gorgeously introspective but very stoic in a way i'm not sure works, although it fits the feel of an old B/W movie this book is going for. 3.5 rounded up. tysm for the arc.

A pleasant read, but I didn't become as invested in the characters as I expected from other reviews. I wondered sometimes about the translator's choices -- there were some odd words sprinkled in, but perhaps that was a reflection of odd words used in the German. I also found it strange that the vanished, murdered Jews of Vienna were never once mentioned. (In 1938 there were over 200,000, in 1951 9000). One time only there is an offhand comment that half the people in Vienna are Nazis. But otherwise, the war that is sometimes mentioned as being in the recent past could have no connection with the Holocaust. Maybe this was an intentional comment on people's wish to forget an uncomfortable past? I just found it strange, as characters in the book would surely have known many Jews -- including café owners.

This book was a bit slow for me. It was still good and I was able to read through it, but it had lots of pills and parts that just didn’t get me excited to read on. I think the writing was decent, the characters were okay, but it was just ok not that great for me

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

Beginning in 1966 and spanning the next ten years, this story follows Robert Simon as he opens a cafe in post war Vienna. A character in the story as much as a setting, Vienna shifts and evolves as it modernizes. Against this backdrop, The Cafe With No Name provides a haven for those who the city threatens to leave behind.

While a quieter story with a slower pace than I initially expected, several of the characters stayed with me long after the book ended.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for an advanced copy of this book.

I come neither to praise this book or bury it. It's okay.
It's a nicely written story set in a down at heel part of Vienna. The fact that the author kept causing bad things to happen to all the central characters left me feeling bereft and sad. I imagine the story is realistic, but I look to stories for escape from how depressing life can be!