Hotel Du Lac and Two Old Women (two very short books)

The Classic Club Spin number was 9 so I read Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner.

This book is short at 184 pages but it felt long....because nothing significant happened. I found myself starting to skim and who does that with a book under 200 pages. I'm in the minority as I see its gotten good reviews but this one didn't do it for me.

Our main character is Edith Hope and she finds herself leaving London and spending time at Hotel Du Lac in Switzerland.  An exile of sorts.  She abandoned her fiancé as well as the married man she was diddling around with.  A faithful woman she is not. There are many descriptive chapters but not a lot of dialogue.

 With her ruminating about her situation, she finally settles on a life decision.  She is knowingly settling and accepting how her life will be with neither enthusiasm or regret, just acceptance. Some people loved this book but I did not.

Anita Brookner was an English novelist with many publications. Maybe I'll try another book of hers in the future.

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I also read Two Old Women (Anniversary Edition) by Velma Wallis. Publication date 1993, 140 pages. #oldercharacters

This is a story about a migrating group of indigenous people, trying to survive the harsh Arctic conditons without starving or dying of hypothermia.  It was survival of the fittest and with food scarce, it was decided to leave two elderly women behind as they continued their trek to find shelter and good hunting.  

Some tribesmen didn't want to leave the women to freeze or starve while others knew the burden of slowing their pace or sharing the little food they had. The women, both over 75 years of age, were heartbroken by this betrayal.  They decided they would die trying before giving up and surprised themselves.  After some introspective thoughts they started hiking towards a area where fishing was plentiful.  They set snares to capture rabbits, they worked together and while it was slow progress, they weren't ready to lie down and die.

We have learned much during our long lives. Yet there we were in our old age, thinking that we had done our share in life. So we stopped, just like that. No more working like we used to, even though our bodies are still healthy enough to do a little more than we expect of ourselves.”

This short book was packed with themes of resilience and determination. 4 stars

Armchair travel took me to Alaska, France and England.

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Upcoming a list of books to get off the shelves and kindle and a monthly wrapup.

Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for British Isles Friday (for the Anita Brookner book)

The Classics Club