Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Hotel Silence

An easy read about a man battling depression and suicidal thoughts finding a purpose in life that makes him want to live.

I found it to be a good and simple read, just a tad bit unexciting and monotonous. There were a few emotional moments in between, especially when talking about the war, and the novel almost perfectly communicated the gradual transcendence of joylessness and hopelessness to purposefulness, however, despite that there were points when it fell completely flat.

I read the English translation of the book, and the purpose of the intermittent quotes seemed to have almost definitely been lost in translation. I also personally feel a lot of the moments would have probably been more impactful in the original Icelandic than in English.

Content Warnings

markreadspages's review

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hopeful reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It’s quite short, which in many ways added to the charm. I thought the characters were well fleshed out for such a short book and developed nicely throughout. I would love to know how things progressed after the end of the book, but there’s also something nice about leaving it open to the imagination

Content Warnings

abbie_'s review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Hotel Silence, translated from the Icelandic by Brian FitzGibbon, is the story of a man all but ready to give up on life. There are content warnings for suicide/suicidal thoughts throughout this book. Jonás decides to go to some unnamed, far-flung, war-torn country to put an end to his life far from what remains of his family. While there, he gets sucked into the community as his handyman status at the ramshackle hotel he stays at brings other folks to his door for help. It sounds bleak, but there is some warmth and humour to it, and some hope. I didn’t connect with it as much as I hoped; the prose was quite sparse, which I do often enjoy, but I felt quite emotionally detached.

That could just be down to my frame of mind though, I wouldn’t NOT recommend it - wow I’m really selling this 😂 I did much prefer Miss Iceland. I’m just gonna stop writing now!

Content Warnings