I struggled so much to finish this book. It took me weeks as I kept falling asleep reading it or using any excuse not to read. And honestly - that’s just not like me.

It started out promising and I was getting a real ‘Catcher in the Rye’ vibe. I enjoyed the setting and era. However I disliked the main character, and felt like the plot meandered on and on with such implausible twists and turns. Couldn’t with a clear conscience recommend to a friend. 2 stars.

A well-written book, and I was surprised by how much I found myself pulling for those two crazy kids to work things out. I will admit to being a little suspicious of how every woman was beautiful, and they were all head-over-heels for Charlie. I think having at least one young lady immune to his charms (I mean, even his guidance counselor seemed to have fallen in love with him!?) would have made the rest a bit more palatable.

I had a hard time getting through this book. The characters where not very compelling to me and made the overall story just fall flat.

1/5 stars


Thank you NetGalley for providing an ARC of this book.

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC. It's been on my shelf for a while, and I kept trying, but in the end it was a DNF for me. I just couldn't cope with the main character.

The prose of this book was so compelling, but the characters fell short for me. It was so hard to find anything to identify or align with in the main characters.

I enjoyed the writing the the premise, but the characters fell flat for me. I don't always need my main character to be likeable - in fact, most of my favorite main characters aren't likeable - but I couldn't find anything redeeming or worth rooting for in the main character here. Not for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity for an ARC to read and review.

This is a coming of age story that is very bittersweet, following Charlie Green who meets Paula Henderson and his life is forever changed.

The story takes place in the late 80s, following Charlie and the people around him. This story is more of a relatable story, of a person making choices, and shows that choices have consequences and the impact that it will have not only on your life but on those around you.

The premise was interesting enough to make me want to read the book, but the main character, Charlie, was enough of a jackass to make me dislike it. What a horrid character. I mean, are we, as readers, supposed to like this walking red flag?

I received and Advanced Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a review.

I really tried to like this novel; however, I could not get behind it. With the NetGalley description comparing this to Normal People and Sweetbitter, I was expecting this to be the next best Contemporary Fiction novel - unfortunately, the story really fell flat. If it wasn't for Roberts composition and use of imagery compelling me to continue reading on, this novel would have become my first DNF. The main character, Charlie Green, wasn't entirely unlikeable; but he is the 1980s version of a "Sad Boy." On top of the "Sad Boy" personality, Green comes with multiple red flags that a 15-year old me would have ignored; but makes a 27-year old me cringe.

Green, a hopeless romantic and inspiring writer, is determined to fall in love with a beautiful "light-eyed girl" (flag one) once he starts college. Before that though, he cheats on his current "brown-eyed" girlfriend by kissing a fellow counselor at "Fat Camp" (flag two) and only plans on telling his girlfriend until after he loses his virginity to her (flag three). Oh, and his grand plan for getting his girlfriend to sleep with him - getting her drunk on champagne so she will say yes (flag four). He then gets mad when his girlfriend would rather continue partying at a downtown loft of some Yuppies (or Haircuts, as Charlie Green calls them) instead of sleep with him, and leaves her on her own to go home (flag five).

The novel gets slightly better once Charlie finally makes it to college (after the fatphobia, internalized anti-Semitism, an rape culture of the beginning). However, I still find myself rooting the whole time for the story not to end up well for Charlie and would get upset when the other characters would continue to support his decisions. This novel was just about everything that the movie "Promising Young Women" and director Emerald Fennell wanted to warn us about.

Overall, I still give this novel 2/5 stars. Clearly, I am not the demographic of this novel, The writing was what really saved this novel; and I could see this becoming an excellent biopic.

I definitely struggled to get into this book but was always put off by the main characters thinking and how he saw relationships but overall it was an okay read. I couldn't get into this book even if i tried so hard to

I really wanted to read and love this book butt unfortunately the first chapter was just too triggering for me with those kids at the camp. aahhh i didn't know that would be there and I also didn't expect it to effect me so much. I can't rate this book because it's a dnf but if i have to i'll give it a 3 because i guess its not the book's fault that I was so effected.

I am going to be completely honest, this book was not for me! From the premise I thought I would like it! However, right on the first pages I noticed a main character with very problematic lines, fatphobic and sexist. While I am so grateful that NetGalley provided this book, I was unfortunately unable to enjoy this!

DNF unfortunately. The writing style was very basic in my opinion and so it didn’t make me want to continue reading. I also didn’t find Charlie very likeable but maybe that’s just me.

Thank you NetGalley for providing the ARC.

I read this thinking, surely this selfish, egotistical little boy is going to go through a self growth moment. Sadly it never really happened. This main character is wildly childish and unlikeable, and I suspect this attempt at romance never took into consideration an actual female perspective so it lands flat. The main character ultimately betrays every woman he is involved with, and he seems to think his observations about his own internal landscape are redemption enough leaving me to ponder, who is this written for? Who is the intended audience?

www.goodreads.com/book/show/57919293-bar-maid" style="float
NetGalley review
I couldn’t put this book down! It’s 1987 and 18 year old Charlie is starting college, believing he will meet a light-eyed girl and his life will be forever changed. Drifting off campus, he meets the extraordinarily beautiful bar maid Paula, desired by every man in Philadelphia and New Hope. As their relationship blossoms, college is all but forgotten and Charlie believes Paula is the everything he wants from life. But will Charlie still feel the same way when he faces reality. This book transports you back to the eighties, reminiscing the tribulations of university days and the intensity of your first love.

BAR MAID begins as an homage to Holden Caulfield but ends up being both a love story and a cautionary tale. Without question, Roberts has given us a work of literary fiction; his writing is superb. Ultimately, however, I felt dissatisfied. I wanted there to more to the story. The plot just wasn't big enough to encompass the writing.

First off I want to thank Net Galley for an ARC of Bar Maid. With that said this book was not for me at all. I couldn’t get into the book it’s self overall I didn’t finish. I tried and got maybe 50% through and gave up.

Extremely choppy plot line, in my opinion. I couldn’t decide whether to like and empathize with the main character or hate him. I never got hooked with the story and most of the quick dialogue and vague descriptions made it extremely hard to follow and uninteresting. DNF after chapter 10.

fatphobic, racist and just weird.

never dnf’ed a book so fast in my life.

thanks to netgalley for the digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.