Les quatre narrateurs, en faisant semblant de se charger de la désambiguïsation de ces repères, ne font que les obscurcir. Louki, who had said she was a college student but was really not, was impressed by de Vere, and attended some of his meetings, read some of his work and the work he suggested she read. There is a cast of about two dozen of mixed nationalities and backgrounds, most of whom frequent the Café Condé. The motherly café owner thinks of them as stray dogs and muses “things will turn out badly for them.

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.Paris becomes a character in it's own right, but it feels more a Paris off the beaten track and by the still of night, evoking tenderness as one looks at the sad characters, lonely journeys, that last metro, empty wide boulevards, and late night rendezvous, he uses the city to complement the tone of the novel to perfection. However, even without that knowledge, the writing style, which is very minimalist, along with the indirect discovery of a lot of the story, makes for a very atmospheric read.

The Lost Youth of the story do, indeed, frequent cafes, but they spend much more time as flaneurs roaming the streets of Paris or riding the Metro. Nous étions là, ensemble, à la même place, de toute éternité, et notre promenade à travers Auteuil, nous l’avions déjà faite au cours de mille et mille autres vies. The story is told through multiple voices - so in some senses it is a kaleidoscopic narrative - and for a time the colours are subdued with no overall pattern discernible. The story explores a theme where every character's journey is essential marked with a start and and end point with many such reference points in between.The theme of extinction comes here only in response to a self-flight, the permanent flight of the one who hides from himself.

He previously won the 2012 Austrian State Prize for European Literature, the 2010 Prix mondial Cino Del Duca from the Institut de France for lifetime achievement, the 1978 Prix Goncourt for Rue des boutiques obscures , and the 1972 Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française for Les Boulevards de ceinture . Step by step though, the author guided me from the tourist view to the disturbing, sad inner landscape of people living at the edge of society – misfits, bohemians, loners – a group of mostly young people who meet at the 'Conde' more to hide from the world than to plan to take it by storm. Young, disaffected students along with the failed and weary are the patrons of the cafe Condé—collectively known as “the lost Youth,” gathering throughout day and night to pass time. The story starts with the narration of a young engineering student who is trying to fit in with the artsy crowd at Condé.Louki's portrait is sketched by four narrators, each of them in his or her own way a drifter through life who seeks refuge among the friendly and slightly decadent atmosphere of a bar at night.