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.
Interesting reviews! I read Hotel du Lac about a decade ago and remember it as being very slow. I did not remember enjoying it enough to rate it 4.5 stars, so that surprised me. I might even give it a quick reread since it's so short...
ReplyDeleteTwo Old Women has been on and off my tbr list at least a couple times. I'm putting it back on again.
JoAnn, maybe you liked that book more than I did. Apparently I am in the minority as it gets many 4 star reviews. The book Two Old Women was good and it's short as well. I am making my list of books with older characters and this one fit the bill.
DeleteHope life is good in CT. It is humid and we did finally get some much needed rain. My flowers are happy :-)
I think I'll pass on Hotel du Lac. I don't mind quiet books but there needs to be something that hooks me or I connect to. This just sounds flat. I do like the sound of Two Old Women. I'm glad you found a compelling short book to make up for the lackluster one.
ReplyDeleteKatherine, definitely pass.....life is too short to slog through a book. I think I am done with that...the slogging! I mean, there are already more titles I want to read, both owned and from the library, that I probably won;t get to in my lifetime.
DeleteKate Morton....she writes too slow! I want her next one...whatever that is.
I think Brookner is a stylist writer but I recall not much happening in a book I read of hers many years ago. I can't remember which book it was now, but I don't think it excited me much. I have not heard of the Two Old Women tale but I like the sounds of how they work together to survive. Survivalist tales often interest me. I will jot this title down. thx.
ReplyDeleteHi Susan, I didn't find Brookner engaging and if all her books are like this I probably won't try another after all. I very much liked Two Old Women, it's a fast read and satisfying, Currently shaping up my Yesteryear and The Young Will Remember reviews. Hope to post tomorrow.
DeleteThat's the reading life, isn't it? One book that works and one book that doesn't. I often quit the ones that don't work rather than claw through it -- although that is harder when the book meets a challenge or is for a book club.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that the Brookner book was a bust. I remember a friend reading it many years ago, and I've always intended to give it a try, but now maybe I'll skip it.
ReplyDeleteMy book group read Two Old Women about eight years ago. (I know I read it many years ago, but that was in pre-blogging days.) While it's a somewhat simple story with spare prose, we had a good discussion at our meeting. We all spoke about the strength and courage of the abandoned women and their struggle to survive in the wild. Their resilience was inspiring!