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careymacaulay 's review for:
The Hotel New Hampshire
by John Irving
"... I think the shape of death is always startling to us -- it is meant to be startling -- and not even proper anticipation can prepare us enough for it."
My latest John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire, is unlike anything I have ever read. I seem to have a bit of a theme going lately. Many of my choices have been strange. The Hotel New Hampshire is certainly in this category. It starts out weird and the weirdness just continues to the end. You rarely see anything coming (which I appreciate more and more as I get older.) And Irving definitely goes there, goes for it, and we are along for the ride -- or not.
John Berry is our chronicler. He takes us on the journey that is his life growing up as the middle child of an eccentric family of mother, father, 5 children, and paternal grandfather. The family ultimately becomes hoteliers, living in New Hampshire, then Vienna, a short stint in New York, then coming full circle back to New Hampshire. Every character is quirkily off-beat, including friends and family; acquaintances and strangers.
There are recurring themes in Irving’s novels: bears, wrestling, prostitution, Vienna. The Hotel New Hampshire contains them all -- and it’s an odd list. But, he tells this strange story in such a reasonable, compassionate way that it becomes normal for this eccentric family. He philosophically tackles the huge subjects of rape, incest, post-traumatic stress, religion, anti semitism, terrorism, and suicide that is not the usual experience of every family. (I don’t want to come across as prudish or judgmental but I really had to stifle my inner voice when the inappropriate closeness of two characters is continuously touched on and then becomes an integral part of the narrative. This was very uncomfortable for me and I had to stop reading at one point. I then had to make the difficult choice to continue or not. I ultimately decided that the nature of a book is to force us outside of our comfort zones. Like life, where experiences are not always happy, you can’t read only positive things. Sometimes stories make you recoil.) Irving continually calls the Berry family story a fairy tale but it is certainly a dark one. On second thought, fairy tales are meant to be dark. There really isn’t a happily ever after. Not in any family. We must take the good with the bad. "'Human beings are remarkable -- at what we can learn to live with,' Father told me. 'If we couldn't get strong from what we lose, and what we miss, and what we want and can't have,' Father said, 'then we couldn't ever get strong enough, could we? What else makes us strong?'"
The Hotel New Hampshire made me think, made me laugh, made me cry, made me cringe, and made me angry. At times I was incredulous but I had to put aside my conventions and come to terms with what Irving is saying (all with superb writing.) And that is the mark of a great story … but unique … and very strange … and dark … and cringey -- we can’t forget that.
My latest John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire, is unlike anything I have ever read. I seem to have a bit of a theme going lately. Many of my choices have been strange. The Hotel New Hampshire is certainly in this category. It starts out weird and the weirdness just continues to the end. You rarely see anything coming (which I appreciate more and more as I get older.) And Irving definitely goes there, goes for it, and we are along for the ride -- or not.
John Berry is our chronicler. He takes us on the journey that is his life growing up as the middle child of an eccentric family of mother, father, 5 children, and paternal grandfather. The family ultimately becomes hoteliers, living in New Hampshire, then Vienna, a short stint in New York, then coming full circle back to New Hampshire. Every character is quirkily off-beat, including friends and family; acquaintances and strangers.
There are recurring themes in Irving’s novels: bears, wrestling, prostitution, Vienna. The Hotel New Hampshire contains them all -- and it’s an odd list. But, he tells this strange story in such a reasonable, compassionate way that it becomes normal for this eccentric family. He philosophically tackles the huge subjects of rape, incest, post-traumatic stress, religion, anti semitism, terrorism, and suicide that is not the usual experience of every family. (I don’t want to come across as prudish or judgmental but I really had to stifle my inner voice when the inappropriate closeness of two characters is continuously touched on and then becomes an integral part of the narrative. This was very uncomfortable for me and I had to stop reading at one point. I then had to make the difficult choice to continue or not. I ultimately decided that the nature of a book is to force us outside of our comfort zones. Like life, where experiences are not always happy, you can’t read only positive things. Sometimes stories make you recoil.) Irving continually calls the Berry family story a fairy tale but it is certainly a dark one. On second thought, fairy tales are meant to be dark. There really isn’t a happily ever after. Not in any family. We must take the good with the bad. "'Human beings are remarkable -- at what we can learn to live with,' Father told me. 'If we couldn't get strong from what we lose, and what we miss, and what we want and can't have,' Father said, 'then we couldn't ever get strong enough, could we? What else makes us strong?'"
The Hotel New Hampshire made me think, made me laugh, made me cry, made me cringe, and made me angry. At times I was incredulous but I had to put aside my conventions and come to terms with what Irving is saying (all with superb writing.) And that is the mark of a great story … but unique … and very strange … and dark … and cringey -- we can’t forget that.