Status: 12.10.2023, 16:54 PM
By: Andrea Stettner
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"The Café Without a Name" by successful author Robert Seethaler immediately stormed the Spiegel bestseller list. The novel is rightly one of the best books of 2023.
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With his novel "Das Café ohne Namen", Robert Seethaler already made it to number 2023 on the Spiegel bestseller list in the summer of 1 - and has not left it since then (as of October 12, 2023). If you haven't read this wonderful book yet, you should definitely do it for the cold season – it's worth it.
Robert Seethaler "The Café Without a Name": That's what the book is about
Robert Seethaler at the Harbour Front Literature Festival 2023 in Hamburg. His novel "The Café Without a Name" is on the Spiegel bestseller list. © Funke Foto Services/Imago/Claassen (montage)
Robert Seethaler's latest novel is set in his hometown of Vienna. In 1966, casual worker Robert Simon dreamed of owning his own restaurant. When an inn on Karmelitermarkt became available, the war orphan renovated the run-down rooms and opened his café there. It remains nameless – for lack of better alternatives. Its menu is simple and small, but popular with guests.
Robert's Café is full of people from the neighbourhood – shift workers, market people, the women from the nearby yarn factory or even old Prater acquaintances. It's a colourful mix, and they all bring their own stories with them: of the hard life of the post-war period, the longing for a better life, of love or the small and big crashes.
Vienna in 1966. Robert Simon earns his living as a casual labourer at the Karmelitermarkt. He is content with his life, but twenty years after the end of the war, the city has risen from its ruins. The new is growing everywhere, and Simon is also getting carried away. He leases an inn and opens his own café...
Blurb/Ullstein
Seethaler shows the beautiful, but also bitter sides of being
The unadorned, detailed characters are probably what make up this novel. No one is free of weaknesses, but everyone seeks happiness in their own way. There is, for example, Simon's friend Johannes Berg, who is about to become an unwanted father for the fourth time. Or René Wurm, who earns his money as a wrestler. Based on the stories of Robert Simon's guests, Seethaler sheds light on the desire to embark on a new, better life – something that not everyone succeeds in. The innkeeper is also often set back in his happiness in life. But he always manages to pick himself up – just like his guests.
Robert Seethaler "The Café Without a Name": Conclusion
Robert Seethaler is a true master of observation. He tells so lovingly about life, its beautiful and bitter sides, the everyday dramas and longings of these unmistakable characters, that you are left with a pleasant feeling. It never gets boring, because the author knows how to draw the reader into the middle of the action with skilful changes of perspective, and to immerse them in Vienna in the 1960s. A must for leisurely reading hours – no matter where you are. These Spiegel bestsellers also provide comfortable reading hours.
Robert Seethaler "The Café Without a Name"
2023 Claassen, ISBN-13 9783546100328
Price: Hardcover 24 €, 288 pages
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Robert Seethaler
Born in Vienna in 1966, Robert Seethaler is a multi-award-winning writer and screenwriter. His works "Der Trafikant" (2012) and "A Whole Life" (2014) became international audience favorites. His novel "A Whole Life" also made it onto the shortlist for the International Booker Prize. This was later followed by "The Field" (2018) and "The Last Sentence" (2020). His current novel "The Café Without a Name" (2023) is on the "Spiegel bestseller list. Seethaler lives and works in Vienna and Berlin.
Four more novels for autumn can be devoured quickly.