Do you like your books with an aura of nostalgia? Do you like reading about melancholy? Then you might enjoy In the Café of Lost Youth. Maybe.

I love both of those touching (and a bit bleak) sentiments in books, but they cannot be conveyed all that well when the book offers plot upon plot upon plot. Unfortunately, In the Café of Lost Youth was neither atmospheric enough to land the sense of nostalgia, nor passionate enough to convince the reader of the melancholia. It got close sometimes, but never attained that emotionality. That said, this light detachment was quite reminiscent of French arthouse films, so you could at least say the book is authentically French.

I wonder if I’d enjoy it more had I read the original, rather than the English translation. Unfortunately, I was a bit of a clown and thought Modiano must be Italian (I rarely look up authors) so I never thought to look for the French editions. I did not like this book enough to justify buying it a second time and rereading, so I can’t comment on the quality of the translation either.

So in short, you could love In the Café of Lost Youth, or like me you could find yourself bored of the plot-heavy narration that never changes its voice sufficiently for different characters. Either way I’d categorise it as a very elementary book, without much depth of character and emotion despite dealing with the fleeting of youth and people, which makes it very easy to read quickly. If you want an unchallenging Nobel laureate read, this might even be ideal for you!