num_pages: 117
description: Pierre is a veteran bartender in a café in the outskirts of Paris. He observes his customers as they come and go – the young man who drinks beer as he reads Primo Levi, the fellow who from time to time strips down and plunges into the nearby Seine, the few regulars who eat and drink there on credit – sizing them up with great accuracy and empathy. Pierre doesn’t look outside more than necessary; he prefers to let the world come to him. Soon, however, the café must close its doors, and Pierre finds himself at a loss. As we follow his stream of thoughts over three days, Pierre’s humanity and profound solitude both emerge.The Waitress Was New is a moving portrait of human anguish and weakness, of understated nobility and strength. Lire est un plaisir describes Dominique Fabre as a "magician of the everyday."
language: English
title: The Waitress Was New
titlecomplete: The Waitress Was New
genres: Literary Fiction, France, Fiction, Literature, Food, Novella, French Literature, Novels
ratings_count: 445
awards: awardedAt: 1230796800000
name: BTBA Best Translated Book Award
category: Fiction Longlist, awardedAt: 1230796800000
name: PEN Translation Prize
category: Jordan Stump
publisher: Archipelago