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The Only Café
Scotiabank Giller prize–winner Linden MacIntyre delivers a page-turning, thought-provoking novel about an enigmatic man haunted by a troubled past in his native Lebanon and the Canadian-born son who tries to solve the mystery of his father's life.
Pierre Cormier had secrets. Though he married twice, became a high-flying lawyer and a father, he didn't let anyone really know him. And he was especially silent about what had happened to him in Lebanon, the country he fled during civil war to come to Canada as a refugee. When, in the midst of a corporate scandal, he went missing after his boat exploded, his teenaged son Cyril didn't know how to mourn him. But five years later, a single bone and a distinctive gold chain are recovered, and Pierre is at last declared dead. Which changes everything.
At the reading of the will, it turns out that instead of a funeral, Pierre wanted a "roast" at a bar no one knew he frequented—The Only Café in Toronto's east end. He'd even left a guest list that included one mysterious name: Ari. Cyril, now working as an intern for a major national newsroom and assisting on reporting a story on homegrown terrorism, tracks down Ari at the bar, and finds out that he is an Israeli who knew his father in Lebanon in the '80s. Who is Ari? What can he reveal about what happened to Pierre in Lebanon? Is Pierre really dead? Can Ari even be trusted? Soon Cyril's personal investigation is entangled in the larger news story, all of it twining into a fabric of lies and deception that stretches from contemporary Toronto back to the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Lebanon in September 1982.
The Only Café is both a moving mystery and an illuminating exploration of how the traumatic past, if left unexamined, shadows every moment of the present.
Pierre Cormier had secrets. Though he married twice, became a high-flying lawyer and a father, he didn't let anyone really know him. And he was especially silent about what had happened to him in Lebanon, the country he fled during civil war to come to Canada as a refugee. When, in the midst of a corporate scandal, he went missing after his boat exploded, his teenaged son Cyril didn't know how to mourn him. But five years later, a single bone and a distinctive gold chain are recovered, and Pierre is at last declared dead. Which changes everything.
At the reading of the will, it turns out that instead of a funeral, Pierre wanted a "roast" at a bar no one knew he frequented—The Only Café in Toronto's east end. He'd even left a guest list that included one mysterious name: Ari. Cyril, now working as an intern for a major national newsroom and assisting on reporting a story on homegrown terrorism, tracks down Ari at the bar, and finds out that he is an Israeli who knew his father in Lebanon in the '80s. Who is Ari? What can he reveal about what happened to Pierre in Lebanon? Is Pierre really dead? Can Ari even be trusted? Soon Cyril's personal investigation is entangled in the larger news story, all of it twining into a fabric of lies and deception that stretches from contemporary Toronto back to the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila camps in Lebanon in September 1982.
The Only Café is both a moving mystery and an illuminating exploration of how the traumatic past, if left unexamined, shadows every moment of the present.
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First published August 8, 2017
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About the author
Linden MacIntyre
15 books187 followersLinden MacIntyre is the co-host of the fifth estate and the winner of nine Gemini Awards for broadcast journalism. His most recent book, a boyhood memoir called Causeway: A Passage from Innocence won both the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction and the Evelyn Richardson Prize for Non-Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 182 reviews
March 16, 2022
This is my 3rd novel by Linden MacIntyre and I did enjoy them all. The Only Cafe would have to be my least favourite of the three. I love his writing and enjoyed the setting being familiar streets and neighbourhoods to me. However, I found it difficult to determine between the good and the bad guys.
Without fully understanding the complexities of the plot I could easily relate to the themes of both love and estrangement.
I struggled to get through parts of this story mainly because of my lack of knowledge of events in the Middle East.
Without fully understanding the complexities of the plot I could easily relate to the themes of both love and estrangement.
I struggled to get through parts of this story mainly because of my lack of knowledge of events in the Middle East.
August 11, 2017
Okay, so this wasn't my favourite MacIntyre. It happens right? With his most recent before The Only Cafe - Punishment - I raced through it, glued to the pages, left begging for more. The Only Cafe? Meh, I felt sometimes like I was on a hamster wheel, going round and round the wheel with the same thing seeming to happen over and over again. Whereas normally I'm having a hard time peeling my eyes away from MacIntyre's stories, this one I struggled to pick it up. I just wasn't compelled to reach for it. Unusual, yes.
I just found this one was fairly simplistically written and heavy, heavy on dialogue. The "mystery" aspect to it was fairly easy to figure out as well. I'm not worried, I'm certain he'll come back with another one that will knock my socks off. :-)
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending the ARC. Appreciated as always.
I just found this one was fairly simplistically written and heavy, heavy on dialogue. The "mystery" aspect to it was fairly easy to figure out as well. I'm not worried, I'm certain he'll come back with another one that will knock my socks off. :-)
Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for sending the ARC. Appreciated as always.
June 28, 2017
The Only Café was quiet. He stood at the bar, ordered a beer, watched the door. He wasn't sure what brought him back. Perhaps the wall of memory, 1982, perhaps the suspicion that the fat stranger, Ari, might know something from behind that – so far – impenetrable wall. There was no sign of him.
A grey-haired man came into the store the other day, looking for a book on the Cold War-era Soviet Union; a particular book written by a man who had been his colleague back in the day at CSIS (the Canadian spy agency). After helping him locate that book, and having been intrigued by this man's apparent knowledge base, I leveled a mock-conspiratorial look at him and asked if he figured the world was becoming safer or scarier. Without missing a beat he replied, dead serious, “The world has never been scarier than it is right now. If you only knew.” Well, I guess I asked for that (but I was rather hoping a nostalgia for his [presumed] old cloak and dagger days would have prejudiced him in favour of an improving worldview: In my day we hid our phones in our shoes, not our pockets, and the bad guys didn't brag about their intentions on Facebook...). The Only Café, written by career journalist Linden MacIntyre, seems an effort to part the curtain a bit; to show that the things that seem scary to us today have been bubbling away for decades; the world is neither safer nor scarier, there's just a different lead story in the headlines. By trying to translate actual events into literature, I found the first half of this book to be unnecessarily obfuscatory, but by the end, I was glad I stuck with it: this book has some important things to say, and ultimately, it says them well.
This is the last time you're going to ask me a question like that. You know exactly what to do. Was that what Brawley said? Or were they words from another time, another place? Or do time and place make any difference to destiny?
The Only Café opens in 2012 with the reading of a will: After having been missing and presumed dead for five years, some remains of Pierre Cormier have been found; his estate can finally be settled. Cormier's young adult son, Cyril, is present – seeking closure – and when the lawyer mentions that his father had wanted a roast of sorts, to be held at the unheard of Only Café, Cyril decides to look into the place: maybe it's time for him to finally get to know the father who had left him and his mother so many years before. We soon learn that Cyril is interning at a network news agency (obviously the CBC, with superstar anchor “Lloyd Manville”), and by coincidence, he starts researching events that took place during his father's (never discussed) childhood in Lebanon. The story then shifts to Pierre's perspective in the months leading up to his disappearance, and when events in his present begin to remind him of things that happened during the Lebanese Civil War of the 1980s, Pierre experiences a muddling of memory that is so confusing to him that it's confusing to the reader as well (and I didn't understand why MacIntyre decided to layer on career difficulty, a health scare, a new marriage, and trying to have a baby: all of this extraneous experience added nothing to Pierre's core struggle between his past and present and just further muddied the point of it all).
The past is never dead as long as there is memory. Memory is the afterlife, both heaven and hell.
The narrative continues to switch between Cyril's present, Pierre's last days, and Pierre's Lebanese past, and what it reveals about historical events was an education for me: I had never heard of the massacre at Sabra and Shatila in 1982, which MacIntyre apparently reported on as a journalist, and its inclusion here is gritty and realistic, and as an act of commemoration, feels vital and overdue.
In this line of work there's no distinction between what's historical and what's contemporary.
Because Cyril is learning to be a journalist – while attempting to track down clues about his father's past – the historical information that he discovers is added organically to the narrative. And because he is working with other journalists who are trying to dig up a story about the radicalisation of youth in Toronto mosques, there's a very natural line drawn between the events of the past and the present; the format works really well to show the bigger picture. It was especially apt to have so much discussed in the network meetings; to see how news is selected and shaped.
The only way to know what's happening is to be part of it.
The Only Café has the tension of a mystery – Just what happened to Pierre? How does Ari come into it? Will Cyril ever find the truth? Or is he putting himself in danger? – but some of the personal storylines drain the energy from this tension: In addition to Pierre's mounting personal troubles, I didn't see the point in Cyril's hesitant lovelife, or his friend Leo's frequent appearances, or Cyril's mother's limp depiction. It felt a bit deliberate to include a young Muslim, an aging Israeli, a retired Canadian Forces soldier, an RCMP officer: Yes, we get the whole picture, but I was aware of the artist's hand leading me to what he wanted me to see. I have enjoyed MacIntyre's books set in Cape Breton, so I did like that Pierre and then Cyril spent some time there, but as they don't improve the overall thesis, these parts felt like atmosphere for its own sake. I was amused to learn that the Only Café actually exists on the Danforth in Toronto, yet that leaves me confused as to why it's featured by name. Here's the bottom line: I did find much confusing (as I presume I was meant to), but I'm glad I finished this book. While it doesn't work perfectly for me as a novel, The Only Café has much to offer the reader and I suspect it will feature on the literary awards lists later in the year.
October 14, 2018
First, a confession. I struggle to be too critical about a book since I fully realize I could not write a book myself. Seems a bit unfair to be too critical of someone else’s craft when I have no skill myself.
Linden MacIntyre’s first calling is a journalist. It shows in this book. Much happens, and then is repeated. Not much effective description, little depth of character, a perhaps too convoluted plot that has too many loops for a roller coaster and an ending that leaves you out in the rain with the protagonist with as much satisfaction as thin gruel.
I finished this book only because it was a read for a book club. If I was not in the book club I would have instituted my 50 page rule and called it quits.
Linden MacIntyre’s first calling is a journalist. It shows in this book. Much happens, and then is repeated. Not much effective description, little depth of character, a perhaps too convoluted plot that has too many loops for a roller coaster and an ending that leaves you out in the rain with the protagonist with as much satisfaction as thin gruel.
I finished this book only because it was a read for a book club. If I was not in the book club I would have instituted my 50 page rule and called it quits.
October 9, 2017
Didn't enjoy this much.
It was overladen with so much historical and Middle Eastern political detail I could never keep track of who was who, or who was doing what to who. Or what it meant.
And then there was an unresolved ending, and I'm not a fan of those.
So basically I found it a slog to an ending that didn't tell you what happened or what was going to happen to the main character.
It was overladen with so much historical and Middle Eastern political detail I could never keep track of who was who, or who was doing what to who. Or what it meant.
And then there was an unresolved ending, and I'm not a fan of those.
So basically I found it a slog to an ending that didn't tell you what happened or what was going to happen to the main character.
December 3, 2017
"Whether or not 'tis in the mind nobler to disclose. But disclosure is rarely noble. Disclosure is transactional. Disclosure is a ruse to create trust.... The best interrogators were the ones who were capable of manufactured empathy". These lines occur half way down a page in a paragraph that is part of a narrative one of our main characters, Pierre, is thinking in. This paragraph made me wonder whether Linden MacIntyre was in fact Lebanese and had lived or lives in Lebanon for it is these lines in this paragraph that encompass the whole of the way Lebanon works. For the most part, it is exactly as he has written, disclosure is transactional.
This was a brutally honest book about Lebanon, the war crimes that occurred during the civil war, not the least of which was Sabra and Shatila and the people who perpetrated them.
The story of Pierre is complex, tragic and multidimensional just like everyone who lived through that civil war. Our pasts are never black or white, good or bad. There are so many grey areas, so many decisions made under tremendous stress and that is how Pierre is presented in all of his complexity. He joins the Kataeb almost by accident and the slaughter of his family is an impetus that aids in his descent into hell. He comes to Canada and tries to put it all behind him but it isn't necessarily behind him, it is just buried very deeply in him.
His secrets permeate every page of this book and every character is affected by actions they don't necessarily know happened. His first wife, 2nd wife, his son, his employer. Each in their own way suffers in some way from his background but it is more a sense of pieces missing and disquiet that really linger over the narrative as a whole. This is purposefully done because we are only getting Pierre's past in bits and pieces. It is as those pieces are revealed that you realize where this disquiet and sense of missing pieces is coming from. It is Pierre's disquiet. It is his family's disquiet. It is the missing pieces and lack of accountability of the war. It is the missing pieces and no names named in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people. It is the missing accountability; the known war criminals walking free and clear.
Linden MacIntyre is a multi-award winning journalist who knows the civil war in Lebanon intimately and the way he was woven it into the narrative of this story is a master stroke.
He has made Pierre's fictional life the life of all of the people who fought on various sides of the war and he straddles the line of blame oh so carefully that you would truly think he resides in the collective wilfull amnesia infecting the entire population of Lebanon regarding the civil war. Pierre is only one character in the book but he dominates every page whether or not he appears.
The other characters are just as beautifully constructed but they are simply planets in the orbit of the sun that is Pierre. Perhaps the most annoying character is Cyril, Pierre's son. Perhaps I find him annoying because I want him to fill in the blanks faster than he is. When he says he has never heard of HK, I practically wanted to slap him silly and ask him HOW. HOW HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF HK???? Then I remember that Cyril is a fictional character and in reality, unless you know the Lebanese civil war well, Elie Hobeika (HK) was one of the many war criminals who escaped justice until he was blown to bits by a car bomb (no loss to humanity there).
This is a book that deserves to be savoured and I did just that. I took almost a month to read it for two reasons. 1. I am intimately familiar with the past Pierre is hiding and it is just as painful to read it in a fictional account as it is to read it in history. 2. This writer deserves time, not a rushed reading.
No matter how eager you are to know what happens next, take your time and read slowly. The nuances on the page matter. The sense of disquiet, the sense of missing pieces matter.
This is a read and re-read and savour.
This was a brutally honest book about Lebanon, the war crimes that occurred during the civil war, not the least of which was Sabra and Shatila and the people who perpetrated them.
The story of Pierre is complex, tragic and multidimensional just like everyone who lived through that civil war. Our pasts are never black or white, good or bad. There are so many grey areas, so many decisions made under tremendous stress and that is how Pierre is presented in all of his complexity. He joins the Kataeb almost by accident and the slaughter of his family is an impetus that aids in his descent into hell. He comes to Canada and tries to put it all behind him but it isn't necessarily behind him, it is just buried very deeply in him.
His secrets permeate every page of this book and every character is affected by actions they don't necessarily know happened. His first wife, 2nd wife, his son, his employer. Each in their own way suffers in some way from his background but it is more a sense of pieces missing and disquiet that really linger over the narrative as a whole. This is purposefully done because we are only getting Pierre's past in bits and pieces. It is as those pieces are revealed that you realize where this disquiet and sense of missing pieces is coming from. It is Pierre's disquiet. It is his family's disquiet. It is the missing pieces and lack of accountability of the war. It is the missing pieces and no names named in the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people. It is the missing accountability; the known war criminals walking free and clear.
Linden MacIntyre is a multi-award winning journalist who knows the civil war in Lebanon intimately and the way he was woven it into the narrative of this story is a master stroke.
He has made Pierre's fictional life the life of all of the people who fought on various sides of the war and he straddles the line of blame oh so carefully that you would truly think he resides in the collective wilfull amnesia infecting the entire population of Lebanon regarding the civil war. Pierre is only one character in the book but he dominates every page whether or not he appears.
The other characters are just as beautifully constructed but they are simply planets in the orbit of the sun that is Pierre. Perhaps the most annoying character is Cyril, Pierre's son. Perhaps I find him annoying because I want him to fill in the blanks faster than he is. When he says he has never heard of HK, I practically wanted to slap him silly and ask him HOW. HOW HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF HK???? Then I remember that Cyril is a fictional character and in reality, unless you know the Lebanese civil war well, Elie Hobeika (HK) was one of the many war criminals who escaped justice until he was blown to bits by a car bomb (no loss to humanity there).
This is a book that deserves to be savoured and I did just that. I took almost a month to read it for two reasons. 1. I am intimately familiar with the past Pierre is hiding and it is just as painful to read it in a fictional account as it is to read it in history. 2. This writer deserves time, not a rushed reading.
No matter how eager you are to know what happens next, take your time and read slowly. The nuances on the page matter. The sense of disquiet, the sense of missing pieces matter.
This is a read and re-read and savour.
April 7, 2017
This is a thick read. You can't put it down for long because it jumps between timelines and POVs. Given the political climate and world events, this is so poignant now.
July 13, 2017
Very compelling, page-turning read, especially given the current political climate in the Middle East. Hard to put down. Highly recommended.
September 6, 2017
3.5 stars. I enjoyed Punishment and The Bishop's Man very much, and was enthused to learn that Linden MacIntyre had a new novel just published. The major focus of the book was the Lebanese Civil war and the massacres which ensued. The story based on historic facts may be confusing to many readers, as it was to me. This may have been deliberate. The events themselves were confusing with numerous factions involved, and with many overt and covert actions and interference by the PLO and Israel among others. Mistrust and shifting alliances within Lebanon is noted, adding to the complicated narrative.
In 1982 Pierre came to Canada as a Lebanese refugee. He settled in Cape Breton and later Toronto, finding success as a cooperate lawyer for an mining operation in Indonesia. He was terminated as a scapegoat after some trouble at the mine site. He was in Cape Breton on a boat which exploded, and after some five years a bone fragment and a bracelet surfaces.
His son Cyril is interning as a journalist. The reporters are working on a story about the radicalization of youths in mosques and he joins the team. He had been estranged from his father, and is trying to discover Pierre's past in Lebanon. In his father's will is a request for a wake at The Only Cafe, and that Ari, a man unknown to the family is to officiate. Cyril meets the mysterious Ari, possibly a past Israeli agent, who seems to have some complicated ties to Pierre in Lebanon and also in Canada. There is also suspicion that Ari may be involved somehow in connection to the radicalization of Moslem youths in the story being investigated by the reporters. In search for clues about his father's death Cyril returns to Cape Breton.
Was his father murdered, and was his death connected to what Cyril is discovering about his father's shaded and secretive past in Lebanon? What does Ari know, if anything? Cyril talks to family, police, CSIS agent, and one of Pierre's old Cape Breton friends in trying to get a picture of his father's past in Lebanon and how he died in Cape Breton. Just who is Ari and what truths is he hiding?
It was suggested to Cyril that in investigations establishing a timeline was important. The book was convoluted, moving back and forth from Toronto , Cape Breton and Lebanon and jumping from Cyril's present, to Pierre's past in Lebanon in the 1970's and early 80's, and then to Pierre in Toronto and in Cape Breton just before his death. Rather confusing. Chapter headings would be helpful as it was not always apparent at the beginning of the chapter who the subject was or the time and setting. Cyril's relationship with his ex-girlfriend was a distraction, and I wanted to know more about his friends and colleagues at his workplace. The ending of the book leaves some questions unresolved but this is a fitting conclusion, as some secrets and events from the past can never be fully known in the present.
In 1982 Pierre came to Canada as a Lebanese refugee. He settled in Cape Breton and later Toronto, finding success as a cooperate lawyer for an mining operation in Indonesia. He was terminated as a scapegoat after some trouble at the mine site. He was in Cape Breton on a boat which exploded, and after some five years a bone fragment and a bracelet surfaces.
His son Cyril is interning as a journalist. The reporters are working on a story about the radicalization of youths in mosques and he joins the team. He had been estranged from his father, and is trying to discover Pierre's past in Lebanon. In his father's will is a request for a wake at The Only Cafe, and that Ari, a man unknown to the family is to officiate. Cyril meets the mysterious Ari, possibly a past Israeli agent, who seems to have some complicated ties to Pierre in Lebanon and also in Canada. There is also suspicion that Ari may be involved somehow in connection to the radicalization of Moslem youths in the story being investigated by the reporters. In search for clues about his father's death Cyril returns to Cape Breton.
Was his father murdered, and was his death connected to what Cyril is discovering about his father's shaded and secretive past in Lebanon? What does Ari know, if anything? Cyril talks to family, police, CSIS agent, and one of Pierre's old Cape Breton friends in trying to get a picture of his father's past in Lebanon and how he died in Cape Breton. Just who is Ari and what truths is he hiding?
It was suggested to Cyril that in investigations establishing a timeline was important. The book was convoluted, moving back and forth from Toronto , Cape Breton and Lebanon and jumping from Cyril's present, to Pierre's past in Lebanon in the 1970's and early 80's, and then to Pierre in Toronto and in Cape Breton just before his death. Rather confusing. Chapter headings would be helpful as it was not always apparent at the beginning of the chapter who the subject was or the time and setting. Cyril's relationship with his ex-girlfriend was a distraction, and I wanted to know more about his friends and colleagues at his workplace. The ending of the book leaves some questions unresolved but this is a fitting conclusion, as some secrets and events from the past can never be fully known in the present.
January 13, 2021
Meh - just could not get into this story.
August 11, 2017
Received advance copy! Excellent! A son tries to put to put together the puzzle surrounding his father's disappearance and later death.....as he puts the pieces together.....many disturbing events happen......a combination of fiction and historical events of the Middle East...Highly recommended!
December 28, 2017
A good read for those unaware of the events in Palestine / Israel in the 1980s and the effects on those who emigrated as a result. Part spy novel and part coming of age, I found it an easy read but not engrossing. It felt very much “Canadian” in perspective. Not highly recommended but a simple read.
November 26, 2018
Read this for a book club. It’s not my kind of book, but not only that it’s a bit of a confused mess. Not sure why the main character Cyril is ok with his colleagues dissecting his father’s life and delving into his history.
Why did the Iranian-Palestinian get thrown under the bus by the writer? He was a passionate character and suddenly he goes down a dark, contrived and not that well written route - it was really out of character for him and it was written just to amp up the pace and stakes.
You can tell this book was written by a man because every single woman is beautiful and stunning. Even the hapless woman whose only role is to get shot, or a girl in a photo who has nothing to do with the story. It’s like if any of these women were ugly they just wouldn’t be worth writing about. Each one is a tropes - the stunner, the tease, the nag, the wishy washy ex. Jeez
The story tries really hard to go somewhere and goes nowhere. The writer was a reporter and his research comes through in the book, but the cost is having a coherent, cohesive story. The characters, their actions and interactions feel like fillers for portraying the atrocities of particular wars. Everyone talks about the pain of war but they do not treat the sufferers with any empathy.
I haven’t read any other books by this author, but this one really didn’t work. It read like a mess.
Why did the Iranian-Palestinian get thrown under the bus by the writer? He was a passionate character and suddenly he goes down a dark, contrived and not that well written route - it was really out of character for him and it was written just to amp up the pace and stakes.
You can tell this book was written by a man because every single woman is beautiful and stunning. Even the hapless woman whose only role is to get shot, or a girl in a photo who has nothing to do with the story. It’s like if any of these women were ugly they just wouldn’t be worth writing about. Each one is a tropes - the stunner, the tease, the nag, the wishy washy ex. Jeez
The story tries really hard to go somewhere and goes nowhere. The writer was a reporter and his research comes through in the book, but the cost is having a coherent, cohesive story. The characters, their actions and interactions feel like fillers for portraying the atrocities of particular wars. Everyone talks about the pain of war but they do not treat the sufferers with any empathy.
I haven’t read any other books by this author, but this one really didn’t work. It read like a mess.
April 3, 2017
Thanks to NetGalley for an opportunity to preview this book. A family mystery from Toronto to Cape Breton to Lebanon. A great read. Recommended.
July 17, 2017
Pierre Cormier, a Lebanese native who immigrated to in Nova Scotia in 1982 disappeared, presumed dead 5 years ago when his boat exploded. He was finally declared dead and his son, Cyril, starts to unravel the secrets that his father kept about his past. His father wanted his life celebrated with a roast at an out of the way pub called The Only Cafe. The only non-familiar name on the provided guest list is Ari, a regular at the pub. As Cyril begins to delve into the past of the man he never knew well, we also find out about Peter from flashbacks to Peter's life, to traumatic events in Lebanon during wartime in the 70s and 80s and to the early millennium where "current" events in Peter's life start to trigger long repressed memories of those events. Cyril is working for a national news network and his personal investigation may have ties to an ongoing one at work.
Who is Ari? Did Pierre and Ari know each other back in the day? Ari plays things very close to his chest as does Pierre but they have similar shared experiences. There are truths and a lot of lies and a very tangled web. Cyril might find out more than he expected or nothing at all, not really. The ending is as murky as the politics which is probably the point. It's more important to accept what's happened and move on, once you get to that understanding.
Linden McIntyre is an excellent writer who builds a world and weaves a plot with skill. His plots are dramatic and his characters jump off the pages. They are real and they are intriguing and the plot points build up and are revealed at just the right speed. You keep coming back for more. The most interesting parts of the book, for me, were those from Pierre's point of view, telling his story and experiences in the civil war in Lebanon. Not very uplifting but some of the events are based on actual ones which lends a touch of reality, grounding the plot a bit more.
Who is Ari? Did Pierre and Ari know each other back in the day? Ari plays things very close to his chest as does Pierre but they have similar shared experiences. There are truths and a lot of lies and a very tangled web. Cyril might find out more than he expected or nothing at all, not really. The ending is as murky as the politics which is probably the point. It's more important to accept what's happened and move on, once you get to that understanding.
Linden McIntyre is an excellent writer who builds a world and weaves a plot with skill. His plots are dramatic and his characters jump off the pages. They are real and they are intriguing and the plot points build up and are revealed at just the right speed. You keep coming back for more. The most interesting parts of the book, for me, were those from Pierre's point of view, telling his story and experiences in the civil war in Lebanon. Not very uplifting but some of the events are based on actual ones which lends a touch of reality, grounding the plot a bit more.
November 18, 2018
This was a worthy effort on the whole, though I had a few problems with its execution, no pun intended. It essentially deals with one man's attempt to come to terms with his muderous past, and contains themes of guilt, male bonding, and fatherhood within the ever murky background of the Middle East and its constant wars, insurrections, massacres and grave misdeeds. I admire Linden McIntyre and his writing but had some problems with this novel. For example, the depiction of Pierre Cormier,the main character, left me cold. I realize Cormier is a man who has endured and inflicted suffering, both of which have deadened his character but it is difficult to have any empathy for his detachment and evasiveness. The other issue is that the description of the internecine struggles between Israel and Lebanon in the 80's became so confusing to me, I wanted to put the book down. History, like life, is messy, but it shouldn't be messily told. And full disclosure: I was a History teacher so this subject interests me a lot. And thirdly, though I believe McIntyre to be sympathetic to the female sex, he just NEVER does well with women. The female characters are either neglected shrews or passive victims. At least there is a stab taken here to introduce some complexity into the women, but why are they often so damned incurious? Did Aggie never wonder about her ex? Or Lois? That puzzled me; however I am presuming Mcintyre is a former Catholic educated by priests so maybe that explains how the women are so badly drawn. I don't know. Ari, the former Israeli op,is, on the other hand, brilliantly drawn.
July 24, 2017
True rating - 4.5 stars. Thank you Goodreads! I was so happy that I won an ARC of this book because I have always meant to try one of Linden MacIntyre's novels but have never gotten around to it. I'm now definitely a fan! MacIntyre's writing style drew me right in and made me feel like I was actually there in the middle of the story, helping Cyril to figure out the mysteries of his father's past in war torn Lebanon. I knew absolutely nothing about the history of Lebanon before starting this book, and as details of Cyril's father's life were slowly revealed, I found myself so fascinated that I consulted Google several times to learn more about specific events in the Lebanese Civil War. I love when I can read for pleasure but also learn something at the same time. Because of my lack of knowledge of that part of history though, I did find myself getting a little overwhelmed at times, so that's why I couldn't give it a full 5 stars. I also have mixed feelings about the ending - on the one hand I wanted more concrete answers and resolutions, but on the other hand I like that it left me still pondering quite a few things. All in all, I really enjoyed The Only Cafe. It's a very powerful story, and I highly recommend it.
June 14, 2023
This is the third book I've read by Linden MacIntyre and I think it is my favourite so far. The story moves between war torn Lebanon, the streets of Toronto, and the east coast, from past to present and back.
Pierre Cormier flees the strife in the middle east, marries, becomes a lawyer, and has a son, Cyril.
One day he has a chance encounter in a Cafe and meets an Israeli man who he thinks he recognizes, but can't quite place. He meets with this man several times, discussing his past, and re living the horrors of war. After a business fiasco, Pierre heads to the east coast to lay low for a while. And then he disappears.
Five years later a piece of bone and some jewelry are proof that Pierre is dead.
His son Cyril begins reading Pierre's journals and finds some information which makes him search for the mysterious man in the Cafe, named Ari. Is Ari a part of what happened in the massacres in Lebanon? And what does he know about Pierre's death?
A story of memories, and what we are willing to do in the shadow of our memories and the darkness and shame that follows in war.
4.5/5
Pierre Cormier flees the strife in the middle east, marries, becomes a lawyer, and has a son, Cyril.
One day he has a chance encounter in a Cafe and meets an Israeli man who he thinks he recognizes, but can't quite place. He meets with this man several times, discussing his past, and re living the horrors of war. After a business fiasco, Pierre heads to the east coast to lay low for a while. And then he disappears.
Five years later a piece of bone and some jewelry are proof that Pierre is dead.
His son Cyril begins reading Pierre's journals and finds some information which makes him search for the mysterious man in the Cafe, named Ari. Is Ari a part of what happened in the massacres in Lebanon? And what does he know about Pierre's death?
A story of memories, and what we are willing to do in the shadow of our memories and the darkness and shame that follows in war.
4.5/5
September 18, 2017
Please read all of my reviews at http://ultraviolentlit.blogspot.ca!
Cyril Cormier grew up in Toronto with a Lebanese refugee father and a mother from Cape Breton. They divorced when Cyril was young, and he didn’t see much of his father Pierre, who was a successful corporate lawyer with a new, younger wife and infant son. During an international scandal at the mining company where he worked, Pierre went missing under suspicious circumstances – there was an explosion on the boat he was living on, and his body was never found.
Five years after Pierre disappeared, one of his bones is found and he is finally declared dead. When the will is read, Cyril and the rest of the family discover that Pierre included an unusual request – instead of a traditional funeral, he asked for a “roast” to take place at a bar in Toronto’s east end called The Only Café. There is also a mysterious name on the guest list, “Ari”, that none of the family had ever heard Pierre mention.
At the time his father is declared dead, Cyril is interning at a national newsroom (likely modelled after the CBC) that is working on a documentary about homegrown terrorism. When Cyril’s Lebanese background is discovered by his bosses, they ask him to bring a personal perspective to the war on terror. Cyril decides to investigate the events that led to his father’s death, and the first step is meeting with the mysterious Ari. Cyril discovers that Ari was an Israeli soldier who met Pierre in Lebanon in the 1980s, during the Lebanese civil war.
Cyril suspects that Ari can answer questions not only about Pierre’s past but also about whether his father is truly dead. Soon Cyril’s personal investigation intersects with the larger story of terrorism at the newsroom, and there are surprising connections to his friends and colleagues. The deception stretches from the present day back to the Lebanese massacres of September 1982, and the plot is grounded in these historical events, bringing the current political climate in the Middle East into sharp focus.
The Only Café is a slow-paced mystery with both historical and contemporary relevance. It demonstrates how history is constantly repeating – with different forms of terrorism always in the background and bubbling up to the surface over time – and it puts a personal spin on the stories we often hear from a distance. There is plenty of dialogue to keep the story moving forward, although there perhaps could have been more inner contemplation and character development. There are constantly shifting perspectives, which were sometimes confusing and overly complex – there are only so many health, family and work dramas that one person can go through, and they really didn’t add that much to the story. But despite my issues with the novel, the writing was powerful enough to continually draw me back in to this complex and timely story of family secrets and their effects on global events.
I received this book from Random House Canada and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Cyril Cormier grew up in Toronto with a Lebanese refugee father and a mother from Cape Breton. They divorced when Cyril was young, and he didn’t see much of his father Pierre, who was a successful corporate lawyer with a new, younger wife and infant son. During an international scandal at the mining company where he worked, Pierre went missing under suspicious circumstances – there was an explosion on the boat he was living on, and his body was never found.
Five years after Pierre disappeared, one of his bones is found and he is finally declared dead. When the will is read, Cyril and the rest of the family discover that Pierre included an unusual request – instead of a traditional funeral, he asked for a “roast” to take place at a bar in Toronto’s east end called The Only Café. There is also a mysterious name on the guest list, “Ari”, that none of the family had ever heard Pierre mention.
At the time his father is declared dead, Cyril is interning at a national newsroom (likely modelled after the CBC) that is working on a documentary about homegrown terrorism. When Cyril’s Lebanese background is discovered by his bosses, they ask him to bring a personal perspective to the war on terror. Cyril decides to investigate the events that led to his father’s death, and the first step is meeting with the mysterious Ari. Cyril discovers that Ari was an Israeli soldier who met Pierre in Lebanon in the 1980s, during the Lebanese civil war.
Cyril suspects that Ari can answer questions not only about Pierre’s past but also about whether his father is truly dead. Soon Cyril’s personal investigation intersects with the larger story of terrorism at the newsroom, and there are surprising connections to his friends and colleagues. The deception stretches from the present day back to the Lebanese massacres of September 1982, and the plot is grounded in these historical events, bringing the current political climate in the Middle East into sharp focus.
The Only Café is a slow-paced mystery with both historical and contemporary relevance. It demonstrates how history is constantly repeating – with different forms of terrorism always in the background and bubbling up to the surface over time – and it puts a personal spin on the stories we often hear from a distance. There is plenty of dialogue to keep the story moving forward, although there perhaps could have been more inner contemplation and character development. There are constantly shifting perspectives, which were sometimes confusing and overly complex – there are only so many health, family and work dramas that one person can go through, and they really didn’t add that much to the story. But despite my issues with the novel, the writing was powerful enough to continually draw me back in to this complex and timely story of family secrets and their effects on global events.
I received this book from Random House Canada and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
May 26, 2018
An engrossing tale of intrigue set partly in present-day Canada and partly in the 1980's war in Lebanon. MacIntyre, as a former journalist, brings historical detail and authenticity to this story of a son's effort to understand the life, and now the death, of his father, and discovers that his father kept many dark secrets from his family. Complicating the son's search are a mysterious stranger named Ari, his (the son's) colleagues at the newspaper office, and his complicated relationships with his mother (his father's first wife), and his girlfriend Gloria. At times, these characters (particularly the latter two) detract from the main story line and feel superfluous. However, MacIntyre does a skillful job of engaging the reader in the complex events of 1980's Lebanon, and revealing, through the son's search, the horrific acts which have haunted the father for years.
March 25, 2019
As my sister had mentioned, I received almost none of what I was sold on this book. The synopsis, and even the first setup of the book, lead to exactly none of where this book ends up. That being said it was still an interesting read. I was eager to get back to this, once I sorted out the characters and their potential timelines, and find out what might happen. The information is fed one bit at a time, but in a way that indicated that you might already know this information. I found myself going back a page or two sometimes to see if I had in fact missed something, most of the time I had not.
I know little to nothing about this area of the world or its history, so this was a very interesting peek into the historical elements that this book was told around.
I know little to nothing about this area of the world or its history, so this was a very interesting peek into the historical elements that this book was told around.
September 2, 2018
Pierre Cormier a successful lawyer's boat explodes,, then years later is declared dead, his son is left to find out what really happened to his father. Upon the reading of the will, instead of a funeral he requests a roast at the Only Cafe in Toronto, with a guest list including a mysterious person named Ari. The book is set in present day Toronto, Cape Breton, back to the massacres at camps in Lebanon of 1982. I was intrigued to read this book as I'm familiar with the cafe.
March 18, 2022
This is my least favourite of MacIntyre’s books that I’ve read.
I struggled in the beginning, only continuing to read this because it was for my book club. I’m glad I continued because it finally got interesting around the middle. One of my favourite characters was Ari. He had the most depth. Cyril reminded me of a spoiled, entitled rich kid, with no real focus or direction.
The ending disappointed me and left me feeling it was unfinished.
I struggled in the beginning, only continuing to read this because it was for my book club. I’m glad I continued because it finally got interesting around the middle. One of my favourite characters was Ari. He had the most depth. Cyril reminded me of a spoiled, entitled rich kid, with no real focus or direction.
The ending disappointed me and left me feeling it was unfinished.
June 4, 2018
I won this via GoodReads. I will try not to give too much away about it, since this book hasn't been released yet. I loved the family dynamic in this book. That's what kept me reading. Considering the ending, I would love to know what happened next...maybe in another book. A gripping book.
April 30, 2017
His best book yet. A gem. A deeply moving story. I will need a little more time to write a fulsome review...
July 29, 2020
Linden MacIntyre tells a good story and of course I always enjoy the Cape Breton side of his books. This story delves in conspiracy, terrorism, massacres and fighting in Lebanon in the 80’s.
October 28, 2017
I enjoy Linden MacIntryre’s books and respect his journalistic career. This book was heavy, engrossing, complicated and interesting. Closer to 4.5. Secrets in case you didn’t know can bring a person down.
August 11, 2017
Pierre Cormier had been a Phalangist militiaman during the Lebanese Civil War before arriving in Canada as a refugee. Twenty-five years later at The Only Café in Toronto, Pierre met Ari, a mysterious man who had worked in intelligence for the Israeli Defense Forces and was, Pierre believed, in Lebanon during the civil war and involved in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre. Then, after a major scandal involving the mining corporation for which he worked as a lawyer, Pierre disappeared, presumably dying because of a propane tank explosion aboard his boat.
Five years later, Pierre is finally declared dead. His son Cyril, an intern at a national newsroom, is conducting research for a documentary on domestic terrorism but also ends up looking into his father’s secretive past and his death. He tracks down Ari to find out what he knows about Pierre and his disappearance.
In the first part of the book, the author deliberately obfuscates. This evasiveness and the narrative’s different timelines (Pierre’s Lebanese past; Pierre’s final weeks; Cyril’s present) leave the reader feeling confused. MacIntyre seems to want the reader to feel how Cyril feels since he knows little about his father and even less about events in Lebanon during his father’s life there. The reader gains clarity as Cyril does.
I knew little about the Lebanese Civil War and so did some research especially into the Karantina, Damour, and Sabra and Shatila massacres. Because of my lack of knowledge, I was often confused. A historical timeline with some brief explanatory notes would have been really helpful. (i.e. Karantina was a predominantly Palestinian Muslim slum district in mostly Christian east Beirut controlled by forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization; in 1976, Karantina was overrun by militias of the right-wing and mostly Christian Lebanese Front, specifically the Kataeb Party (Phalangists), resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,500 people, mostly Muslims. The Damour massacre was a reprisal for the Karantina massacre. Damour, a Maronite Christian town, was attacked by Palestine Liberation Organisation units. Part of its population died in battle or in the massacre that followed, and the remainder were forced to flee. The Sabra and Shatila massacre was the killing of civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by a militia close to the Kataeb Party, carried out virtually under the eyes of their Israeli allies.)
Sometimes I felt rather overwhelmed by trying to keep the politics straight. Occasionally, it is also difficult to determine who is speaking because there are long stretches of dialogue with no indication of the speaker. There are also events that take focus away from the main storyline. For instance, what is the purpose of including Cyril’s on again/off again romantic relationship?
A more significant issue is the portrayal of Cyril. He is an intern who knows little about domestic terrorism and the radicalization of youth, yet he is chosen to be part of a team working on a documentary on the topic. He “became quickly lost as the discussion shifted to Syria and its potential to cause havoc in Lebanon,” but he’s told, “’I hear you’ve made a strong impression’”?
A major theme is that the past is never dead: “The past is never dead as long as there is memory. Memory is the afterlife, both hell and heaven.” Cyril is told that “’there is no distinction between what’s historical and what’s contemporary.’” Events in the novel certainly bear this out. Pierre’s fate, for example, is a direct result of events in the past and Cyril’s life has certainly been impacted by the past his father could not escape or totally forget. On a broader scale, current events often have their nascence in long past events.
There is a great deal in this novel; in fact, sometimes, it seems that there is too much. It is a book I should probably re-read because I think there is much I missed. There is mystery and suspense, but not a conclusive ending. Considering the book’s theme, such an ending is appropriate. I recommend the book but with the suggestion that the reader first read a bit about the Lebanese Civil War.
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
Five years later, Pierre is finally declared dead. His son Cyril, an intern at a national newsroom, is conducting research for a documentary on domestic terrorism but also ends up looking into his father’s secretive past and his death. He tracks down Ari to find out what he knows about Pierre and his disappearance.
In the first part of the book, the author deliberately obfuscates. This evasiveness and the narrative’s different timelines (Pierre’s Lebanese past; Pierre’s final weeks; Cyril’s present) leave the reader feeling confused. MacIntyre seems to want the reader to feel how Cyril feels since he knows little about his father and even less about events in Lebanon during his father’s life there. The reader gains clarity as Cyril does.
I knew little about the Lebanese Civil War and so did some research especially into the Karantina, Damour, and Sabra and Shatila massacres. Because of my lack of knowledge, I was often confused. A historical timeline with some brief explanatory notes would have been really helpful. (i.e. Karantina was a predominantly Palestinian Muslim slum district in mostly Christian east Beirut controlled by forces of the Palestine Liberation Organization; in 1976, Karantina was overrun by militias of the right-wing and mostly Christian Lebanese Front, specifically the Kataeb Party (Phalangists), resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,500 people, mostly Muslims. The Damour massacre was a reprisal for the Karantina massacre. Damour, a Maronite Christian town, was attacked by Palestine Liberation Organisation units. Part of its population died in battle or in the massacre that followed, and the remainder were forced to flee. The Sabra and Shatila massacre was the killing of civilians, mostly Palestinians and Lebanese Shiites, by a militia close to the Kataeb Party, carried out virtually under the eyes of their Israeli allies.)
Sometimes I felt rather overwhelmed by trying to keep the politics straight. Occasionally, it is also difficult to determine who is speaking because there are long stretches of dialogue with no indication of the speaker. There are also events that take focus away from the main storyline. For instance, what is the purpose of including Cyril’s on again/off again romantic relationship?
A more significant issue is the portrayal of Cyril. He is an intern who knows little about domestic terrorism and the radicalization of youth, yet he is chosen to be part of a team working on a documentary on the topic. He “became quickly lost as the discussion shifted to Syria and its potential to cause havoc in Lebanon,” but he’s told, “’I hear you’ve made a strong impression’”?
A major theme is that the past is never dead: “The past is never dead as long as there is memory. Memory is the afterlife, both hell and heaven.” Cyril is told that “’there is no distinction between what’s historical and what’s contemporary.’” Events in the novel certainly bear this out. Pierre’s fate, for example, is a direct result of events in the past and Cyril’s life has certainly been impacted by the past his father could not escape or totally forget. On a broader scale, current events often have their nascence in long past events.
There is a great deal in this novel; in fact, sometimes, it seems that there is too much. It is a book I should probably re-read because I think there is much I missed. There is mystery and suspense, but not a conclusive ending. Considering the book’s theme, such an ending is appropriate. I recommend the book but with the suggestion that the reader first read a bit about the Lebanese Civil War.
Note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Please check out my reader's blog (http://schatjesshelves.blogspot.ca/) and follow me on Twitter (@DCYakabuski).
August 8, 2017
GNab I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Linden MacIntyre, and Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for sharing your hard work with me.
This is a very intense read, based on truths buried in rhetoric in a Middle East westerners cannot know nor understand. Linden MacIntyre comes very close to making it real for us. This is a book I would read again after a period of digestion, and would share with my loved ones. Again, thank you.
This is a very intense read, based on truths buried in rhetoric in a Middle East westerners cannot know nor understand. Linden MacIntyre comes very close to making it real for us. This is a book I would read again after a period of digestion, and would share with my loved ones. Again, thank you.
December 20, 2021
This was a four star book for me through 90% of it. I like MacIntyre's crisp writing and I thought the characters were well developed. The story was hard to read at times as various atrocities were described in Lebanon. However, I did not understand the ending. I clearly missed something. I think I get it that in this particular story, there would be loose ends and things we would just never really know for sure, but I was confused and unsatisfied with the ending, thus the drop to 3 stars. However, I would recommend the book, just when you're finished, explain it to me!
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