- Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (3 Feb 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140281088
- ISBN-13: 978-0140281088
- Product Dimensions: 17.8 x 11 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 587,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
From the moment that we see the jacket, where words are back-to-front, we know that this book sees things from a different perspective. Fortune Hotel is a new departure--the first collection of alternative travel writing. The chemical generation no longer need to drop Es to get spaced out--travel is the opiate of all the contemporary writers whose unusual itineraries are collected in these post-modern peregrinations.
The tone of the design is continued by the apposite first story from Martyn Bedford which is, literally, full of shit: a drug-dealing backpacker comes a cropper through his dysentery. Then we have Howard Marks telling us of his way-out exploits, smuggling dope in his arse through customs: "Time for another joint", says Marks. Or another story. If some of this teeters towards crass posturing, this semi-inverted collection nevertheless offers some interesting and challenging tales. Those by Toby Litt, Will Self and Jean McNeil are beacons of sharp writing and astute observation.
The pathways of escapade and adventure charted in this anthology are linked by hotel-sink realism and the sepia tinted ennui of failed sexual encounters, leavened by the often humorous observance of the vulnerability that is the true fate of the traveller abroad. --Tabitha Vert
Product Description
A collection of seventeen original stories from acclaimed and best-selling authors, which puts a new perspective on travel-writing. The characters in these stories, some true, most invented, cross the globe in search of escape and adventure, from kibbutz to beach resort, from drug smuggling to football.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am an editor in a New York publishing house and came in contact with this book from a scout. I have to say I don't usually do this on line review stuff but I felt compelled after reading this exciting new collection to make my first cyber space contribution. I agree with the last reviewer, A Sacrificial shoe was the most talked about story (in my circles anyway). Sometimes a story just hits a nerve and this one truly did. Emer Martin is that rare writer who is carving out her own niche. Some find her difficult to handle precisely because there is no precedent, she is not writing about women in their thirties who desperately want husbands or mates or worry about calorie consumption etc. She is giving us something new, which is a tough path for a writer to follow but a brave one. While I had trepidation about the ending of this story and have argued about it with friends and colleagues, I appreciate its savagery. The violence is calm and non-invasive yet devastating. Martins novels have been much talked about this side of the Atlantic. I hope the UK will have the option to be repelled and excited by them any day soon. Great collection, well done Sarah Champion.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed the various contrasting styles of each of the writers, especially the wicked and evocative contributions by Toby Litt and Emer Martin. Howard Marks has obviously been smokin' the draw a bit too much though, and Will Self's effort is a little too clever. A worthy and cool read all the same.
Format:Paperback
Interesting idea at work here, as editor Champion has assembled seventeen stories, most fiction, but some true, based on the idea of travel. That is to say, writing about how travel affects people, as opposed to traditional travel narrative--almost all involve drugs, sex, or violence. My favorite stories were Helena Mulkerns' "Shiprock," Toby Litt's "My Cold War," Douglas Coupland's "She Swallowed Her Pearls on the Day of the Revolution," Geoff Dyer's "Horizontal Drift," and Emer Martin's "Sacrificial Shoe." None of these, however, beats William Sutcliffe's true tale, "The Institute." John King's "The Beast of Marseille" is based on the English fans visiting Marseille for the 1998 World Cup. While it is mostly in keeping with his excellent books (The Football Factory, Headhunters, England Away), his portrayal of two exploitative journalists is totally over-the-top clumsy and mars the tale. As a whole, this collection is an interesting take on what travel means to people of my generation, as well as good way to sample some England and Ireland's most interesting young writers.
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