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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
I am always so hesitant to give five star ratings, but as expected from a Booker Prize winner that on its surface seems like a holiday romance, actually unravels so much more about the writer, the spinster, the unattached woman. Psychologically and emotionally, very delicately done, with Edith story pieced together over this summer of depression that she is trying to escape from.
My Recommendation: It was a good read and relatively quick. There were definite moments that dragged on a little too long, but for the most part the book was well paced. I found the introspective scenes when Edith was alone with her thoughts to be just as intriguing as those when she was interacting with the menagerie of guests at the Hotel du Lac. For such a short work, there were a lot of personalities crammed in and each one stands out distinctly showing that Brookner really had mastered her craft when she finally wrote this one.
My Response: What an interesting novel. I had no idea what to expect going into this. I knew it was famous, I knew it was Brookner's most famous novel and I knew it won the year I was born. That's about it.
I picked it up almost a decade ago because I knew it was a Booker Prize winner and at the time I had intentions of reading the full list. And, while I still may read the full list, there are no pressures or time constraints. That being said I'm starting to pare down my physical book collection and I'm sure I'll be reading more and more as I have plenty physical books.
My Response: What an interesting novel. I had no idea what to expect going into this. I knew it was famous, I knew it was Brookner's most famous novel and I knew it won the year I was born. That's about it.
I picked it up almost a decade ago because I knew it was a Booker Prize winner and at the time I had intentions of reading the full list. And, while I still may read the full list, there are no pressures or time constraints. That being said I'm starting to pare down my physical book collection and I'm sure I'll be reading more and more as I have plenty physical books.
Hotel du Lac was a very sedate book to read. It felt like it never really broke into its stride though, and while there were moments that were enjoyable, on the whole Brookner doesn't really find any depth in this novel. The characterisations seemed dry, the only characters I felt I had an insight into were Alain and Mme de Bonneuil whereas the protagonist was acted into too skittish a way to allow any prolonged intimation. The ending also seemed to be a little abrupt, and not nearly drawn up in any constructive or satiating way.
I prescribe this book to anyone who reads. Take it with earl grey and two or three uninterrupted afternoons. Bring it to a coffeehouse, devour it on the train or simply curl up in a blanket let it be your companion.
It's a wisp of a novel, threaded with quiet amounts of melancholy and humor. Yet there is a submersing intensity that is unmistakable. I felt deeply satisfied after finishing the book. Like Edith, I too will never be the same after her stay at Hotel du Lac.
It's a wisp of a novel, threaded with quiet amounts of melancholy and humor. Yet there is a submersing intensity that is unmistakable. I felt deeply satisfied after finishing the book. Like Edith, I too will never be the same after her stay at Hotel du Lac.
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was this month's book group title and most of them hated it -- now, considering I am the youngest one in the room by several decades I was surprised that there were a few of us who really did like it. It was written in the early 80s and some of the attitudes didn't translate well -- meaning that I just didn't get the reason Edith believed what the idiots who called themselves her friends said to her about "her last chance" and all that baloney with her "scandal". But it is a character based book and I am a "character" girl when it comes to my books. The main character examines what it means to be a woman -- and what she really wants and is willing to settle for in a relationship. The writing is well done, if a little bit too British for my taste, but the characters are people who you just know -- they are well drawn and familiar in a sad sort of way.
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
It was quite a surprise, on finishing Hotel du Lac, to learn that it was probably set around the time it was written – in the 1980s. It has the feel of a much older time – just after the Second World War perhaps – and not a contemporary one. It was difficult not to identify with Edith, packed off on a ‘holiday’ by her friends after causing a disturbance and encountering a number of other women taking the air as the season draws to a close in the old-fashioned hotel by the lake.
I suspect opinions of Edith – a writer of romances under a pen-name – may differ depending on where on the introvert-extrovert spectrum you sit. To my mind, she seemed to have organised her life perfectly, with plenty of sitting in the garden and an aspirational amount of tea-drinking, until the well-meaning friends intrude to direct her future. Following an ‘indiscretion,’ they decide for her that she needs time away and instead of telling them where to go, she obligingly gets on the plane.
Her fellow guests at first amuse and delight her, as with a writer’s eye she creates backgrounds and motivations for them. But like the friends back home, they don’t seem to be able to resist the temptation to manage Edith’s life.
Read my full review - and many more! - at my site ten million hardbacks
An autumn sun, soft as honey, gilded the lake; tiny waves whispered onto the shore; a white steamer passed noiselessly off in the direction of Ouchy; and at her feet, on the sandy path, she saw the green hedgehog shape of a chestnut, split open to reveal the brown gleam of its fruit. The café with the clouded windows, now transparent and bathed in an afternoon light, was almost empty. Seated at a silent table, Edith closed her eyes momentarily in a shaft of sunlight and tasted pure pleasure.
I suspect opinions of Edith – a writer of romances under a pen-name – may differ depending on where on the introvert-extrovert spectrum you sit. To my mind, she seemed to have organised her life perfectly, with plenty of sitting in the garden and an aspirational amount of tea-drinking, until the well-meaning friends intrude to direct her future. Following an ‘indiscretion,’ they decide for her that she needs time away and instead of telling them where to go, she obligingly gets on the plane.
Her fellow guests at first amuse and delight her, as with a writer’s eye she creates backgrounds and motivations for them. But like the friends back home, they don’t seem to be able to resist the temptation to manage Edith’s life.
Read my full review - and many more! - at my site ten million hardbacks
MAGNIFICENT.
“You thought, perhaps, like my publisher, and my agent, who are always trying to get me to bring my books up to date and make them sexier and more exciting, that I wrote my stories with that mixture of satire and cynical detachment that is thought to become the modern writer in this field. You were wrong. I believed every word I wrote. And I still do, even though I realize now that none of it can ever come true for me.”
“You thought, perhaps, like my publisher, and my agent, who are always trying to get me to bring my books up to date and make them sexier and more exciting, that I wrote my stories with that mixture of satire and cynical detachment that is thought to become the modern writer in this field. You were wrong. I believed every word I wrote. And I still do, even though I realize now that none of it can ever come true for me.”
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes