Book Review: ‘Almost Home’ almost puts readers to sleep

“After Hours at the Almost Home,” is author and IU alumna Tara Yellen’s first novel, and it shows.\nIt revolves around the lives and circles of friends of co-workers who work at the Almost Home Bar and Grill in Colorado. We are first introduced to JJ, a college graduate who has moved from job to job, only to end up as a new trainee waitress at the Almost Home. We also meet Lena, the smart-mouthed, controlling, so-called “bitch” of the staff who dates the handsome bartender Denny, as well as Colleen and her daughter Lily, who at 13 rebels against her mother and attracts older men. We are also introduced to Keith and Marna, who are romantically involved and hope to leave Colorado for bigger and better things.\nThe book has a slow start and no real plot. After reading only the first couple of pages, I felt like I was reading something based off the 2005 film “Waiting” starring Ryan Reynolds. The novel holds the same idea as the film; people who work in a lousy bar and want so much more out of their lives than what their present situation affords them. Yellen’s novel is like “Waiting” turned into a soap-opera/drama, yet with no emotional investment in the characters.\nYellen tries to do in-depth character analysis into the inner-workings of each Almost Home employee, but her attempt fails. I didn’t care about the characters in this novel and that made it hard to want to read on. Although it is a short novel at 259 pages, it seemed to drag on and I couldn’t care less about what happened to the characters by the end. Maybe it’s just me, but I like to read novels that capture my attention and really engage me with the characters, but I didn’t get that from this book. It certainly was not a substantial or enlightening read by any means. Perhaps the only part of the book I found interesting was when the employees sit around on the Fourth of July and play the famous game from Nick’s, Sink the Biz!\nSo if you see this novel in the bookstore and really want to read it – I just want to give you fair warning about its lack of plot and character development. It was a nice attempt at a first novel, but for me it failed to become an engaging read. It was just plain boring.