The Tender Bar
JR Moehringer grows up in his grandfather's chaotic Manhasset house with his single mother and an extended family that includes his Uncle Charlie, a regular at Dickens, the neighborhood bar. JR's biological father is a New York radio DJ called The Voice, an abusive alcoholic JR knows mostly through the radio. Across the 1970s and 80s, the men of Dickens become JR's de facto fathers, teaching him to drink and to read his way toward Yale. Moehringer's 2005 memoir was a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a 2021 film directed by George Clooney with Ben Affleck as Uncle Charlie.
What you might want to know about The Tender Bar
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A boy raised by his single mother and the regulars of a Long Island bar reads his way out of his absent father's shadow toward Yale.
Yes. The Tender Bar is J.R. Moehringer's 2005 memoir of growing up in his uncle's Long Island bar after being raised by a single mother. Moehringer also co-wrote Andre Agassi's Open and Prince Harry's Spare.
Yes. George Clooney directed a 2021 Amazon Prime film adaptation starring Tye Sheridan, Ben Affleck, and Lily Rabe. The film follows the memoir's father-figure-and-bar premise closely.
The Tender Bar was written by J.R. Moehringer.
The Tender Bar is a standalone novel by J.R. Moehringer, not part of a series.
The Tender Bar is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.