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hollyhudson's review
5.0
wow. i will mark books “before” and “after” reading the white hotel. 10 stars!
cais's review
5.0
"There are things so far beyond belief that it ought to be possible to awake from them."
This is an astonishing book, a strange marvel, but difficult to quote from, difficult to describe without giving too much away. It is best to come to this book with only a vague idea of its contents. Sigmund Freud is one of the main characters as is one of his (fictional) patients, a disturbed woman whose fiercely erotic visions shape-shift throughout the story. Knowing some very basic Freudian concepts is useful here, but nothing more is needed to appreciate this book.
I can say that D.M. Thomas, in a very original way, has crafted a story that is ultimately about the Holocaust. This book is a reminder that when we hear statistics about that horror, or even see photographs and film footage, we need to remember that each number, each image, represents a person who even if illiterate and poor, even if they had never ventured outside the boundaries of their own neighborhood, was someone who had "dreamed dreams, seen visions and had amazing experiences." Though the main character in this book is complex and troubled, hence her seeking out psychoanalysis, her dreams and feelings are, in the end, no more important or interesting than someone who has led an apparently lesser life. This book is about the value of every human life and it is wonderfully written and incredibly devastating.
(Related & recommended reading: Dina Pronicheva's testimony about Babi Yar is available online. Also, the case history of Freud's "Wolf Man.")
"She passed into a trance, in which everything that was being enacted before her happened slowly and without sound. Perhaps she had literally become deaf. It was quieter than the quietest night. And the clouds drifted across the sky with the same terrible, icy, inhuman slowness. Also there were changes of color. The scene became tinted with mauve. She watched cumulus gather on the horizon; saw it break into three, and with continuous changes of shape and color the clouds started their journey across the sky. They were not aware of what was happening. They thought it was an ordinary day. They would have been astonished. The tiny spider running up the blade of grass thought it was a simple, ordinary blade of grass in a field."
This is an astonishing book, a strange marvel, but difficult to quote from, difficult to describe without giving too much away. It is best to come to this book with only a vague idea of its contents. Sigmund Freud is one of the main characters as is one of his (fictional) patients, a disturbed woman whose fiercely erotic visions shape-shift throughout the story. Knowing some very basic Freudian concepts is useful here, but nothing more is needed to appreciate this book.
I can say that D.M. Thomas, in a very original way, has crafted a story that is ultimately about the Holocaust. This book is a reminder that when we hear statistics about that horror, or even see photographs and film footage, we need to remember that each number, each image, represents a person who even if illiterate and poor, even if they had never ventured outside the boundaries of their own neighborhood, was someone who had "dreamed dreams, seen visions and had amazing experiences." Though the main character in this book is complex and troubled, hence her seeking out psychoanalysis, her dreams and feelings are, in the end, no more important or interesting than someone who has led an apparently lesser life. This book is about the value of every human life and it is wonderfully written and incredibly devastating.
(Related & recommended reading: Dina Pronicheva's testimony about Babi Yar is available online. Also, the case history of Freud's "Wolf Man.")
"She passed into a trance, in which everything that was being enacted before her happened slowly and without sound. Perhaps she had literally become deaf. It was quieter than the quietest night. And the clouds drifted across the sky with the same terrible, icy, inhuman slowness. Also there were changes of color. The scene became tinted with mauve. She watched cumulus gather on the horizon; saw it break into three, and with continuous changes of shape and color the clouds started their journey across the sky. They were not aware of what was happening. They thought it was an ordinary day. They would have been astonished. The tiny spider running up the blade of grass thought it was a simple, ordinary blade of grass in a field."
stephcostello's review
4.0
I found that the power of this novel only really becomes apparent once it has been read in its entirety. I read it quickly and almost in a continuous sitting which I believe is the best way to enjoy this book because it is only when you can consider it as a whole that the parts begin to make sense.
Personally I found the first two chapters (the poem and the journal) rather difficult to get my head around. I'm not particularly au fait with Freud's work so maybe some of the references went over my head. That said, as the novel progressed I found it to be one of the most harrowing works I have ever read. At risk of sounding vague in an attempt to avoid giving too much away, the final two chapters of the book will stay with me for a long time and in particular there is a single moment that struck me as possibly the most unsettling that I have ever read.
The novel is a really unique experience and whilst it is in the most part not a particularly enjoyable one, it is a very important one. Any novel dealing with the horrors of the Holocaust is going to be a troubling read but this novel goes above and beyond that. However, the redemptive quality of the final chapter is what really gives the novel it's purpose and makes it a truly important read that I would highly recommend.
Personally I found the first two chapters (the poem and the journal) rather difficult to get my head around. I'm not particularly au fait with Freud's work so maybe some of the references went over my head. That said, as the novel progressed I found it to be one of the most harrowing works I have ever read. At risk of sounding vague in an attempt to avoid giving too much away, the final two chapters of the book will stay with me for a long time and in particular there is a single moment that struck me as possibly the most unsettling that I have ever read.
The novel is a really unique experience and whilst it is in the most part not a particularly enjoyable one, it is a very important one. Any novel dealing with the horrors of the Holocaust is going to be a troubling read but this novel goes above and beyond that. However, the redemptive quality of the final chapter is what really gives the novel it's purpose and makes it a truly important read that I would highly recommend.
crissytrap's review
5.0
I'd actually like to read this again. It's been so long since I've read this, but I remember liking it. Thomas imagines Sigmond Freud in the most vivid way. The story is based on one of his cases, though it is fictional.
gempoole's review
5.0
I finished this book at midnight and haven’t stopped thinking about it.
It starts off very strangely and I really didn’t know what I was getting into which I think most people experience by the looks of it. However I become so interested in Lisa’s story and helping her to uncover and process her trauma so she could go on and live happily. I really loved reading her letters with Freud and I grew to really like her.
Then chapter 5 happened and it completely took me by surprise. I should’ve known something like that was going to come up due to the time period (I’m really trying to not spoil anything). However, I have never read anything so physically painful and horrific - I think it’s going to stay with me for a while.
I think this is a very important book, D.M Thomas writes this story so interestingly and beautifully and I loved how it was sectioned out into different time periods of life and it all clicked together - it was a tough one but an important one.
It starts off very strangely and I really didn’t know what I was getting into which I think most people experience by the looks of it. However I become so interested in Lisa’s story and helping her to uncover and process her trauma so she could go on and live happily. I really loved reading her letters with Freud and I grew to really like her.
Then chapter 5 happened and it completely took me by surprise. I should’ve known something like that was going to come up due to the time period (I’m really trying to not spoil anything). However, I have never read anything so physically painful and horrific - I think it’s going to stay with me for a while.
I think this is a very important book, D.M Thomas writes this story so interestingly and beautifully and I loved how it was sectioned out into different time periods of life and it all clicked together - it was a tough one but an important one.
katie_king's review against another edition
4.0
Haunting, nightmarish, wonderfully crafted. Freud himself may be discredited in this age, but as a framing device for this novel, the Freudian worldview really works. If you are going to read a novel, as opposed to a memoir, about the Holocaust, this is the book to read.
misakattack's review
2.0
"The White Hotel" is an interesting book to say the least. I found the first four chapters to be fascinating, exciting, and captivating. But then the book kept going.
This story about a "hysterical" young woman and her delusions about a fun sex romp at a hotel, told via a poem, then a journal, then Freud's analysis, suddenly turned into a horrific tale of the Holocaust. And then the last chapter: The Camp. What?! So she's alive apparently? Or is this heaven? I really didn't care to make sense of it.
Honestly, the book should have ended at the end of Freud and Lisa's correspondence (I probably wouldn't have included all the details of Lisa being a singer either). The book suddenly became about the rest of Lisa's life and I couldn't care any less. It was all so irrelevant and unnecessary.
This story about a "hysterical" young woman and her delusions about a fun sex romp at a hotel, told via a poem, then a journal, then Freud's analysis, suddenly turned into a horrific tale of the Holocaust. And then the last chapter: The Camp. What?! So she's alive apparently? Or is this heaven? I really didn't care to make sense of it.
Honestly, the book should have ended at the end of Freud and Lisa's correspondence (I probably wouldn't have included all the details of Lisa being a singer either). The book suddenly became about the rest of Lisa's life and I couldn't care any less. It was all so irrelevant and unnecessary.