Reading this story was like peeling layers of an onion. The more you understood the plot, the more interesting it became throughout the story. I liked the fact that the sparrow trapped in the bar was foreshadowing of bad things to come. I could relate to my own experience. I was starting my fourth year teaching at a certain country school, and administration on all levels changed. Evil became rampant. So many dysfunctional things happened around and to me. If I wrote my own book, it would be a biography. That same year, as I would drive closer to my work, I would see a flock of the ugliest big black birds flying overhead. I would throw my hands in the air and declare, "Get behind me, Satan!" My son thought I was nuts. I am a Christian, but pride myself on not being a whacko one. I saw those birds over and over and over that year, unlike other years. The work situation was extremely bad. When I finally decided to flee that job literally on the last day, I had parked around back, packing away my stuff in the trunk. I kid you not. TWO DEAD BLACKBIRDS were sprawled at the bottom of a light pole I had to drive around them. I still shudder thinking about it. I do feel it was a sign from God. Anyway, enough of me! I thought the sparrow, although mentioned only briefly a few times in the book, provided the foreshadowing of things to come very well. I also love the artwork of the sparrow on the book cover.

The setting reminded me of the show CHEERS, but on a darker, more morbid level. I was caught by surprise how that one bar neatly tied in every angle there was to know about the story at the very end. The fire could have been like the "phoenix rising from the ashes" optimism if the story had been written differently. However, it was the total opposite, so if you need a happily ever after ending, you might want to skip this. However, not all was bad. It did end on a hopeful note. I was glad that the main character Emma was able to realize her own shortcomings by the end of the book. This story deals with friendships, destroyed friendships, loss, grief, financial values, and much more. So much was covered in just one book. I think it will make the reader question his/her own values about many things. Enjoy! ( )

A tale of how ordinary decisions shape our world. Set in a night at the local bar, this story runs the gamut of business to pleasure to soul searching to disaster(s). I wouldn't say I enjoyed the story, and I didn't always agree with the main character's point of view, but it was well written and it makes you think about your choices and how that affects everything. Thanks to NetGalley for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review. ( )

Great bar descriptions, really terrific understanding of bar culture and bar regulars.

Each chapter is an hour in the bar, but most of the story is told in flashback and memory. There's a good set-up for tension -- that Emma will have to go to a meeting at 9 pm and the hours are building toward it -- that never pans out. When 9 comes and goes and there seems to be no real consequence for missing the meeting, that device falls a little flat.

She does well at setting up Lionel's death, making it totally believable and not what you expect but, at the same time, exactly what had to happen.

Overall, really good. A little thick with description and memory. And it's a bit difficult to imagine what this narrator is doing. That is, the story is told as memories and observations, but who is she telling this to? Herself, I suppose, but it seems like a lot of memories for the time span. Plus, in the main story, she is getting drunk, but her perceptions and her voice don't really change. ( )

I do not remember where I first heard about this book but I ordered it from our curbside only pickup library and found it very hard to put down once I started it. It did take a little while to understand the structure and narrative but the author did a seamless job of integrating the current setting-one evening in a bar-with the backstory of the main characters. She also did an admirable job of bringing in other characters, mostly regulars from the bar, to add to the story. I really liked the book and hope that Ms. Bruno writes more. ( )

THE FINAL FINAL has been Emma’s and Lucas’ preferred bar for years. But on her 35th birthday, Emma isn’t anymore the woman she used to be. She is drinking alone, acknowledging the other regulars and thinking about what has gone wrong in her life during the last couple of years. Her professional choice which deeply annoyed her success-oriented father, her marriage with Lucas which was never easy but also not too bad, the happiness when their son Lionel was born. And now she is sitting in a bar drinking and ignoring the texts from her friend Grace who seemingly has arranged something for her birthday. The more the evening advances the more the tension in the bar rises and unexpectedly, she learns things which lead to a dramatic end.

What I liked most about Anna Bruno’s novel were first, the atmosphere of the bar and second, the development of the protagonist. On the one hand, we have a place where you typically do not find an average single woman drinking alone. At first, everybody is friendly, they have known each other for years but keep a natural distance, they are only bar acquaintances it seems with no further connection and know not to trespass the personal sphere of each other. Over the course of time, you learn more about the other guests and slowly the heat is rising. This comes quite as a surprise which only underlines how perfectly this has been developed.

The whole plot centres around Emma and her pondering. It does not take too long to understand that something important must have happened that lead to the separation and deeply impacted her psychological state. It is just those things that happen in life, evidently ordinary hazards.

I loved the structure of the novel, having two timelines interwoven which each other which culminate in a distressing climax. Vividly narrated at a moderate pace, I really enjoyed delving into it. ( )