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neufangledmark 's review for:
Travelers Rest
by Keith Lee Morris
What the hell did I just read?
Author blurbs for this novel suggest that fans of Twin Peaks and The Shining will find much to appreciate in this dark novel by Keith Lee Morris. I'm a fan of both those references and love a good ghost or supernatural story. Upon completion of this novel, however, I am utterly at a loss. The older I get, the less I want to spend time reading books that just end up frustrating me -
nonetheless, once I got halfway through Travelers Rest, I foolishly persisted, thinking there would be some resolution in the end. Overall, my suspicion is that the author had grand intentions with this book that just went awry and/or lost among a jumble of run-on sentences that endlessly spiral the reader off into ("Huh?") head-scratching, mind-numbing territory.
The premise of the book is intriguing: a small family, consisting of a husband and wife, their son, and the husband's ne'er-do-well brother are travelling from Seattle to the Atlantic coast for a well-needed respite and change of scene. Along the way, they decide to make a stopover, due to a blizzard that infuriatingly goes on and on and is referenced for DAYS throughout the plot. They pause in their travels in a small, mysterious town called Good Night, Idaho. There is little of interest in the town and apparently not too many inhabitants. It's creepy, to put it succinctly. They choose to stay in the grand, but rambling and in need of serious repair hotel called Travelers Rest. Upon entering its foreboding doors, each one of their lives - yes, even the oddly too precocious 10 year-old son's - wanders off into curious directions. Morris wastes no time getting into it either. Their very first night spent in the hotel has each family member breaking off to explore the hotel and the town. A majority of the novel is occupied with each of them making their own curious discoveries about the strange town, themselves, their relations to one another, and their pasts (which aren't really that interesting to begin with, let's face it). Ultimately, they seem to make their own awkward attempts (or in some cases, non-attempts) to reunite with one another, never quite getting there. It seems like chapters are spent with each character metaphorically moving through sticky, sloggy syrup just to get from point A to point B. At 300+ pages, it's a tedious, Twlight Zone-like rabbit hole to descend into. The trouble is, it isn't even the good
Twilight Zone. It's just plain tiresome. And there are far too many questions left unanswered.
I will say that if you're a fan of alternate universes and the time-space continuum - well, you may like this book. Somewhat. Give it a try. Skimming an interview with the author in the paperback edition I read, it appears that Morris is occupied a great deal by dreams, and the concept of dreams determining destinies of the present and future. I give Morris credit for tackling such a heady subject, but unfortunately, this story just goes nowhere, and quickly. Don't be too deceived by the first few intriguing pages. Once each family member splits off on their own separate journeys, you may be bound to get just as lost as they apparently were. If I were star rating, I would give this 1.5 for effort, but I just can't find it in me to round it to 2 stars.
Author blurbs for this novel suggest that fans of Twin Peaks and The Shining will find much to appreciate in this dark novel by Keith Lee Morris. I'm a fan of both those references and love a good ghost or supernatural story. Upon completion of this novel, however, I am utterly at a loss. The older I get, the less I want to spend time reading books that just end up frustrating me -
nonetheless, once I got halfway through Travelers Rest, I foolishly persisted, thinking there would be some resolution in the end. Overall, my suspicion is that the author had grand intentions with this book that just went awry and/or lost among a jumble of run-on sentences that endlessly spiral the reader off into ("Huh?") head-scratching, mind-numbing territory.
The premise of the book is intriguing: a small family, consisting of a husband and wife, their son, and the husband's ne'er-do-well brother are travelling from Seattle to the Atlantic coast for a well-needed respite and change of scene. Along the way, they decide to make a stopover, due to a blizzard that infuriatingly goes on and on and is referenced for DAYS throughout the plot. They pause in their travels in a small, mysterious town called Good Night, Idaho. There is little of interest in the town and apparently not too many inhabitants. It's creepy, to put it succinctly. They choose to stay in the grand, but rambling and in need of serious repair hotel called Travelers Rest. Upon entering its foreboding doors, each one of their lives - yes, even the oddly too precocious 10 year-old son's - wanders off into curious directions. Morris wastes no time getting into it either. Their very first night spent in the hotel has each family member breaking off to explore the hotel and the town. A majority of the novel is occupied with each of them making their own curious discoveries about the strange town, themselves, their relations to one another, and their pasts (which aren't really that interesting to begin with, let's face it). Ultimately, they seem to make their own awkward attempts (or in some cases, non-attempts) to reunite with one another, never quite getting there. It seems like chapters are spent with each character metaphorically moving through sticky, sloggy syrup just to get from point A to point B. At 300+ pages, it's a tedious, Twlight Zone-like rabbit hole to descend into. The trouble is, it isn't even the good
Twilight Zone. It's just plain tiresome. And there are far too many questions left unanswered.
I will say that if you're a fan of alternate universes and the time-space continuum - well, you may like this book. Somewhat. Give it a try. Skimming an interview with the author in the paperback edition I read, it appears that Morris is occupied a great deal by dreams, and the concept of dreams determining destinies of the present and future. I give Morris credit for tackling such a heady subject, but unfortunately, this story just goes nowhere, and quickly. Don't be too deceived by the first few intriguing pages. Once each family member splits off on their own separate journeys, you may be bound to get just as lost as they apparently were. If I were star rating, I would give this 1.5 for effort, but I just can't find it in me to round it to 2 stars.