Reviews

I know that this is an impressive book. I know that it asks a lot of questions surrounding death and love and grief and what it means to live.

But the style of writing just didn’t gel with me and I got bored with the (very intentional) repetition sprinkled through the novel.

elisegis's review against another edition

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4.0

the writing style is very interesting and unique, not like anything i’ve read before. i imagine that is why this book is popular. i am interested in more of ali smith’s writing

baybod's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

LOVED this book. the writing style made it quick and easy to read, def pulled me in. I loved the idea of the book. All the characters were interesting and I loved seeing how their lives connected. I’ve always been so fascinated, enamored even, with the thought of the simultaneity of individuals lives and that we rarely know what anyone else is doing at a given time but us and the people we’re around and even then we have no idea what’s going on in their head and i just really really loved this chapter bc everyone’s life is so meaningful even the strangers we see at the bus stop are out there living or maybe they’re not living and we’ll never know that either and wow what a book!

I especially loved the sister’s chapter because it was such an accurate and beautiful portrayal of grief.

erboe501's review against another edition

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5.0

Wow. Ali Smith is one sharp writer. Her writing is so tight, every word of a section bounces off the words of the other sections. The first section will start out a little confusing, but the style (my favorite aspect of the book) and the tragedy of a girl's fatal fall down a broken dumbwaiter will soon draw you in. Each section of the text has a unique voice, and Smith makes the characters so real that you want to cry over some characters and slap some sympathy into others. I actually did cry in the section Future in the Past, narrated by the dead girl's sister. The way she copes with the grief of her sister's death spoke to a truth in all of us about how we never want to let go of a dead loved one, even if that means collecting dust in a bedroom in the hopes that some of the loved one's dead skin cells remain. The genius of Hotel World is its revelation that everyone is connected, by a hair or a thread, to everyone else in his or her life. Everything, especially in Smith's text, has meaning.

jabberwock's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

evxn86's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated

3.25

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