Hotel Du Lac: A Novel (Man Booker Prize Winner)

I read this in its year of publication, 1984. I loved it, even though it is way outside the genres I read and enjoy. And here I am again, in 2016, reading it and loving it even more. And it is still way outside my genres - magical realism and fantasy, in the main.This time through though I am struck by her talents as a writer - she has a way with making words dance in line together, and a way of building sentences that are often longer than those employed in current best-seller fiction, but sentences that work and make sense. And ... although not much "happens", relative to best sellers that are very "happening", it is a page-turner. Here from the end of chapter one. It is the thoughts of the elder owner of the hotel. "Hope, Edith Joanna. An unusual name for an English lady. Perhaps not entirely English. Perhaps not entirely a lady. Recommended, of course. But in this business one never knew."And so ... I turned the page, intrigued.If you enjoy "classical", more "traditional" writing then this one is for you. I see now, though not at time of publication, why it won the Booker. Skillful writing. Skillful storytelling. The author is gifted in her use of techniques, though again, they are not techniques I would actively seek to use in my own writing. Highly recommended to those who love the exercise of language skillfully selected and woven.

This was the first novel I’ve read by author Anita Brookner. And since it was a Booker Prize winning novel it sounded like a good one to start with. The novel is about a well known author named Edith Hope, who embarrasses herself socially and is basically sent off by the people who love her, to hide away in a hotel by Lake Geneva, where it turns out many of the rich go there for exactly that reason. Edith is an interesting character, she loves to observe people and we get to see the world through her eyes as a novelist, always watching people, very observant. Yet, for all her strengths as a great writer, she herself struggles with her own life in how to stand up to people. The people she meets at the Hotel Du Lac are a diverse mix of upper society, each with their own peculiarities or peccadillos, that make them awkward or trifling.The writing is excellent, but I couldn’t give it five stars because for me Edith Hope seemed a bit too weak as a person who was supposed to be such a great novelist. I understand that this was one of the complexities of her character. But, even the love interest in the story, was suave and you could easily see him being a wonderful character in a movie version of it, but to me the story felt like it was lacking a certain spark to make me like any of the characters more than I did.

In the first few chapters I was going to quit reading the book. All I wanted to do was to shake Edith and tell her to grow a backbone. Her idea of being rebellious was to have a clandestine affair with a married man, everyone knows how well that works out. She runs away before becoming the wife of a recently motherless mouse of a man who she wasn't impressed with from the get-go. After the non-wedding fiasco she is banished by her friends to the Hotel du Lac at the end of season with winter quickly closing in. The hotel is surrounded by depressing weather and hosts even more depressing visitors. Edith mews her way through her days prostrating her personality before inferior but stronger minded guests. Arrrrrrrgh. She dodges another wedding bullet. Really, is there something about spineless women that attract British men? Finally, finally she comes to the realization that she can live on her own, make her own decisions and not apologize to others for it, and she's only 39 how astute of her.

"My idea of absolute happiness is to sit in a hot garden all day, reading, or writing, utterly safe in the knowledge that the person I love will come home to me in the evening. Every evening." –Edith HopeI discovered Anita Brookner too early in life to really appreciate a quiet novel. My family had ordered some takeout one Saturday when I was about 16, and while we were waiting, we decided to look in at the Salvation Army in the same complex. We were appalled at the ridiculous prices (we consider ourselves pretty savvy thrifters) but before we left I found the book section. Everything was a quarter, and they seemed to be good books, not the '60s mass paperbacks I usually found at thrift stores back then. I spent about $5 and hauled my booty home anxious to crack into a good one as soon as possible.In retrospect, I can see that someone had unhauled a huge collection booker prize nominees and winners, along with Oprah book club selections. The result was that I had a lot of really good, but horribly sad, books on my hands. Hotel du Lac was one of these prizes; I was so sure that it was a book that I would and should love. But every time I tried to read it, I just couldn't get past the first sentence!"From the window all that could be seen was a receding area of grey. It was to be supposed that beyond the grey garden, which seemed to sprout nothing but the stiffish leaves of some unfamiliar plant, lay the vast grey lake, spreading like an anaesthetic towards the invisible further shore, and beyond that, in imagination only, yet verified by the brochure, the peak of the Dent d’Oche, on which snow might already be slightly and silently falling."Through various life events and moves, this book was given away but always managed to find its way back to me. Because we share a birthday (published within the same week I was born), I thought this year would be the perfect time to read it; the year we turn 36. Apart from knowing that it was set in Switzerland and that Edith Hope, the main character, was a writer of romance novels, I knew absolutely nothing else about it."The Hotel du Lac was a stolid and dignified building, a house of repute, a traditional establishment, used to welcoming the prudent, the well-to-do, the retired, the self-effacing, the respected patrons of an earlier era of tourism...What it had to offer was a mild form of sanctuary, an assurance of privacy, and the protection and the discretion that attach themselves to blamelessness."The hotel itself is like a reticent character, opening itself to lonely women who have been discarded for one reason or another. Edith is not wholly committed to the reason for her coming to such an isolated place, but plans to use it as an opportunity to finish her book, and to do what writers do: observe. Because of the ageless depiction of the lake town and hotel, it's easy to forget that the setting is actually 1984. The writing, characters, style and language seem to speak to us from a bygone era like the 1930s or 1940s.Edith's overall goodness and gentility are so delicately unfolded. The way she lightly caps her pen to signify the end of a writing session, the little rituals she enjoys at home like her cup of tea before drawing a bath or sitting in her garden, all warmed my heart. The "smallness" of her living and the "grandness" of her loneliness overcame me, too. I was mortified for her, and yet I understood her completely! No one likes being a doormat, and yet so many good women are expected to be just that. I finished Hotel du Lac at 2:00 this morning, and what an ending. I mean, it's still quiet...but it was unsettling. I rated it 4 stars on Goodreads and tried to get to sleep, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. This morning I was still at a loss for words about how I felt. As I sit here writing, I realize just how wonderful a reading experience it was. That makes it a favorite.I think later on today I'll check out the 1986 film adaptation available in its entirety on YouTube. I'm curious to see it through a director's eye. I have some more Brookners on my shelf from earlier thrift store hauls this year. I just might have to get my hands on everything she published!

Excellent utility ofr imagery and narrative descriptions. You feel like you're there in the scene she paints.

I, too am one who did not read this when it first came out, but now that I have corrected that omission of gas given me great pleasure. I shall be looking at more of her works.

An absolute masterpiece! Brookner's a genius!

Un pur régal! Très bon bouquin. Sans aucun doute le chef-d'oeuvre de son auteur qui réussit le tour de force de faire un livre féministe dans un style romantique...

Der Roman liest sich sehr angenehm. Behandelt werden die Problem(chen) einer Schriftstellerin aus guten Verhältnissenin mittleren Jahren, die sich zu finden versucht.So zwischendurch nach LEE CHILD Thrillern für mich angenehm zu lesen.