The novel, inspired in part by the circle (depicted in the photographs of Ed van der Elsken) of the notorious and charismatic Guy Debord, centers on the enigmatic, waiflike figure of Louki, who catches everyone's attention even as she eludes possession or comprehension.

Patrick Modiano was born in the Boulogne-Billancourt suburb of Paris near the end of the Nazi occupation of France.The novel, inspired in part by the circle of the notorious and charismatic Guy Debord, centers on the enigmatic, waiflike figure of Louki, who catches everyone’s attention even as she eludes possession or comprehension. The Café of Lost Youth tells of the lives of a group of people who frequented the cafe of the title.

People disappear one day and we notice that we knew nothing abut them, not even their real identity, says Roland but it could be the epitaph of any Modiano novel. It's a very interesting exercise of literature and the style is totally enticing: while reading it I had the feeling that I was in a boat on a really quiet sea, being carried by the lullaby of the waves. There are interesting moments, particularly the first section narrated by the young student describing life in the café all the characters habit, but it devolves after the opening chapter into a rather random and clichéd story of male obsession with a troubled, beautiful young woman, invariably ending in her self-destruction. She wanted to escape, to run farther and farther away, to break violently with her everyday life, to finally be able to breathe.She then met her husband and married him but it did not work out and she started coming to the Condé. Lots of things have been written about Modiano's "little music", and once again it is his little music (a certain way of writing, a unique way of creating a special atmosphere, etc) that holds this novel together and makes its undeniable charms. Now she herself, alone, has lost track - she's off wandering, untouched, voiceless in this much travelled realm of mourning one's Lost Youth. The motherly café owner thinks of them as stray dogs and muses “things will turn out badly for them.

Modiano has mentioned on Oct 9, 2014, during an interview with La Grande Librairie, that one of the books which had a great impact on his writing life was 'Le cœur est un chasseur solitaire' (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter), the first novel published by Carson McCullers in 1940. Action moves to multiple locations around Paris as Louki is looking for "neutral zones" that are places of safety, always trying to avoid the "black holes", or places of danger. The four books give the reader a span of work spreading more than 35 years and is a good starting point for anyone interested in Modiano.In the Café of Lost Youth is a glimpse into post-war France, when celebrations and parties are galore. I had some reluctance, though, I always have it, when it comes to an author I don't have many references to. Nó vừa có thật vừa không thật, những nhân vật đó, chặng đường cuối của họ, mang dáng vẻ tội nghiệp và đẩy đưa theo sự an bài của số phận. Louki is one of the narrators, recounting chapters of her past with a certain vagueness that continues the foggy train of thought of the novel.

But through Roland, a lover she lives with after she walks out on Jean-Pierre one day, we sense she might finally find a little happiness. Four narrators, a student from a cafe, a private detective hired by an aggrieved husband, the heroine herself and one of her lovers, construct a portrait of Jacqueline Delanque, otherwise known as Louki. She turns instead to a young man almost as aimless and adrift as she, but who perhaps loves her all the same. This seems likely as his best-known book, Les Barricades mystérieuses, is one of the books mentioned that the clients read.This novella is written in four chapters, each from the first person point of view of four different characters, all of whom have a connection to a 22 year old young woman known as Louki, a name given to her in a baptism or second birth by someone known as Tarzan, or was it Zacharias? In this sense, Modiano reminds me of Cezanne who has been dubbed a ‘painter’s painter’ because his work opened new horizons in art even though it might itself be difficult or less expressive than we might like. Pour Nietzsche, c’est une all��gorie aux connotations morales, un choix hypothétique que la mort nous offrirait entre le néant et la répétition perpétuelle et détaillée de notre vie.