager needs a break. Her husband Ned is having an identity crisis, her spunky, beloved restaurant is bleeding money by the day, and her mother Florence is stubbornly refusing to leave the church where she's been holed up for more than a week. The Lakeside Supper Club has been in her family for decades, and while Mariel's grandmother embraced the business, seeing it as a saving grace, Florence never took to it. When Mariel inherited the restaurant, skipping Florence, it created a rift between mother and daughter that never quite healed. Ned is also an heir--to a chain of home-style diners--and while he doesn't have a head for business, he knows his family's chain could provide a better future than his wife's fading restaurant. In the aftermath of a devastating tragedy, Ned and Mariel lose almost everything they hold dear, and the hard-won victories of each family hang in the balance. With their dreams dashed, can one fractured family find a way to rebuild despite their losses, and will the Lakeside Supper Club be their salvation?

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Ugh. Save your time for something better. submitted by 21621031390949 on June 9, 2023, 6:13pm What a lousy book. I regret that I spent two days reading it. What a disappointment! I’d read a couple of good reviews, including one on public radio, and was expecting good things, but no.

This book is banal. It is poorly written. The characters are shallow and unbelievable. There is no purpose to this book. There are so many topics, characters, happenings in this book, and yet none of them hang together, none of them are worth caring about. Things/issues the author introduced in this story include: the Depression, homelessness, poor parenting, infertility, miscarriage, death of a child, death of a young spouse, death of parents and grandparents, mother-daughter conflicts, nepotism, helicopter parenting, incompetency in business, ruthless millionaire barons, closeted homosexuality, family conflicts setting records in the Guinness book….and none of these things were developed in any meaningful depth. Birthday parties were dwelled upon. Fried foods were discussed. But important threads about characters were left dangling or never explained. (What ever happened to Gus? What did Gus do that was so terrible to require Betty to run away?)

And did I mention the non-linear presentation of this book, jumping forward and backward from 1930’s to 1990’s and points in between, with little to no transition? Or the multitudes of insignificant characters, friends, neighbors introduced by first and last names, but pop up only once or twice in the whole book?

Ugh. Save your time for something worth reading.

Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club submitted by russelan on July 13, 2023, 5:20pm I thought this was pretty good but also very schtick-y now that it's the third book by Stradal that follows midwestern women without adding much new to the table. It's an interesting for him to continue to write female characters but I think he does it fairly well. I enjoyed reading about the four generation of women and their relationships. However, there were some things that didn't work for me. The jumping around between characters and timelines was hard to follow.

Didn't finish submitted by ehautman on July 30, 2023, 6:09pm I wasn't enjoying this book for about the half of it I read. The story line is difficult to follow and jumps between decades and multiple plot points. There are also just too many characters all with poor development that it's hard to care about anyone's story. About halfway through there is the unexpected death of a child and I just couldn't take reading it anymore.

Great submitted by manz on August 1, 2023, 12:21pm I so enjoyed reading this book! It's my favorite by this author so far. Great characters! I love the way this author portrays family over decades and interweaves their stories together, filled with midwest delight. Since his themes tend to be similar in his books, I'm hoping he changes it up for this next book to keep things interesting.