Café Unfiltered

May 15, 2023
Blondel’s moving and dynamic novel (after Exposed) explores the intersecting lives of visitors and staff at a provincial French café. Over the course of one summer day in 2021, with Covid-19 vaccinations and social distancing at the forefront of people’s minds, the large cast converges at Le Tom’s. There’s Chloé, 31, just beginning to recover from a breakup, and her former schoolmates José, a waiter who dreams of leaving his job to travel the world, and Fabrice, José’s friend and boss, who is set to inherit Le Tom’s from the owner, Jocelyn. Other visitors include middle-aged Françoise, who shocks her adult son by announcing her intention to divorce his father; and childhood friends Thibault and Pierre, meeting to reminisce, though each harbors a private sadness and resentment. At the heart is Jocelyn’s secret reason for the café’s name, which comes out in a poignant revelation. Though Blondel relies a bit too much on stories of women hurt by faithless or cruel men, the café serves as the perfect theater for tragicomedy—a place where, in Chloé’s view, “virtual strangers... chase away demons by building castles in the air.” This has plenty of charm.

July 1, 2023

As with his quietly incisive The 6:41 to Paris, French novelist Blondell here does a lot with a little, daisy-chaining the stories of staff and patrons at a small caf� in the French provinces on a single day. Steady, loyal owner Fabrice explains how he inherited the caf� from Jocelyn, who later comes for a visit and draws out Chloe, a regular who sketches through the day while considering how to take control of her life. Intemperate waiter Jos�, exasperated with Chloe's constant presence though she barely orders anything, recalls his indebtedness to Fabrice while contemplating his next move. Vainglorious Guillaume meets with his quietly assured mother, who puts him in his place and reveals some shocking moves of her own. Now a famous writer, Thibault grudgingly returns home to visit Pierre, still fuming over the pain caused by their relationship, but Pierre offers a different perspective on things. Though briefly sketched, each character comes fully and beautifully alive, and together their stories create a strong sense of people sorting through their lives and making changes. That the narrative takes place just as society is opening up post-pandemic serves to amplify that sense of possibility. VERDICT Moving, insightful, and fun to read; for fans of literary and popular fiction alike.--Barbara Hoffert

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