Hotel du Lac, by Anita Brookner surprised me.  The first forty or so pages, while beautifully written, were a tad tough to meander through at times.  But then, oh then, all of a sudden, and at some point I can't recall, I was quite happy -- it pulled me in and although it's a quiet and contemplative story, it was really quite interesting and I felt at home with it.

Edith Hope is a romance writer who writes under another name -- she's accomplished, but to be honest, she writes about feelings and events that she's never sure she'll ever have, or at least have forever.  She's withdrawn, and doesn't fit with her "friends."

Edith is sent away from "civilized" society in London to a quaint and quiet hotel in Switzerland following a scandal that it has been deemed should not occur amongst polite and learned men and women.  While there, she encounters a sad variety of characters that initially seem almost so uninteresting, that they are interesting.  Eventually, you are drawn into each one, into their nuances, their sad or internally destructive personalities. While one character, Mrs. Pusey initially impresses upon Edith that she is kind and lovely, it soon becomes evident that she's really just lacking in the same things that most of the hotel guests are without as well -- after all, why are they all sequestered in this hotel, away from family and friends, during a quiet time of season?  It seemed to be that they all were suffering in some way.

Do not expect a flurry of events in the winner of the Man Booker Prize of 1984.  Expect instead a quiet discussion, a studied review of a writer's perspective of those she meets and interacts with, amidst the background of an incredible hotel.  There is not a hurry from one thing to another.  It is a slow exercise of evaluation and word usage to describe each scene, moment, person.  Could it be considered tedious and boring to some?  Perhaps.  Could it also be viewed as deceptively pleasing, slowly building the undercurrent of anticipation for something, something brilliant and cunning to breach the water line and unfold its secret?  Yes.

At times, it was a bit humorous, but I found it to be an overall sad book, about people who were sad and who either were forced to be in exile by others, or simply had nowhere else that they could go.  It's an insightful and thoughtful novel on love, loss, and regret.  Although I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, I would say that if you like a quiet novel that delivers an introspective view on one's own life, then this sad little beauty is a book for you.

Every word is quotable in this beautiful and very short book, but this one I found delightful:

He was a man of few words, but those few words were judiciously selected, weighed for quality, and delivered with expertise.  Edith, used to the ruminative monologues that most people consider to be adequate for the purposes of rational discourse, used, moreover, to concocting the cunning and even learned periods which the characters in her books so spontaneously uttered, leaned back in her chair and smiled.  The sensation of being entertained by words was one which she encountered all too rarely.  People expect writers to entertain them, she reflected.  They consider that writers should be gratified simply by performing their task to the audience's satisfaction.  Like sycophants at court in the Middle Ages, dwarves, jongleurs.  And what about us?  Nobody thinks about entertaining us.

I look forward to reading more Anita Brookner novels.  Particularly when I learned from Thomas at My Porch that Ms. Brookner is now in her eighties and has written a book a year since her first published fiction novel in her early fifties.

Other fabulous book bloggers said this:
Carol's Notebook
Vintage Reads
Savidge Reads

Happy Reading,
Coffee and a Book Chick

Thanks to all our Mailbox Monday hosts!  Julie at Knitting and Sundries is hosting this month, and thanks to Sheila at Book Journey as well for her Mailbox hosting!

This was a good week, check it out!




Have you read any of these? If so, which one should I start with?

From My Reader's Block, I won a giveaway for the following books:

• In the Last Analysis, by Amanda Cross
• Murder at Bertram's Tower, by Cynthia Peale
• Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear

From Raging Bibliomania, Heather was kind enough to send to me:

• Room, by Emma Donoghue
• Stash, by David Klein

From The Literary Feline, I received:

• Blue Nude, by Elizabeth Rosner

And the rest I received from Paperbackswap, purchased at my local independent bookstore, The BookMark in Atlantic Beach, Florida, or purchased at a church sale yesterday:

• And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie
• The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
• Martha Peake, Patrick MCGrath
• What Alice Knew, by Paula Marantz Cohen
• Hotel Du Lac, by Anita Brookner (recommended by Vintage Reads, check out her review!)
• Trauma, by Patrick McGrath
• Summer at Tiffany, by Marjorie Hart (recommended by The Maiden's Court, check out her review!)
• Psycho, by Robert Bloch
• Don't Look Now, by Daphne du Maurier, with an introduction by Patrick McGrath (recommended by The Literary Stew, check out her review!)
• The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing, by Melissa Bank
• The Love of Stones, by Tobias Hill

Happy Reading!

Coffee and a Book Chick

I'm not quite sure how I can call myself a lover of books, majored in English with a minor in Creative Writing, and never once did I come across author John Williams. In just a few sittings last week, Stoner by John Williams easily crept onto my list of favorites.

While a quiet and simple story covering the life of one man in Missouri, born at the end of the 19th century, William Stoner is a seemingly unremarkable teacher who leads an unremarkable life. Within his cocoon of literature and teaching is a man who feels he has let his parents down, suffers through a troubled marriage, wrestles a continued clash with a colleague, and conceding to a failed relationship with his daughter. With only two friends he can count within his life, William Stoner's story is divulged to the reader in quiet moments which reminded me of Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac. 

I was so taken by the gentle story of William Stoner, who received an opportunity to begin studies at the local university in Missouri for agriculture, in order to help with his parents' farm. However, upon arrival at the university, staring at the gleaming lawns and stately buildings filled with so many chances of learning, along with a requirement to take a study of English, he very quickly falls in love with academic life and literature. He decides to redirect his life's course from his parents' expectations and chooses to instead study literature throughout his entire time at the university. It's a secret he maintains until his graduation in the most heartfelt and quietly tense scenes in a short conversation with his parents.

Stoner has such a mesmerizing flow that I felt a strong connection to his character, and worried with him on the small highs and deep lows of his life. Nothing quite amazing happens for Stoner, and while it was an easy and comfortable read, the story of William Stoner is filled with so many moments of sadness and choices made that resulted in unhappiness. It is a life filled with insignificant events to others, but extremely poignant for Stoner. It is heartfelt and quiet and hopeful and one of the best pieces of writing I've ever had the luxury of reading.

The legacy of this man becomes nothing, no remembrance. For all the students he taught and the struggles he experienced with another teacher at the university, with his wife, with his daughter, it was an astoundingly sad book, but also incredibly beautiful. It reminded me that even in anonymity and disregard, there is a world of endless possibility in even the tiniest of events in the seasons of a person's life. Each life is precious and individual and not to be taken for granted.

What a lovely book. I've ordered the author's three remaining novels.