Review: Coffee at Little Angels
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 5, 2012
Review originally posted to Words at Home June 24, 2012: [...]I always love a good multiple point of view story. I find it so interesting to read about the same story from different perspectives - It feels as though I gain more insight into what is actually going on, and when MPOVs are done well I find that they add so much to the story. Larter definitely took on a heady task choosing to tell this story from eight (count them 8!!!) different perspectives! At first I wasn't sure what to think, it can be hard to keep several main characters straight let alone trying to distinguish (and remember) who was who when the perspective changed every few pages. If I'm being honest it did take me a little while to get used to the many different perspectives but I found that Larter gave each character such a distinct voice that once I got into the novel it really wasn't difficult at all to follow the story.I really enjoyed the characters that Larter created in this novel. I wouldn't say that they were all developed equally - some definitely were treated with more care, or respect than others. It was actually Maxine that I connected with the most, which if you asked me at the beginning of the novel I wouldn't have expected. I found her characters to be crass, devoid of any real emotion or substance, and quite shallow. As I read it seemed as though her character was allowed the most growth and by the end of the novel she was definitely my favorite and the one that I wanted to know more about. But regardless of who was my favorite, Larter has definitely created a cast of extremely interesting characters with a dramatic and entertaining pull to each other. The group dynamic was incredibly described and through the MPOV the reader was really able to understand how Phil's death, as well as simply being in the presence of long ago friends, affected (or didn't affect) each of the characters.  If you are a reader who loves a good character or relationship this is a book that you are going to want to pick up. Coffee at Little Angels was an incredibly honest portrayal of group dynamics, as well as the way that distance and time can affect the relationships that we thought would last forever.It wasn't until the end of the novel that I really "got" the story. The entire time I was reading I was drawn to this novel but couldn't quite put my finger on the reason why. It was as I got to the end of the novel that I started to think "yes.... This is a beautiful story". The beauty was not so much in what was happening but in the way that each of the characters was able to connect to each other and in effectively to themselves as they processed the death of a friend they used to know. This is a novel that didn't just tell a story but rather took the reader on the emotional journey of 8 different individuals.Coffee at Little Angels is a beautiful examination of the way we deal with death, whether it is the death of a loved one, a childhood friend, or simply someone who touched our life in some significant way. I found myself extremely drawn to the characters and it was such a unique reading experience that I highly recommend it to fans of contemporary fiction and multiple point of view stories. I also feel that I should warn you the last page of this novel felt like a punch in the gut (but in a completely shocking and satisfying way) - don't say that I didn't warn you!