"That sun, that light had faded, and she had faded with them. Now she was as grey as the season itself "
Having just finished Yoko Ogawa's weird and macabre Hotel Iris for my next read I'm checking into another out of season hotel, this time the Hotel du Lac. This 1984 Booker Prize winning novel has been reissued this summer by Penguin with a beautiful cover image which screams summer read. At only 193 pages could this book be the perfect sun-bed companion? I had to find out.
The novella concerns an unlikely named romantic fiction writer, Edith Hope, who is sent to the Hotel du Lac on the shores of Lake Geneva to "disappear for a decent length of time and come back older, wiser and properly sorry". Quite what sort of scandal has seen Edith sent away from London you'll have to be patient to find out. To be honest, I didn't connect with Edith as such; her general moping and social insecurities are just annoying but for her expert perception of the other hotel guests she can be forgiven - she is a writer after all.
The setting of the out of season hotel is a clever technique used by Brookner to great effect. What sort of person has the time or inclination to check into a faded old lady of a residence long after the sun has set? There are a hundred stories here about the overheard dining room conversations and eccentric guests propping up the bar but Brookner instead focuses on Edith's relations with a small number of guests. This scratching the surface could have resulted in shallow stereotypes but instead we discover a wonderful cast of supporting characters, such as Mme de Bonneuil and Mrs Pusey, who leave Edith questioning her own identity.
Very little actually happens at the Hotel du Lac and the book is all the more compelling for it. From my view on a hotel sun-bed with full sight of my fellow guests I practiced by own skills of perception - yes this is a past-time not just reserved for middle class ladies! Ultimately this is a very British book about style through the eyes of someone banished from town for her own breach of etiquette. But don't think this is prosaic or out of date, Anita Brookner's literary style is absolutely relevant today.
I finished this book in almost one sitting, the odd dip in the pool the only interruption, and I'd recommend reading this book in a similar way.
I read this novel in paperback in July 2016 by the pool in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner, published by Penguin, 193 pages
The novella concerns an unlikely named romantic fiction writer, Edith Hope, who is sent to the Hotel du Lac on the shores of Lake Geneva to "disappear for a decent length of time and come back older, wiser and properly sorry". Quite what sort of scandal has seen Edith sent away from London you'll have to be patient to find out. To be honest, I didn't connect with Edith as such; her general moping and social insecurities are just annoying but for her expert perception of the other hotel guests she can be forgiven - she is a writer after all.
The setting of the out of season hotel is a clever technique used by Brookner to great effect. What sort of person has the time or inclination to check into a faded old lady of a residence long after the sun has set? There are a hundred stories here about the overheard dining room conversations and eccentric guests propping up the bar but Brookner instead focuses on Edith's relations with a small number of guests. This scratching the surface could have resulted in shallow stereotypes but instead we discover a wonderful cast of supporting characters, such as Mme de Bonneuil and Mrs Pusey, who leave Edith questioning her own identity.
Very little actually happens at the Hotel du Lac and the book is all the more compelling for it. From my view on a hotel sun-bed with full sight of my fellow guests I practiced by own skills of perception - yes this is a past-time not just reserved for middle class ladies! Ultimately this is a very British book about style through the eyes of someone banished from town for her own breach of etiquette. But don't think this is prosaic or out of date, Anita Brookner's literary style is absolutely relevant today.
I finished this book in almost one sitting, the odd dip in the pool the only interruption, and I'd recommend reading this book in a similar way.
I read this novel in paperback in July 2016 by the pool in Dubrovnik, Croatia
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner, published by Penguin, 193 pages
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