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"A grand hotel in the center of 1920s Berlin serves as a microcosm of the modern world in Vicki Baum's celebrated novel, a Weimar-era bestseller that retains all its verve and luster today. Among the guests of the hotel is Dr. Otternschlag, a World War I veteran whose face has been sliced in half by a shell. Day after day he emerges to read the paper in the lobby, discreetly inquiring at the desk if the letter he's been awaiting for years has arrived. Then there is Grusinskaya, a great ballerina now fighting a losing battle not so much against age as against her fear of it, and Gaigern, a sleek professional thief, who may or may not be made for each other. Herr Preysing also checks in, the director of a family firm that isn't as flourishing as it appears, who would never imagine that Kringelein, his underling, a timorous petty clerk he's bullied for years, has also come to Berlin, determined to live at last now that he's received a medical death sentence. All these characters and more, with their secret fears and hopes, come together and come alive in the pages of Baum's delicious and disturbing masterpiece"--… (more)
User reviews
The Grand Hotel is the
One of the central characters is Otto Kringelein, a bookkeeper who has travelled from the country to Berlin to live the high life for a week or two. After many years of bullying and penny pinching both at work and at home, Kringelein has come to the city with the knowledge that he has only a few weeks left to live. Backed by funds from his savings and life insurance policy, Kringelein is intent on experiencing life and everything it has to offer before his time is up. The first person he meets is Colonel-Doctor Otternschlag, who has lost half his face. "A souvenir of Flanders" says the ruined man.
Everyone at the Grand Hotel is enchanted by the friendly Baron Gaigern, but little do they know that he is actually a cat burglar. Aging Russian ballet dancer Grusinskaya realizes the lack of warmth and true love in her life has taken in toll, leaving this once great dancer somewhat vulnerable and fragile. Grusinskaya is the real reason for Baron Gaigern’s visit to the Grand.......he has his eye on her pearl necklace.
Another guest is Hermann Preysing, the general manager of a failing textile mill, who believes the long anticipated merger with a Boston company is off, spelling financial ruin. He brings along Flammchen, a stenographer with whom he is obsessed and plans to seduce. Unfortunately, Flammchen has fallen for the Baron.
The atmosphere and mood of the novel does take the reader into Berlin in the 1920's and is filled with fabulous characters. I didn't like it as much as I had hoped, but I believe that I just had some trouble with translated dialogue from ninety years ago.
TBR 1268