Hero - Softcover

Hero, as his co-workers call him, is an aging, lonely, down-and-out waiter in a Manhattan steakhouse, a recovered alcoholic haunted by his past, by the family that walked out on him 25 years ago and by the son who killed himself taking drugs. In a workplace atmosphere charged with bathroom humor, ethnic banter and backstabbing, Hero pushes away Molly, an elderly woman customer who befriends him, but he ultimately lives up to his nickname by facing down the alcoholic boss who attempts to use him to suppress a kitchen-staff protest over unhygienic conditions. Dillen, who has worked as a waiter from N.Y.C. to San Francisco, clearly knows his turf, and his first novel is intermittently funny and touching. But the dialogue, despite its authenticity, is often trite; the plot is predictable and the multicultural cast of underdeveloped characters (including a sprinkling of gay waiters) seem more like ethnic and sexual stereotypes than three-dimensional people. The novel has a certain louche appeal, however, and Samuel Goldwyn has optioned Dillen's screenplay.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.