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A review by cemoses
Hotel Silence by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
3.0
might have given this book four stars but it reminded me too much of a A Man Called Ove which came out before this book. Both books are about middle aged men who feel disappointed in their lives and want to commit suicide. In both books, the men don't want their suicide to inconvenience anyone.
If the above were the only resemblance between the two books I might have given it four stars. I found Jonas the protagonist in this book a character I could more closely relate to than Ov and I liked the parts of the book about the problems he faced.
However, I did not like the second half of the book where Jonas visits the war-torn country. Like Ove, Jonas becomes useful to other people by being good with his hands. This similarity bothered me because both of its resemblance to A Man Named Ove and I found it unconvincing that Jonas would be so good at repairs.
In the book A Man Called Ove, Ov is not well educated, gruff and very "blue collar" which contributes to people not seeing some of his good qualities. His mechanical skills which he uses to help people, has also made some people think he simple.
In contrast, Jonas is a very white collar, executive, and intellectual type. I found it hard to believe that he ever handled a screw driver. Maybe if he helped people in the unknown war torn country by managing a construction project, I might have believed it. However, I did not seem him as doing much physical labor or someone who liked getting his hands literally dirty.
His emotional transformation in this war-torn country I also found unconvincing.
.
I confess that some of the attraction of this book was that it reminded me of the book A Man Named Ov (even though I was not that enthusiastic about that book). I felt the book Hotel Silence had potential to be a very good book if it did not seem so derivative.
I recevied a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.
If the above were the only resemblance between the two books I might have given it four stars. I found Jonas the protagonist in this book a character I could more closely relate to than Ov and I liked the parts of the book about the problems he faced.
However, I did not like the second half of the book where Jonas visits the war-torn country. Like Ove, Jonas becomes useful to other people by being good with his hands. This similarity bothered me because both of its resemblance to A Man Named Ove and I found it unconvincing that Jonas would be so good at repairs.
In the book A Man Called Ove, Ov is not well educated, gruff and very "blue collar" which contributes to people not seeing some of his good qualities. His mechanical skills which he uses to help people, has also made some people think he simple.
In contrast, Jonas is a very white collar, executive, and intellectual type. I found it hard to believe that he ever handled a screw driver. Maybe if he helped people in the unknown war torn country by managing a construction project, I might have believed it. However, I did not seem him as doing much physical labor or someone who liked getting his hands literally dirty.
His emotional transformation in this war-torn country I also found unconvincing.
.
I confess that some of the attraction of this book was that it reminded me of the book A Man Named Ov (even though I was not that enthusiastic about that book). I felt the book Hotel Silence had potential to be a very good book if it did not seem so derivative.
I recevied a free copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.