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A review by daybreak1012
The 24-Hour Café by Libby Page
4.75
Ever since reading Ms Page's book The Lido, I have been wanting to try another of her books to see if it would measure up. I wasn't able to find this particular book anywhere in my local library system (a rare occurence!) but based on how much I loved my first venture into her books, I went ahead of found a secondhand copy.
What I liked about The 24-Hour Cafe:
Characters you can fall in love with - This appears to be a great strength for this author because this was one of the aspects that I particularly enjoyed in the other book of hers that I read. Her characters have depth, are lovable even though flawed, feel incredibly real, and almost immediately feel familiar to me.
The perfectly chosen setting - Upon completion, I cannot think of a single better setting to be the vehicle of this story.
Positively brilliant format for telling this story -The fact that the span of the majority of this book took place over a single 24-hour period, and yet didn't: I am still shaking my head in pleasant disbelief at how Ms Page executed this in such a unique fashion. Furthemore, it never lagged or failed to push the plot forward or got lost in the weeds. I am simply impressed by how it came together and I cannot imagine her using any other format.
A testament to friendship - What captured me in The Lido was how effectively Libby depicted the importance of community. The 24-Hour Cafe was an ode to friendship: its birth, how it is its own kind of love story in our lives, the ways in which we can take it for granted, the question of its survival when it is pitted against our lifelong dreams.
The background of the main story - I mentioned both the characters and the setting, but this feels separate to both of those, even as it overlaps both of those things. In the background of this single day within the confines of the cafe, as one might expect, there was a steady stream of characters the reader meets briefly. I have no idea how she pulled this off, but for the snippet-encounters we get with the patrons of Stella's, these peripheral characters are perfectly fleshed out with entire mini-plots that fit in with the book's personality and made sense within the context of the plot in a way I don't know how to adequately explain, other than to say they somehow belonged.
An epilogue that was precisely what I needed it to be - I don't want to spoil anything about it, so I will simply say that this was the ending I didn't know I needed and it was so satisfying.
What I didn't care for:
I can't think of anything - I sat here contemplating and truly cannot think of anything I would change.
Worth noting:
Possible dealbreaker - There are only the vaguest of bedroom references, but there are several instances of curse words being used. Not a ton, but there all the same.
It's really hard when you fall in love with the first book you read by an author, because everything you read after that will be measured by the bar that has been set. The only thing that gave The Lido a slight edge was that I loved the sense of community that was its own character, it was such a strong component of the story told. Having read and loved two books now by Libby Page, I have already added more of her work to my TBR, and I won't hesitate to purchase them if I have to.
Characters you can fall in love with - This appears to be a great strength for this author because this was one of the aspects that I particularly enjoyed in the other book of hers that I read. Her characters have depth, are lovable even though flawed, feel incredibly real, and almost immediately feel familiar to me.
The perfectly chosen setting - Upon completion, I cannot think of a single better setting to be the vehicle of this story.
Positively brilliant format for telling this story -The fact that the span of the majority of this book took place over a single 24-hour period, and yet didn't: I am still shaking my head in pleasant disbelief at how Ms Page executed this in such a unique fashion. Furthemore, it never lagged or failed to push the plot forward or got lost in the weeds. I am simply impressed by how it came together and I cannot imagine her using any other format.
A testament to friendship - What captured me in The Lido was how effectively Libby depicted the importance of community. The 24-Hour Cafe was an ode to friendship: its birth, how it is its own kind of love story in our lives, the ways in which we can take it for granted, the question of its survival when it is pitted against our lifelong dreams.
The background of the main story - I mentioned both the characters and the setting, but this feels separate to both of those, even as it overlaps both of those things. In the background of this single day within the confines of the cafe, as one might expect, there was a steady stream of characters the reader meets briefly. I have no idea how she pulled this off, but for the snippet-encounters we get with the patrons of Stella's, these peripheral characters are perfectly fleshed out with entire mini-plots that fit in with the book's personality and made sense within the context of the plot in a way I don't know how to adequately explain, other than to say they somehow belonged.
An epilogue that was precisely what I needed it to be - I don't want to spoil anything about it, so I will simply say that this was the ending I didn't know I needed and it was so satisfying.
What I didn't care for:
I can't think of anything - I sat here contemplating and truly cannot think of anything I would change.
Worth noting:
Possible dealbreaker - There are only the vaguest of bedroom references, but there are several instances of curse words being used. Not a ton, but there all the same.
It's really hard when you fall in love with the first book you read by an author, because everything you read after that will be measured by the bar that has been set. The only thing that gave The Lido a slight edge was that I loved the sense of community that was its own character, it was such a strong component of the story told. Having read and loved two books now by Libby Page, I have already added more of her work to my TBR, and I won't hesitate to purchase them if I have to.