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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
hopeful
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
This a lovely, slow little book that just winds its way through the story. I loved it.
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was alright - I liked the main character Robert Simon, and his cafe assistant Mila. The rest was really just 'slice of life' vignettes of the people who came in to the cafe, with a few stream-of-conversation interludes. Some of these were interesting and engaging... but beware:
A lot of the blurbs say this is vibrant and heartwarming -- but it felt like characters kept getting drunk/having heart attacks/otherwise keeling over and dying on the street. The butcher has to care for his expanding brood of kids and his ailing father; Simon has to care for his widow landlady who is getting dementia; and his landlord who's dying after the aforementioned heart attack on the street. Things keep going badly. Mila's bady dies; Simon falls for an addict; The landlord has to sell the building out from under Simon, so he closes the cafe after a party that no one really remebers for long. Everything felt mildly (mostly?) depressing, and then it ends.
There were some really engaging clever phrases -- this one comes to mind (I may be slightly paraphasing):
"I don't have to look under every manhole to know the sewer is down there" (Ha!)
But there are also several times where phrases or words have been translated into very British slang/colloqualisims -- and it felt jarring.
A lot of the blurbs say this is vibrant and heartwarming -- but it felt like characters kept getting drunk/having heart attacks/otherwise keeling over and dying on the street. The butcher has to care for his expanding brood of kids and his ailing father; Simon has to care for his widow landlady who is getting dementia; and his landlord who's dying after the aforementioned heart attack on the street. Things keep going badly. Mila's bady dies; Simon falls for an addict; The landlord has to sell the building out from under Simon, so he closes the cafe after a party that no one really remebers for long. Everything felt mildly (mostly?) depressing, and then it ends.
There were some really engaging clever phrases -- this one comes to mind (I may be slightly paraphasing):
"I don't have to look under every manhole to know the sewer is down there" (Ha!)
But there are also several times where phrases or words have been translated into very British slang/colloqualisims -- and it felt jarring.
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book reminds me of the famous line from Philip Larkin's poem: 'where can we live but days?'.
It's the feeling of sonder captured, as we get to glimpse inside the everyday lives of characters that frequent the cafe.
The fact it is set in post-war Austria underpins the central everyday lives with a backdrop of sadness and, ultimately, hope.
It's the feeling of sonder captured, as we get to glimpse inside the everyday lives of characters that frequent the cafe.
The fact it is set in post-war Austria underpins the central everyday lives with a backdrop of sadness and, ultimately, hope.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Note to self - be a bit more suspicious when it says on a cover that this book is an international best seller. So hard to believe! This was just an OK novel - nothing particularly special about it.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
emotional
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced