The Assault on Tony's

by Maureen O'Brien and John O'Brien

Book Overview

In this grim and darkly humorous novel, social alliances are forged and challenged as each member of a macabre party barricaded in a bar while a race riot rages outside ignores his fears in favor of keeping his tumbler filled to the brim. As the liquor supply starts to dwindle, the novel reaches dramatic intensity, exposing the highs and lows of the human spirit.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802115926
• ISBN13: 9780802115928
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

My Own Private Dry Storage

I need to collaborate on a biography of this O'Brien fellow...any takers?

No candy coating here

A novel that speaks to the darkest parts of oneself. Rambling and lost at times, a true voice emerges from the chaos. O'Brien has been here, he knows his way around all that flawed and desperate humanity and he shines a flashlight directly into it's decaying face, watches the insects scurry from the light. It's too late to take it back; he has shown us. I am grateful.If there is a Tony's in heaven, we can bet where John O'Brien would be: In the half-light of the corner booth, glass full to the brim, chuckling to himself about some melancholy truth.

Sweet Little Combination

Well, I've always been a fan of the "end of the world" scenarios. Ranging from Romero's zombie trilogy to anything with nuclear war, and this was a beautiful little twist on it. Told from the point of view of hard core alcoholics. Only work I've read by O'Brien, and I was quite impressed, it's a shame he's not around to keep writing, and expanding his skills. The last paragraph of the book was just perfect. And his sister's afterword is very moving.

"Life is nasty, brutish, and short"

Three months after reading this book, I am still haunted by many of the images painted in John O'Brien's captivating and disconcerting novel. Like Leaving Las Vegas, the characters in this novel do not attempt to be something that they are not, but instead find themselves saturated with what they are...There is a grace with which John O'Brien's characters accept their weaknesses that is almost admirable...almost. I loved this book although its commentary on human nature is not in any way uplifting. However, the writing is simply stunning, and the thoughts provoked are dark, but honest.