Call number
FIC BRO
Collection
Genres
Publication
Plume (1986), Edition: 1st Printing, 1 pages
Description
In the novel that won her the Booker Prize and established her international reputation, Anita Brookner finds a new vocabulary for framing the eternal question "Why love?" It tells the story of Edith Hope, who writes romance novels under a psudonym. When her life begins to resemble the plots of her own novels, however, Edith flees to Switzerland, where the quiet luxury of the Hotel du Lac promises to resore her to her senses. But instead of peace and rest, Edith finds herself sequestered at the hotel with an assortment of love's casualties and exiles. She also attracts the attention of a worldly man determined to release her unused capacity for mischief and pleasure. Beautifully observed, witheringly funny, Hotel du Lac is Brookner at her most stylish and potently subversive.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member AlisonY
Such was the stunning imagery of the Swiss lakes in this novel, I feel like I've just been on a 2 day mini-break.
This short novel (a Booker winner in the 1980s) centres on the character of Edith Hope, a moderately successful romantic novelist who has been banished to a hotel by a Swiss lake at the
I found this to be a wonderful book - beautifully written, with evocative descriptions of the old-fashioned hotel and lake, and amusing and memorable characters. There is an air of melancholy to the story, but it's peppered with enough dry humour to make it a warm and poignant observation. As the main character is a writer, her observance of the lives of the other female guests is sharp and insightful, and I felt that Brookner brought the book to a great conclusion.
This is another of those quiet books that is all about human relationships rather than explosive plot, but it is fantastically executed. Written in a style reminiscent of the best classic novels, to quote from the Observer on the front of the book jacket "A classic... a book which will be read with pleasure a hundred years from now".
This short novel (a Booker winner in the 1980s) centres on the character of Edith Hope, a moderately successful romantic novelist who has been banished to a hotel by a Swiss lake at the
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end of season until an embarrassment at home blows over. The story that unfolds is predominantly that of her observances and relations with the 5 other main guests, and her introspection of the disappointing life of spinsterhood that awaits when she returns home. I found this to be a wonderful book - beautifully written, with evocative descriptions of the old-fashioned hotel and lake, and amusing and memorable characters. There is an air of melancholy to the story, but it's peppered with enough dry humour to make it a warm and poignant observation. As the main character is a writer, her observance of the lives of the other female guests is sharp and insightful, and I felt that Brookner brought the book to a great conclusion.
This is another of those quiet books that is all about human relationships rather than explosive plot, but it is fantastically executed. Written in a style reminiscent of the best classic novels, to quote from the Observer on the front of the book jacket "A classic... a book which will be read with pleasure a hundred years from now".
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LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Edith Hope was sent to the Hotel du Lac by well-meaning friends, in the hopes that the surroundings will bring her peace after an upsetting romantic incident. The hotel is in a Swiss resort area, on a lake near Geneva: "What it had to offer was a mild form of sanctuary ... a place guaranteed to
"As she descended the wide, shallow stairs Edith could hear well-behaved laughter echoing from some sort of salon ... then, as she approached, as if drawn to this sound, a sudden furious barking, high-pitched, peevish, boding ill for future peace."
Edith's apprehension about the Hotel du Lac turns to fascination as she observes the other guests in the salon. Edith is a sensible sort, always clad in tweed and cardigans. She first becomes acquainted with Iris Pusey and her adult daughter, Jennifer, wealthy, fashionable women, mourning Iris' husband and feeding their emotional hunger by shopping in boutiques. They try to recruit Edith, but she is intimidated by their world: "Where they saw luxury goods, she saw only houses of detention." One by one we meet other guests: the aging Madame Bonneuil, Monica (the dog's owner), and Mr. Neville, who takes an interest in Edith.
Meanwhile, Edith is longing for David, a married man with whom she had an affair. During her stay at Hotel du Lac, she half-heartedly attempts to purge the emotions surrounding this relationship. She is alternately fascinated and repulsed by Mr. Neville's attentions. Brookner's exquisite prose draws the reader right into the ambience of the Hotel and its day-to-day routines. And yet, as the autumn season draws to an end and the hotel prepares to close for the winter, Brookner throws in a few surprises that ultimately make for a very satisfying ending. Highly recommended.
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provide a restorative sojourn for those whom life had mistreated or merely fatigued." It is autumn, the tourists are gone, and the hotel has only a few guests. Upon arrival, Edith tentatively approaches the salon for tea:"As she descended the wide, shallow stairs Edith could hear well-behaved laughter echoing from some sort of salon ... then, as she approached, as if drawn to this sound, a sudden furious barking, high-pitched, peevish, boding ill for future peace."
Edith's apprehension about the Hotel du Lac turns to fascination as she observes the other guests in the salon. Edith is a sensible sort, always clad in tweed and cardigans. She first becomes acquainted with Iris Pusey and her adult daughter, Jennifer, wealthy, fashionable women, mourning Iris' husband and feeding their emotional hunger by shopping in boutiques. They try to recruit Edith, but she is intimidated by their world: "Where they saw luxury goods, she saw only houses of detention." One by one we meet other guests: the aging Madame Bonneuil, Monica (the dog's owner), and Mr. Neville, who takes an interest in Edith.
Meanwhile, Edith is longing for David, a married man with whom she had an affair. During her stay at Hotel du Lac, she half-heartedly attempts to purge the emotions surrounding this relationship. She is alternately fascinated and repulsed by Mr. Neville's attentions. Brookner's exquisite prose draws the reader right into the ambience of the Hotel and its day-to-day routines. And yet, as the autumn season draws to an end and the hotel prepares to close for the winter, Brookner throws in a few surprises that ultimately make for a very satisfying ending. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
This was a reread, for which I treated myself and supplemented my print copy with the audio version narrated by Anna Massey, who won a BAFTA Award (British Academy Film Awards) for her interpretation of Edith Hope, the main character of this novel for a TV adaptation in 1986. The novel is set at
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the Hotel du Lac, located on lake Geneva in Switzerland, an exclusive family operated business which caters to a clientele which demands high quality and appreciates traditional values. A successful author of romance novels, Edith has been sent there by her friends after an unfortunate incident for which she is expected to atone and must gain in maturity. She meets the few other guests of the hotel close to the end of the tourist season, including the elderly Mrs Pusey and her much too young-looking daughter Jennifer. Mrs Pusey's, who has chosen Edith as a would-be admirer and companion, has an overbearing demeanour and a lifestyle which revolves around buying very expensive things, which make Edith reflect on her own life choices and personality. She also meets the attractive Mr Neville, who offers an easy solution which could change her life for the better (according to some). This is one of those lovely novels where not very much happens in terms of action, but where the characters and their conversations and inner workings are fascinating to read about. It was a five-star read for me the first time around, but now that I'm discovering many other wonderful British authoresses (awful word, sorry, but "female authors" sounds equally wrong somehow) such as Elizabeth Taylor, Muriel Spark and Iris Murdoch, to name just those, I find myself comparing Brookner's Booker Prize winning novel with other works of equal value which makes giving this one the special and rare honour of being counted among the best of my all-time favourites a little bit harder to do. All the same, a deeply satisfying novel I am sure to revisit again and again. Show Less
LibraryThing member GCPLreader
So much to reflect on with this Booker Prize winning novel. Edith, a romance novelist, is hiding out at the Hotel Du Lac in Switzerland until the furor over her earlier rash decision has quieted down. The hotel is populated with the most eccentric characters and Edith is fascinated by the women she
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meets. The novel questions whether Edith, a shy, mild-mannered woman, needs to loosen up a bit and be more assertive in order to find love and fulfillment. The novel's resolution was just perfect and wholly satisfying (Brookner leaves Edith's future up in the air). I loved the smart writing here but I couldn't quite place the time. In my mind, Brookner was describing say the 1930's, yet there are references to 1980's fashions. No doubt the author deliberately wants to leave an impression of timelessness. And indeed the Hotel Du Lac does feel like a throwback to an earlier time and succeeds because of its thought-provoking modern feminist sensibilities. Show Less
LibraryThing member Matke
I loved this brief story about Edith Hope, a woman who has been banished to an off-season hotel in Switzerland for reasons which aren't clear. Edith's exploration of the hotel and her interactions with its inhabitants form the core of a novel of self-discovery. Amazing characterizations, restrained
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but beautiful and telling description, and Edith's slow awakening are wonderfully portrayed. Most highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member japaul22
This was excellent - a quiet story about a momentous life decision, beautifully written. Edith has arrived at the aging Hotel du Lac in Switzerland after committing some sort of societal faux pas and being shipped off there by her friends. There she meets a mother/daughter duo, a single woman with
In the end, this book is about one woman's decision of whether to do what her society expects of her or to be herself. Being herself, though, isn't so exciting as she is the kind of person who could very well lead a boring, slightly lonely life - and she knows it. So it is a real dilemma and struck me as very realistic. I grew to really like and respect Edith while reading this book.
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an eating disorder, and a few other guests of the hotel. Edith's transgression is slowly revealed as she experiences different emotions - stubborness, sadness, defiance, longing. In the end, this book is about one woman's decision of whether to do what her society expects of her or to be herself. Being herself, though, isn't so exciting as she is the kind of person who could very well lead a boring, slightly lonely life - and she knows it. So it is a real dilemma and struck me as very realistic. I grew to really like and respect Edith while reading this book.
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LibraryThing member ashleytylerjohn
Astonishingly well-written--I think those who didn't love it must be plot obsessed and blind to the merits of great writing, the pleasure of the well-turned phrase or perfectly-chosen verb. For not a lot happens, but the little that does is exquisitely described.
I must take issue with the marketing
I reserve 5 stars for my all-time favourites, and this book would need to be slightly quirkier to completely appeal to me. But it is a lovely piece of writing, and I'm already googling "if you like Anita Brookner" in the hopes of discovering similar authors.
I must take issue with the marketing
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on the copy I read. The back cover made the book sound like a particularly exciting romance, and it is neither exciting not romantic. It is, in a nutshell, the observations of a very observant woman, a writer, of the other guests at a discreet unmodern inn in Switzerland.I reserve 5 stars for my all-time favourites, and this book would need to be slightly quirkier to completely appeal to me. But it is a lovely piece of writing, and I'm already googling "if you like Anita Brookner" in the hopes of discovering similar authors.
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LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd
I am totally bewildered by this book and the response to it. At least 3 readers I generally admire and agree with highly recommended it. I found it unbelievable from beginning to end. In fact, from cover to cover. The front cover proclaims it a "national best-seller"--really? why?-- and "Winner of
QUOTE: "My patience with this little comedy is wearing a bit thin." Indeed.
Review written in April, 2010
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the 1984 Booker Prize". What was the competition?? (OK, I looked it up---I haven't read any of that year's shortlisted works.) The back cover calls it "bewitching, magical" and likens its heroine to a Barbara Pym character. Sorry, Ms. Brookner. I've read Barbara Pym.... The characters seem at least 60 years out of time; the heroine's situation (and her allowing herself to be in it) incomprehensible to me; the prose wordy, repetitive, soporific. I finished it with a definite "The Emperor has no clothes" feeling. Under 200 pages, but not nearly far enough.QUOTE: "My patience with this little comedy is wearing a bit thin." Indeed.
Review written in April, 2010
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LibraryThing member bookwoman247
"Banished" to a staid, quiet, Swiss hotel, romance novelist Edith Hope finds herself drawn to the other human flotsam that inhabits the hotel at the end of the season.
The friends who sent Edith into exile expect her to find penitence and gather the threads of her life together. It is also
As she observes and interacts with the other guests, her own situation remains to be resolved. When a wealthy, handsome man singles her out for attention, he just might offer the start to the new life everyone seems to think she needs.
This book reminded me in parts of classic authors such as E. M. Forster or Edith Wharton and in parts of Rosamunde Pilcher. I loved it!
The friends who sent Edith into exile expect her to find penitence and gather the threads of her life together. It is also
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convenient for her friends that she is not among them to remind them of her tansgression.As she observes and interacts with the other guests, her own situation remains to be resolved. When a wealthy, handsome man singles her out for attention, he just might offer the start to the new life everyone seems to think she needs.
This book reminded me in parts of classic authors such as E. M. Forster or Edith Wharton and in parts of Rosamunde Pilcher. I loved it!
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LibraryThing member karenmerguerian
Well, I was impatient to find out what happened so I probably read it too quickly and missed a lot of what was going on under the surface. There are a few interesting tropes, first, the assemblage of characters and the mystery around them, like an Agatha Christie story, and then the unfolding as we
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find out the full story of why the heroine is really there (that part I thoroughly enjoyed), and the various backstories of all the other characters. Sometimes Brookner's characters are really well-drawn. I love the way she sketches their outlines and then fills them in, little by little over the course of the novel, in all their facets and complexities. In this book, she did that with the mother and daughter. My issue with Brookner is always my fundamental inability to identify with her dodgy and introverted--yet supposedly passionate-to-the-point-of-self-destruction heroes and heroines. Show Less
LibraryThing member kambrogi
Edith Hope has arrived at the crux of her life. She has been sent off for a holiday alone at the Hotel du Lac in Switzerland during the off-season, in order to “get back to herself,” after her recent uncharacteristically scandalous behavior. A romance writer, Edith is a woman who has spent her
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life searching for love, and yet she has never fit comfortably into the world where she searches for it. This slim volume tells the story of her thoughtful days at the hotel, the various foils she encounters there, the lessons she learns and the final decision she makes. Like Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, it investigates a woman’s perceptions of her life, past and present, and how they may or may not propel her forward. It is a brilliant piece of writing and a small literary treasure. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member LukeS
This book is a little gem of stark emotional reality. Our hero Edith has been banished
LibraryThing member LizzieD
I did enjoy this bitter-sweet little book in which Edith Hope moves from hope to despair and on to reality (with hope?) at an end-of-season resort hotel in Switzerland. The characters are carefully drawn, and I appreciate Edith who ultimately chooses to be who she is rather than to compromise for
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various comforts offered by the people who surround her. Show Less
LibraryThing member rmckeown
My faithful listeners/readers are well-aware of my love for the Man Booker Prize collection of novels. I first discovered this treasure trove of literary works when I came across Anita Brookner’s prize-winner, Hotel du Lac. On this, the sixth anniversary of Likely Stories, I return to the author
Anita Brookner was born in Herne Hill, a suburb of London. She was the only child of Newson Bruckner, a Polish immigrant to Britain, and Maude Schiska, a singer whose father had emigrated from Poland and founded a tobacco factory. Maude changed the family's surname to Brookner because of anti-German sentiment in Britain. Anita Brookner had a lonely childhood, although her grandmother and uncle lived with the family, and her parents, secular Jews, opened their house to Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution during the 1930s and World War II. Brookner was educated at the private James Allen's Girls' School. In 1949 she received a BA in History from King's College London, and in 1953 a doctorate in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. Brookner has not married, but took care of her parents as they aged.
This wonderfully introspective novel traces the journey of “Edith Hope, a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name,” -- as Brookner labels her -- has committed a social faux pas of immense proportions. Her friend Penelope bundles her off for a month at the end-of-season to Hotel du Lac in Switzerland. There she wanders around the lake, works on her latest novel, and makes the acquaintance of several denizens of the sparsely occupied hotel.
Brookner writes, “The result of all this was to re-open in Edith’s mind the question of what behavior most becomes a woman, the question around which she had written most of her novels, the question she had attempted to argue with Harold Web [her publisher], the question she had failed to answer and which she now saw to be of the most vital importance. The excitement she thus experienced at being provided with an opportunity to study the question at first hand was if anything heightened by the fact that everything Mrs. Pusey had said so far was of the utmost triviality. Clearly there were depths here that deserved her prolonged attention” (40).
Edith immersed herself in her novel, and garnered endless thoughts and comments by the somewhat eccentric guests living out the last days of the fall season at Hotel du Lac. She slowly begins folding the experiences of others into her current novel. Slowly, she comes to a rational solution to her exile, and returns to London – wiser, more confidant, and fully in charge of her future.
This pleasant, short novel slowly reveals the peculiar reason for Edith’s exile to Switzerland, which has some significant effect on her outlook -- past, present, and future. I also recommend Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac as a great introduction to the amazingly entertaining series of Booker Prize winners. A wonderful summer, autumn, winter or spring read. 5 stars
--Jim, 8/7/15
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of the first novel I reviewed. Anita Brookner was born in Herne Hill, a suburb of London. She was the only child of Newson Bruckner, a Polish immigrant to Britain, and Maude Schiska, a singer whose father had emigrated from Poland and founded a tobacco factory. Maude changed the family's surname to Brookner because of anti-German sentiment in Britain. Anita Brookner had a lonely childhood, although her grandmother and uncle lived with the family, and her parents, secular Jews, opened their house to Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution during the 1930s and World War II. Brookner was educated at the private James Allen's Girls' School. In 1949 she received a BA in History from King's College London, and in 1953 a doctorate in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. Brookner has not married, but took care of her parents as they aged.
This wonderfully introspective novel traces the journey of “Edith Hope, a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name,” -- as Brookner labels her -- has committed a social faux pas of immense proportions. Her friend Penelope bundles her off for a month at the end-of-season to Hotel du Lac in Switzerland. There she wanders around the lake, works on her latest novel, and makes the acquaintance of several denizens of the sparsely occupied hotel.
Brookner writes, “The result of all this was to re-open in Edith’s mind the question of what behavior most becomes a woman, the question around which she had written most of her novels, the question she had attempted to argue with Harold Web [her publisher], the question she had failed to answer and which she now saw to be of the most vital importance. The excitement she thus experienced at being provided with an opportunity to study the question at first hand was if anything heightened by the fact that everything Mrs. Pusey had said so far was of the utmost triviality. Clearly there were depths here that deserved her prolonged attention” (40).
Edith immersed herself in her novel, and garnered endless thoughts and comments by the somewhat eccentric guests living out the last days of the fall season at Hotel du Lac. She slowly begins folding the experiences of others into her current novel. Slowly, she comes to a rational solution to her exile, and returns to London – wiser, more confidant, and fully in charge of her future.
This pleasant, short novel slowly reveals the peculiar reason for Edith’s exile to Switzerland, which has some significant effect on her outlook -- past, present, and future. I also recommend Anita Brookner's Hotel du Lac as a great introduction to the amazingly entertaining series of Booker Prize winners. A wonderful summer, autumn, winter or spring read. 5 stars
--Jim, 8/7/15
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LibraryThing member bkswrites
I read this book because a member of my critique group compared a "loose ends" chapter of my novel in progress to Brookner. I should be and am flattered to be compared to a Booker winner, and after glancing at some others of Brookner's works, that's why I chose this one. But I'm also a little
And that's why I'm disappointed to be compared to Brookner. I don't write about this class, although perhaps my character aspires, or at least thinks she should aspire, to it. I hope there is more real tension in even the one chapter. The critic said, like Brookner, it was "calming." I'm with Kafka; I don't want a calming book. I want to read, and to write, "an axe for the frozen sea within us."
I'm not sure what Brookner wants for or from her readers. I guess I feel better read for having this in my library. But I doubt I will pursue Brookner any further.
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disappointed. I'm disappointed for the Booker Prize because every literata/o I read talks about how similarly quiet her books are, as if from another time. They are certainly from a class I don't know, and so I get a little frustrated by, in this case, Edith's concern for propriety. Of course, that's the whole story, and the sadness of her choices. Just once she chose passion, and now she's allowed her acquaintances, similarly bound by the proprieties of class, to force her back into her mould. And that's why I'm disappointed to be compared to Brookner. I don't write about this class, although perhaps my character aspires, or at least thinks she should aspire, to it. I hope there is more real tension in even the one chapter. The critic said, like Brookner, it was "calming." I'm with Kafka; I don't want a calming book. I want to read, and to write, "an axe for the frozen sea within us."
I'm not sure what Brookner wants for or from her readers. I guess I feel better read for having this in my library. But I doubt I will pursue Brookner any further.
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LibraryThing member mausergem
Edith who looks like Virginia Woolf and is a author of popular fiction novels, has been ostracized by her circle of friends in London and is spending time in exile at the Hotel du Lac in Switzerland where she meets other guests women all and one man. In the course of the novel we find out about the
The setting and the characters of this book are alien to me but still I came to love and understand all of them. That was the beauty of the narrative for me. A lovely book.
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cause of her banishment and about the sad sad lives of the other guests.The setting and the characters of this book are alien to me but still I came to love and understand all of them. That was the beauty of the narrative for me. A lovely book.
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LibraryThing member coffeeandabookchick
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
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.
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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.
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LibraryThing member Mercury57
” I am not a fascinating woman,” reflects Edith Hope as she sits in an out-of-season Swiss hotel trying to decide how she should make her way through life. But there is something about this quiet, plain woman who wears comfy cardigans and prefers the quietude of her garden to drinks parties and
Perhaps it’s because, like her, they are all adrift; washed up at a lakeside hotel that provides solace to those in need by sticking stolidly to its traditions.
Edith is a romantic novelist who’s been exiled to the hotel after an indiscretion that outraged her friends. The other guests include the beautiful Monica; a young woman with an eating disorder who’s been sent to the hotel by her husband along with an ultimatum — sort herself out and produce a son and heir otherwise she’ll be history. Then there’s Madame de Bonnueil, an elderly widow who is despatched to the hotel every summer by a daughter in law who considers her a nuisance. And finally the overbearing, self-indulgent Mrs Pusey and her curiously clinging daughter who spend their lives flitting around the shopping capitals of the world in pursuit of exquisite hand embroidered lingerie thanks to the generosity of the long-dead but not lamented Mr Pusey.
They confide in Edith and use her as a fresh audience for anecdotes told repeatedly to anyone who will listen. Edith observes them all, as she drifts around the hotel and its environs, trying but failing to write her newest novel and all the while writing to the mysterious ‘David’. Brookner teases her readers with suggestions that a secret affair with this married man was the ’unfortunate lapse’ that landed Edith in Switzerland. It’s not until the last few chapters that we learn the truth.
This is a novel that’s written in a clean and unadorned form of prose which yet manages to captures the atmosphere of this retreat and the foibles of its guests. Nothing much happens for most of the book. Only the arrival of the single, wealthy businessman Mr Neville disturbs the Edith’s routine of solitary walks along the lake shake, much partaking of cake in the one and only cafe in town, and then dinner in the hotel.
Mr Neville succeeds in penetrating Edith’s facade, challenging her presumption that her only options for the future are spinsterhood or a marriage based on the romantic ideal of love that feature in her novels. What he offers her is a third way. He needs the kind of wife who will never cause a scandal and take great of his home and especially his collection of famille rose dishes. In return she will gain a recognised social position giving her the freedom to behave as she wishes, protected from castigation and recrimination.
“You will find that you can behave as badly as you like. As badly as everybody else like too. ….And you will be respected for it. People will at last feel comfortable with you,” he tells her.
As the basis of a relationship, it sounds more like a business transaction than a declaration of affection. Whether it’s one that Edith decides to buy into is something I’m not going to reveal. At the heart of the decision however is an interesting question about the way society views single women of a certain age and whether they can only achieve social acceptance by virtue of marriage.
The book isn’t long enough to do full justice to this theme unfortunately, nor is the resolution of Edith’s dilemma fully convincing. Are these flaws sufficient grounds for the vocal criticism which greeted the announcement that Hotel du Lac was the winner of the Booker Prize for 1984? Malcolm Bradbury called the novel ”parochial”, and absolutely not the sort of book that should have won the prize while The New Statesman called Brookner’s novel “pretentious”. Both seem unfair criticism – while Hotel du Lac doesn’t have the same depth as winners by Michael Ondaatje or Thomas Keneally or the scale of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, but it’s still a well written novel that poses challenging questions and holds the attention long after the pages are closed.
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social gatherings, that makes her fellow guests gravitate towards her.Perhaps it’s because, like her, they are all adrift; washed up at a lakeside hotel that provides solace to those in need by sticking stolidly to its traditions.
Edith is a romantic novelist who’s been exiled to the hotel after an indiscretion that outraged her friends. The other guests include the beautiful Monica; a young woman with an eating disorder who’s been sent to the hotel by her husband along with an ultimatum — sort herself out and produce a son and heir otherwise she’ll be history. Then there’s Madame de Bonnueil, an elderly widow who is despatched to the hotel every summer by a daughter in law who considers her a nuisance. And finally the overbearing, self-indulgent Mrs Pusey and her curiously clinging daughter who spend their lives flitting around the shopping capitals of the world in pursuit of exquisite hand embroidered lingerie thanks to the generosity of the long-dead but not lamented Mr Pusey.
They confide in Edith and use her as a fresh audience for anecdotes told repeatedly to anyone who will listen. Edith observes them all, as she drifts around the hotel and its environs, trying but failing to write her newest novel and all the while writing to the mysterious ‘David’. Brookner teases her readers with suggestions that a secret affair with this married man was the ’unfortunate lapse’ that landed Edith in Switzerland. It’s not until the last few chapters that we learn the truth.
This is a novel that’s written in a clean and unadorned form of prose which yet manages to captures the atmosphere of this retreat and the foibles of its guests. Nothing much happens for most of the book. Only the arrival of the single, wealthy businessman Mr Neville disturbs the Edith’s routine of solitary walks along the lake shake, much partaking of cake in the one and only cafe in town, and then dinner in the hotel.
Mr Neville succeeds in penetrating Edith’s facade, challenging her presumption that her only options for the future are spinsterhood or a marriage based on the romantic ideal of love that feature in her novels. What he offers her is a third way. He needs the kind of wife who will never cause a scandal and take great of his home and especially his collection of famille rose dishes. In return she will gain a recognised social position giving her the freedom to behave as she wishes, protected from castigation and recrimination.
“You will find that you can behave as badly as you like. As badly as everybody else like too. ….And you will be respected for it. People will at last feel comfortable with you,” he tells her.
As the basis of a relationship, it sounds more like a business transaction than a declaration of affection. Whether it’s one that Edith decides to buy into is something I’m not going to reveal. At the heart of the decision however is an interesting question about the way society views single women of a certain age and whether they can only achieve social acceptance by virtue of marriage.
The book isn’t long enough to do full justice to this theme unfortunately, nor is the resolution of Edith’s dilemma fully convincing. Are these flaws sufficient grounds for the vocal criticism which greeted the announcement that Hotel du Lac was the winner of the Booker Prize for 1984? Malcolm Bradbury called the novel ”parochial”, and absolutely not the sort of book that should have won the prize while The New Statesman called Brookner’s novel “pretentious”. Both seem unfair criticism – while Hotel du Lac doesn’t have the same depth as winners by Michael Ondaatje or Thomas Keneally or the scale of Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, but it’s still a well written novel that poses challenging questions and holds the attention long after the pages are closed.
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LibraryThing member Kasthu
When Edith Hope, a romance novelist, retreats to the Hotel du Lac in Switzerland, she goes there at the request of her friends. An "event" in her near past has led her friends to be concerned for her mental health. The story revolves around the people she meets at the hotel: a wealthy jetsetter and
It’s late August and the offseason at the Hotel du Lac, and everything seems to wilt in the heat, even the waiters in the empty salon. There’s an air of sadness pervading this novel, not helped much by the fact that Edith herself is a rather sad character. She’s introverted, morose, and rather pessimistic. Edith comes across strongly as a character, although I could identify with her a little bit. Edith certainly lives in her head a lot, so it was interesting to see how Mr. Neville and the other guests draw her out a little bit more. At the same time, I enjoyed watching her observations of her fellow hotel guests, especially considering that Edith is a writer. As such, she’s supposed to be observant, yet, for example, she has to re-guess Mrs. Pusey’s age over and over. So it’s interesting to watch how Edith’s prejudices shape how she sees the insulated world of the Hotel du Lac.
Like other readers, I was thrown off by the time frame of this book; I kept feeling it was 1950s or 60s, although I think this book was meant to be a bit timeless. The thing that dates the book, in my opinion, is everyone’s reactions to “the event:’ for the present time or even the ‘80s, when the book was published, it doesn’t seem all that shocking; in fact, many people make that kind of decision every day.
In all, this was a highly reflective book; there are some fabulous descriptions of the Hotel du Lac and the town it’s situated near. I’ve not read any of Anita Brookner’s books before, but I’ll do so again, since I thought this was an excellent book.
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her grown daughter; an aristocratic beauty; and a gentleman with whom she quickly becomes friends.It’s late August and the offseason at the Hotel du Lac, and everything seems to wilt in the heat, even the waiters in the empty salon. There’s an air of sadness pervading this novel, not helped much by the fact that Edith herself is a rather sad character. She’s introverted, morose, and rather pessimistic. Edith comes across strongly as a character, although I could identify with her a little bit. Edith certainly lives in her head a lot, so it was interesting to see how Mr. Neville and the other guests draw her out a little bit more. At the same time, I enjoyed watching her observations of her fellow hotel guests, especially considering that Edith is a writer. As such, she’s supposed to be observant, yet, for example, she has to re-guess Mrs. Pusey’s age over and over. So it’s interesting to watch how Edith’s prejudices shape how she sees the insulated world of the Hotel du Lac.
Like other readers, I was thrown off by the time frame of this book; I kept feeling it was 1950s or 60s, although I think this book was meant to be a bit timeless. The thing that dates the book, in my opinion, is everyone’s reactions to “the event:’ for the present time or even the ‘80s, when the book was published, it doesn’t seem all that shocking; in fact, many people make that kind of decision every day.
In all, this was a highly reflective book; there are some fabulous descriptions of the Hotel du Lac and the town it’s situated near. I’ve not read any of Anita Brookner’s books before, but I’ll do so again, since I thought this was an excellent book.
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
50. Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner ★★★★★
Edith Hope is a reasonably successful writer of romantic fiction who has been exiled to Switzerland and the Hotel du Lac by by her friends in order to sort out her life. The hotel is the sort of quietly sophisticated, unexciting place which attract
Reciprocity was a state unknown to Mrs Pusey, whose imperative need for social dominance, once assured by her beauty and the mute presence of an adoring husband, had now to be enforced by more brutal means.
While the story itself is quite good, the quality of the writing is what makes this little novel truly exceptional. I absolutely loved this little book. I've given this one five stars, a rating I only reserve for those books which have managed to become instant favourites. Wholeheartedly recommended.
Edith Hope is a reasonably successful writer of romantic fiction who has been exiled to Switzerland and the Hotel du Lac by by her friends in order to sort out her life. The hotel is the sort of quietly sophisticated, unexciting place which attract
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a regular exclusive clientèle and only those newcomers who come with the right recommendations. When she arrives, there are only a few guests remaining as it is almost the end of the season, and Edith decides to make the best of her time there both resting and working in hopes of making progress on her latest novel Beneath the Visiting Moon. We find out that she has been having an affair with a married man with whom she maintains a one-sided correspondence, but on the whole she has mostly lead a quiet and unassuming existence. Edith thinks she looks like Virginia Woolf, and it's obvious that Brookner has been influenced by that author in the best way, with stream of consciousness prose which is absolutely true to life and which is filled with the kinds of observation on people that are only arrived at after much time given over to mulling on such matters. The story relates the time Edith spends at the hotel, where she befriends other guests, including the widowed Mrs Pusey and her preternaturally youthful daughter:Reciprocity was a state unknown to Mrs Pusey, whose imperative need for social dominance, once assured by her beauty and the mute presence of an adoring husband, had now to be enforced by more brutal means.
While the story itself is quite good, the quality of the writing is what makes this little novel truly exceptional. I absolutely loved this little book. I've given this one five stars, a rating I only reserve for those books which have managed to become instant favourites. Wholeheartedly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Miro
The book does remind me of Jane Austen although in a more polished form. Its a story about women, (men have walk on parts), in an unashamedly upper middle class setting. They use their plentiful free time to judge each other on moral and society benchmarks. I don't want to spoil the clever plot so
A beautifully written book about love and the lack of love.
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let's just say that the principal character (Edith Hope) takes the less than ideal best available choice.A beautifully written book about love and the lack of love.
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LibraryThing member stubbyfingers
This is the story of a woman who stays in a hotel and how she interacts with the five other guests there. There isn't much else to the plot, besides one little twist that caught me off guard. I was somewhat bothered because I could never tell what decade this was supposed to be set in. Reading this
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book I felt like I was reading someone's blog. You know the type of blog I'm talking about--the type where the writer gives you all sorts of details about what happens in their day to day life when really what's happening in their life isn't very interesting at all. The only reason you keep reading is because every once in a while they come up with some pearl that makes you think, "Hey, me too!" The only difference is that the author of this book seems to have a larger vocabulary than the average writer of your daily life blog. And I didn't have very many "Hey, me too!" moments. In fact the only real "Hey, me too!" moment I had was when she wrote, "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." But then I had to qualify it by thinking that I wouldn't want the garden to be too hot (and wouldn't it be nice if there was a swimming pool in it?) and I really would like to get out and go for a hike every once in a while, too. Perhaps I'm just too happy in my current life situation to take this story very seriously. I found it to be somewhat depressing. And then when there was a glimmer of hope and salvation, it was ripped away quite unceremoniously. And yet, although my brain tells me to give this book three stars, my heart still wants to give it four. I'll go with my heart on this one because at least the book is short. Show Less
LibraryThing member writestuff
'Edith Hope, a writer of romantic fiction under a more thrusting name, remained standing at the window, as if an access of good will could pierce the mysterious opacity with which she had been presented, although she had been promised a tonic cheerfulness, a climate devoid of illusions, an utterly
And so begins Anita Brookner’s Booker Award winning novel. Edith Hope finds herself banished to a hotel in Switzerland to ponder her life and recover from a romantic stumble. Once there, she meets the other hotel visitors - a cast of characters with their own secrets, desires, and weaknesses.
Iris and Jennifer Pusey are a mother-daughter ensemble who fill their lives with the superficial glee of material gain. Edith observes their lives with a wry humor.
'Behind their extreme pleasantness there lies something entrenched, non-negotiable, as if they can really take no one seriously but themselves. As if they feel sorry for anyone who is denied the possibility of being a Pusey. And this, of course, is, by definition, everyone.' -From Hotel Du Lac, page 109-
Also residing in the hotel is the elderly Mme de Bonneuil who has been abandoned by her son and selfish daughter-in-law; Monica who suffers an eating disorder and dotes on her spoiled dog; and Mr. Neville - a blunt man convinced that self-centeredness is the key to happiness.
Anita Brookner weaves a story which is introspective and beautifully developed about a woman searching for herself while struggling to find love and acceptance. Despite its serious undertones, Hotel Du Lac is surprisingly funny. Edith embodies the idea of feminism, liberation and romantic ideals - a woman who is torn between her fantasies of being swept away by romance, while at the same time desiring her independence.
'[...] if she’s all that liberated, why doesn’t she go down to the bar and pick someone up? I’m sure it’s entirely possible. It’s just that most women don’t do it. And why don’t they do it?’ she asked, with a sudden return of assurance. ‘It’s because they prefer the old myths, when it comes to the crunch. They want to believe that they are going to be discovered, looking their best, behind closed doors, just when they thought that all was lost, by a man who has battled across continents, abandoning whatever he may have had in his in-tray, to reclaim them.' -From Hotel Du Lac, page 27-
The tension in the novel comes from the characters’ releationships to each other which ultimately help Edith to make a momentous decision.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Brookner writes with elegant, passionate prose and leaves the reader feeling deeply satisfied.
Highly recommended.
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commonsensical, not to say pragmatic, set of circumstances - quiet hotel, excellent cuisine, long walks, lack of excitement, early nights - in which she could be counted upon to retrieve her serious and hard-working personality and to forget the unfortunate lapse which had led to this brief exile, in this apparently unpopulated place, at this slowly darkening time of the year, when she should have been at home…' -From Hotel Du Lac, page 8-And so begins Anita Brookner’s Booker Award winning novel. Edith Hope finds herself banished to a hotel in Switzerland to ponder her life and recover from a romantic stumble. Once there, she meets the other hotel visitors - a cast of characters with their own secrets, desires, and weaknesses.
Iris and Jennifer Pusey are a mother-daughter ensemble who fill their lives with the superficial glee of material gain. Edith observes their lives with a wry humor.
'Behind their extreme pleasantness there lies something entrenched, non-negotiable, as if they can really take no one seriously but themselves. As if they feel sorry for anyone who is denied the possibility of being a Pusey. And this, of course, is, by definition, everyone.' -From Hotel Du Lac, page 109-
Also residing in the hotel is the elderly Mme de Bonneuil who has been abandoned by her son and selfish daughter-in-law; Monica who suffers an eating disorder and dotes on her spoiled dog; and Mr. Neville - a blunt man convinced that self-centeredness is the key to happiness.
Anita Brookner weaves a story which is introspective and beautifully developed about a woman searching for herself while struggling to find love and acceptance. Despite its serious undertones, Hotel Du Lac is surprisingly funny. Edith embodies the idea of feminism, liberation and romantic ideals - a woman who is torn between her fantasies of being swept away by romance, while at the same time desiring her independence.
'[...] if she’s all that liberated, why doesn’t she go down to the bar and pick someone up? I’m sure it’s entirely possible. It’s just that most women don’t do it. And why don’t they do it?’ she asked, with a sudden return of assurance. ‘It’s because they prefer the old myths, when it comes to the crunch. They want to believe that they are going to be discovered, looking their best, behind closed doors, just when they thought that all was lost, by a man who has battled across continents, abandoning whatever he may have had in his in-tray, to reclaim them.' -From Hotel Du Lac, page 27-
The tension in the novel comes from the characters’ releationships to each other which ultimately help Edith to make a momentous decision.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. Brookner writes with elegant, passionate prose and leaves the reader feeling deeply satisfied.
Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Clurb
I was overwhelmed by the timeless nature of Brookner's writing and particularly entertained by the various larger than life female characters resident within the hotel, but to truly understand the depth of emotion and tragi-comedy apparent within the story, this book deserves at least two reads.
LibraryThing member ruthseeley
Like The Great Gatsby, this is one of those of tiny perfect books. This is probably the ONLY book of Anita Brookner's you should read (since all her others are either dress rehearsals or remakes of this one). But Hotel du Lac is SO perfect. To 'settle' or not to settle, that is the question.
Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 1984)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 1985)
Pages
1
ISBN
0525482040 / 9780525482048