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pamelabaker 's review for:
The Hotel New Hampshire
by John Irving
2.5 stars? I was all-in on this book when I started it. A lovely beginning! Interesting characters, interesting premise, solid looking-back narrator. Terrific. Then Irving ruined it, like a handsome man who opens his mouth only to reveal a bit of a jackass. Not that Irving is an ass, but he writes about rape like a man, and he writes about sibling love/lust like someone who’s seen it in porn and thought it appealing.
So, the rape scene was cringy, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I wrestled with it. However, turned the raped-girl into someone in love with her rapists - for YEARS - and, given this character is the character who is the strongest, most self-assured and confident of the group, she becomes more of a convenient caricature than a person. The, when Irving kills off the the other tragic female character who also was written as aloof and strong, it just seemed unbelievable to me - it lacked a kind of truth of people in favor of drama. It was unearned drama. I felt nothing for these characters and nearly stopped reading when the raped-girl has sex with her brother. So, this is the book that has made me lose all desire to ever read Irving again. A pity, as I did like The Cider House Rules (of course, I read that years ago and wonder if I’d like it as much now as he tends to create and then flatten his characters).
So, the rape scene was cringy, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I wrestled with it. However, turned the raped-girl into someone in love with her rapists - for YEARS - and, given this character is the character who is the strongest, most self-assured and confident of the group, she becomes more of a convenient caricature than a person. The, when Irving kills off the the other tragic female character who also was written as aloof and strong, it just seemed unbelievable to me - it lacked a kind of truth of people in favor of drama. It was unearned drama. I felt nothing for these characters and nearly stopped reading when the raped-girl has sex with her brother. So, this is the book that has made me lose all desire to ever read Irving again. A pity, as I did like The Cider House Rules (of course, I read that years ago and wonder if I’d like it as much now as he tends to create and then flatten his characters).