At The Existentialist Cafe : Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell

Shortlisted for the PEN Hessell-Tiltman PrizeParis, near the turn of 1932-3. Three young friends meet over apricot cocktails at the Bec-de-Gaz bar on the rue Montparnasse. They are Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and their friend Raymond Aron, who opens their eyes to a radical new way of thinking?_?_~It?_Ts not often that you miss your bus stop because you?_Tre so engrossed in reading a book about existentialism, but I did exactly that... The story of Sartre, Beauvoir, Camus, Heidegger et al is strange, fun and compelling reading. If it doesn?_Tt win awards, I will eat my copy?_T Independent on Sunday?_~Bakewell shows how fascinating were some of the existentialists?_T ideas and how fascinating, often frightful, were their lives. Vivid, humorous anecdotes are interwoven with a lucid and unpatronising exposition of their complex philosophy?_? Tender, incisive and fair?_T Daily Telegraph?_~Quirky, funny, clear and passionate?_? Few writers are as good as Bakewell at explaining complicated ideas in a way that makes them easy to understand?_T Mail on Sunday
Binding: Paperback / softback