A review by thebacklistborrower
The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill

dark emotional sad
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book was a CBC Canada Reads longlist book, and I read it while waiting for one of the shortlists to show up. I had read Lullabies for Little Criminals years ago (also a Canada Reads pick), and it has stuck with me ever since.

There are a lot of similarities between the two books: both broadly about children whose childhoods were stolen from them. The Lonely Hearts Hotel is about two children born in a home for unwed pregnant girls. Rose and Pierrot connect young with their ability to entertain: Pierrot a savant at the piano, and Rose as a clown and dancer. Originally punished for this, the nuns running the orphanage eventually realize they can exploit these talents in the homes of the rich to get more money until Pierrot is adopted and Rose is sent to work as a nanny, and they lose touch, living lives where they did what they could to scrape by, run from trauma, make ends meet, and try to get by. When they do find each other, a plan is hatched to make it so big they don’t struggle again.

This book might not have been the escape many would have wanted. There is abuse, violence, and drugs as these two teenagers-- still children-- try to get by in a world that doesn't care about them. I don’t hesitate to say it was sad throughout. In this book, O’Neill plants sadness, and tends to it, until it grows into something new and transformed. Even at the end, when Rose and  Pierrot are reunited and happy, the sadness is there. It grows through their happy facade and eventually breaks it apart. 

All that being said, it is a beautifully written book, and if you are in the mood for something melancholic and beautiful in its own way, I’d recommend this book to read. Just know what is lying ahead.
 
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