Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
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Book Reviews of Hotel Du Lac
Book Review: For all swissophiles
Summary: 4 Stars
It took me forever to get into "Hotel du Lac." I love Jane Austen and I love Anne Tyler and this books sorta straddles both and was recommended to me by a used bookstore owner who said his wife liked it.
Finally after several chapters I got hooked and I read it slowly enough to relish it. I lived in Geneva and Basle so I could understand the place and was fascinated to read her version of Lake Geneva. The book slowly unfolds and has the unexpected twists you get in mysteries and at the end you are still puzzling - it isn't so neat in fact like a good movie it makes you want to go out and discuss it with others. The reviews here make me think the people who are reading it prefer action novels and would be the last people I'd like to discuss this book with.
But I really loved it. I'm only sorry every one says it's her best as I'd like to read others by her and not be disappointed.
Book Review: A good book I'd recommend.
Summary: 4 Stars
It took me forever to get into "Hotel du Lac." I love Jane Austen and I love Anne Tyler and this books sorta straddles both and was recommended to me by a used bookstore owner who said his wife liked it.Finally after several chapters I got hooked and I read it slowly enough to relish it. I lived in Geneva and Basle so I could understand the place and was fascinated to read her version of Lake Geneva. The book slowly unfolds and has the unexpected twists you get in mysteries and at the end you are still puzzling - it isn't so neat in fact like a good movie it makes you want to go out and discuss it with others. The reviews here make me think the people who are reading it prefer action novels and would be the last people I'd like to discuss this book with.
But I really loved it. I'm only sorry every one says it's her best as I'd like to read others by her and not be disappointed.
Book Review: Is Nearsightedness Fatal?
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw a film version of Hotel du Lac on TV one night and was absolutely hooked. I found the book and read it right away.
I love the fact that the narrator can't be trusted. Actually she does not trust her own judgement either so we can't laugh at her behind her back.
Not much plot: a not so young woman who writes romance novels is banished to the Hotel du Lac for one month for the horrendous crime of not showing up to her own wedding.
At the hotel, she meets a cast of characters who keep her and us guessing.
What I think is really funny is that despite her mild mannered exterior, the main character is as selfish and cruel in her own way as any one else at the hotel. We overlook it or misinterpret it because she is so colorless.
Book Review: a gray work, well crafted
Summary: 4 Stars
This well polished short novel is a fine diversion, easily read. It focuses on a set of society's lonely misfits who come together in a respectible, albeit slighly unfashionable, Swiss resort hotel. The author pays due homage to Virginia Woolf in many ways: in particular she takes a view of the way women carry themselves in the world that is neither traditionally feminist nor boilerplate traditionalist--it is a fresh view that transcends Woolf, and it was for this that I most enjoyed the book. The ending provided a satisfying piu mosso to this piece, which on the whole must be described as adagio moroso, although punctuated throughout with a subtle wit and humor.Book Review: Thought-provoking and very enjoyable
Summary: 4 Stars
I really enjoyed this book, which I read in one enjoyable afternoon. The author made me laugh, kept me in suspense, and provoked my thinking. I wrote down numerous quotations to remember later. Two of the main issues the author looks at are: the idea that two people will never be able to create a peaceful existence together, and; the notion that the key to happiness is found in perfect selfishness, renouncing love. Brookner makes a great case for these two ideas.