Hotel du Lac
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Edith Hope (a.k.a. romance author Veronica Wilde) has been banished by her friends to a stately hotel in Switzerland. During her stay she befriends some of the other guests, each of whom has his or her own tale. Edith struggles to come to terms with her career and love--the lack, the benefits, and the meaning thereof.
Review
A smashing love story. It is very romantic. It is also humorous, witty, touching and formidably clever (The Times )
A classic...a book which will be read with pleasure a hundred years from now (Spectator )
Written with a beautiful grave formality, and it catches at the heart (Observer )
She is one of the great writers of contemporary fiction (Literary Review )
A classic...a book which will be read with pleasure a hundred years from now (Spectator )
Written with a beautiful grave formality, and it catches at the heart (Observer )
She is one of the great writers of contemporary fiction (Literary Review )
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
From the window all that could be seen was a receding area of grey. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
From the window all that could be seen was a receding area of grey. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
i really enjoyed this book, I didn't think it was dull, but nor did I think it was a delicately painted subtle little thing of beauty. I thought it was really funny, well-observed, and in fact the one person I do agree with is Dominic Swayne. Although I'm sad to hear that she never wrote such comedy again; I was imagining there was some rich vein there for me to tap into now. I'm just amazed that some readers didn't get the joke, I'm really amazed. I guess they just read it as a serious, pompous novel without the profound irony and narratorial skill that, for me, Brookner obviously has.
And for those who don't think it's meant to be funny... what about the little dog that wees on the stairs, and then the hotel manager who just shuts his eyes in disgust, it's such a funny image? What about Penelope, whose bed is covered in hundreds of little cushions "which proclaimed to the world at large 'I am a woman of exceptional femininity"? Eurgh! What about Mr Neville, who tells the heroine he is going to change her, having complained about her dress sense, to which she replies "If all it involves is giving away my cardigan, I feel I should tell you that I have another one at home." It's so dry, and so funny, I think it has a lot in common with Muriel Spark and is very well told and very moving.
And for those who don't think it's meant to be funny... what about the little dog that wees on the stairs, and then the hotel manager who just shuts his eyes in disgust, it's such a funny image? What about Penelope, whose bed is covered in hundreds of little cushions "which proclaimed to the world at large 'I am a woman of exceptional femininity"? Eurgh! What about Mr Neville, who tells the heroine he is going to change her, having complained about her dress sense, to which she replies "If all it involves is giving away my cardigan, I feel I should tell you that I have another one at home." It's so dry, and so funny, I think it has a lot in common with Muriel Spark and is very well told and very moving.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Beautifully written, intelligent, reflective, understated and elegiac in tone, with a pervading sadness that runs throughout the novel and her characters' lives - perhaps something that could be said of much of Brookner's fiction? - this is a charming and thoughtful novel focused on Edith Hope, a successful middle-aged novelist of romantic fiction (though a realist about the world of the living, she never denies her heroines the mythical joys of true romantic journeys and endings), who comes to stay at the genteel, select Hotel du Lac, an old world establishment in Switzerland, to reflect on recent events in her life.
Through the course of the novella (it's only 184 pages), Edith comes to engage with the hotel's other residents, all beautifully drawn. There's Monica, with her tiny dog that she passes her hotel food to (she has an eating disorder, and focuses mainly on cakes, coffee and cigarettes to keep her going), while vaguely thinking about her marriage that has come to an impasse; the relentlessly self-obsessed, rich, always-on-display and well-dressed, elegant Mrs Pusey and her shadow daughter, Jennifer (acting as truncated Greek Chorus to Mrs Pusey's endless exclamations about her own life and opinions); stalwart, sad, alone Mme de Bonneuil, dumped by her only son to live for part of each year at the hotel; and Mr Neville, charming, devilish, always insightful, but without sentiment or love, who intrigues Edith and triggers her considering fundamental changes in her life. He does this by questioning her mode of living and her way of thinking about love and relationships and self (he's an advocate of self-interested living only), and proposing marriage (but not love).
Faced with a pattern and routine in her life that Edith finds both comforting and sad, including her affair with a married man, Mr Simmons, and for which she is typically pigeon-holed, she is regarded as less than she really is in terms of character and depth. Such conflicts act as catalysts that, combined, conspire to a decision that ultimately leads her to the Hotel du Lac.
The dialogue and characterisation are consistently rich, entertaining and often provoke the reader into reflecting on his or her own approach to love and a life worth living, and what this says about ourselves. At the end of the novella, Edith's decision and next step, reflects her full awareness of her life to date, and the options available to her, including that of taking a radically different, perhaps more positive (self-interested) approach to her life, her decision is very much her own and true to who she is.
A moving meditation on personal choices, love and life-changing decisions and ways of living. Highly recommended.
Through the course of the novella (it's only 184 pages), Edith comes to engage with the hotel's other residents, all beautifully drawn. There's Monica, with her tiny dog that she passes her hotel food to (she has an eating disorder, and focuses mainly on cakes, coffee and cigarettes to keep her going), while vaguely thinking about her marriage that has come to an impasse; the relentlessly self-obsessed, rich, always-on-display and well-dressed, elegant Mrs Pusey and her shadow daughter, Jennifer (acting as truncated Greek Chorus to Mrs Pusey's endless exclamations about her own life and opinions); stalwart, sad, alone Mme de Bonneuil, dumped by her only son to live for part of each year at the hotel; and Mr Neville, charming, devilish, always insightful, but without sentiment or love, who intrigues Edith and triggers her considering fundamental changes in her life. He does this by questioning her mode of living and her way of thinking about love and relationships and self (he's an advocate of self-interested living only), and proposing marriage (but not love).
Faced with a pattern and routine in her life that Edith finds both comforting and sad, including her affair with a married man, Mr Simmons, and for which she is typically pigeon-holed, she is regarded as less than she really is in terms of character and depth. Such conflicts act as catalysts that, combined, conspire to a decision that ultimately leads her to the Hotel du Lac.
The dialogue and characterisation are consistently rich, entertaining and often provoke the reader into reflecting on his or her own approach to love and a life worth living, and what this says about ourselves. At the end of the novella, Edith's decision and next step, reflects her full awareness of her life to date, and the options available to her, including that of taking a radically different, perhaps more positive (self-interested) approach to her life, her decision is very much her own and true to who she is.
A moving meditation on personal choices, love and life-changing decisions and ways of living. Highly recommended.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I absolutely loved Anita Brookner's 1984 (I was two when this won) Man Booker Winner, seriously loved it. I can easily imagine this becoming a slightly underground classic in the future as the characters and story are just wonderful. Hotel Du Lac is the story of Edith Hope as she takes a break from the world and her writing of mildly successful romance novels. She has, it unfolds, been sent away by her best friend Penelope Milne who she is in disgrace of (along with a fair amount of her social circle) and would only be forgiven if she went to Switzerland to "disappear for a decent length of time and come back older, wiser and properly sorry". If you loved that line, like I did, then you will love all of the wording and wit Anita Brookner provides throughout a mere 180 pages.
Of course you then want to find out just what disgraceful act Edith has been apart of and as the novel and her character develop you soon realise it could be more than one thing. Once she is in the hotel though you also want to learn about all the stories of the other random guests who are staying in Switzerland `out of season'.
There is the fabulous Lady X or `the lady with the noisy dog who smoked endlessly and ate only ice cream and cake' who we learn to love and learn her real name is Monica, sent by her husband to stop eating and loose weight. We also meet Madame De Bonneuil who has been dumped there by her son who visits once a week whilst he and his wife, who hates her, spend all her money and live in her fabulous mansion. There are the fabulous and incredibly wealthy Iris and her daughter Jennifer Pusey who have come merely to shop... endlessly, and drink unbelievable quantities of champagne and gossip. They also like to think they are talk of the town and whilst Iris is her daughter Jennifer "inexpressive as a blank window" doesn't seem to be following her mothers lead, though there is a dark twist where she is concerned.
One final quest is Mr Neville who claims himself `a romantic' and thinks he knows just what Edith needs to sort her life out if only he can show her. As the obvious romance story evolves between the two characters I was initially touched and then started to get very disappointed in where the novel might be leading. I shouldn't have worried as Brookner pulls out a very final and very clever twist as well as finally letting us in on Edith's past.
I actually hugged this book when I had finished it and really wanted to start the whole thing all over again. It reminded me of the wit of lethal wit, scandal and romance of a Nancy Mitford novel only with modern twists and turns. It also looks at the roles of women at a time, I am guessing it is set in the late sixties early seventies though you are never sure, when rules and ways were changing and they had more options yet weren't really meant to use them.
Of course you then want to find out just what disgraceful act Edith has been apart of and as the novel and her character develop you soon realise it could be more than one thing. Once she is in the hotel though you also want to learn about all the stories of the other random guests who are staying in Switzerland `out of season'.
There is the fabulous Lady X or `the lady with the noisy dog who smoked endlessly and ate only ice cream and cake' who we learn to love and learn her real name is Monica, sent by her husband to stop eating and loose weight. We also meet Madame De Bonneuil who has been dumped there by her son who visits once a week whilst he and his wife, who hates her, spend all her money and live in her fabulous mansion. There are the fabulous and incredibly wealthy Iris and her daughter Jennifer Pusey who have come merely to shop... endlessly, and drink unbelievable quantities of champagne and gossip. They also like to think they are talk of the town and whilst Iris is her daughter Jennifer "inexpressive as a blank window" doesn't seem to be following her mothers lead, though there is a dark twist where she is concerned.
One final quest is Mr Neville who claims himself `a romantic' and thinks he knows just what Edith needs to sort her life out if only he can show her. As the obvious romance story evolves between the two characters I was initially touched and then started to get very disappointed in where the novel might be leading. I shouldn't have worried as Brookner pulls out a very final and very clever twist as well as finally letting us in on Edith's past.
I actually hugged this book when I had finished it and really wanted to start the whole thing all over again. It reminded me of the wit of lethal wit, scandal and romance of a Nancy Mitford novel only with modern twists and turns. It also looks at the roles of women at a time, I am guessing it is set in the late sixties early seventies though you are never sure, when rules and ways were changing and they had more options yet weren't really meant to use them.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
A voyage of self discovery
Edith Hope is a middle aged romance writer, whose personal life leaves something to be desired. Single, shy and out of step with current trends, she writes diligently for a... Read more
Published 2 months ago by ivona poyntz
The perfect observation of loneliness
Anita Brookner draws you into the story of the sad lady staying in the hotel by the lake. Achingly sad yet she gets up every day drawing solace from the humour she draws from her... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Addicted Anna
A cautionary tale for life's tortoises...
The perfect cover for an excellent, insightful novel. The dabbled light on the walk, the chair that says "Europe"; a lone woman, hands in her coat, head down, obviously deeply... Read more
Published 14 months ago by John P. Jones III
Sublime and sublte comedy
This is a very funny book - its great appeal. Just when you are beginning to get slightly irritated with the overly meek and resigned Edith, there will be some feline little joke... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Todd Cutler
Hotel du Lac
I am in a Book Club in Switzerland, so it seemed fitting to read a book set in this country. Found it a bit slow to start. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Joanne Watchorn
Wish I could put no stars!!
I am at present 'ploughing' through this book (in spite of the fact that it's quite short!!) 130 pages so far, and I haven't laughed once yet! What is more, no action either! Read more
Published on 29 April 2009 by bragadaccio
Not her best by any means...
Anita Brookner has a rare gift for portraying loneliness, exclusion, repression and so on, and for exposing the subtle psychological manipulations and maneouverings in human... Read more
Published on 24 Sep 2008 by HexOmega
Still the best Booker prize winner
Beautifully written and hugely entertaining. Pity that Miss Brookner never wrote another high comedy of quite the same order...
Published on 14 Oct 2006 by Dominic Swayne
A novel of extraordinary delicacy
In her novel, Mrs Brookner portrays a middle-aged writer of romantic fiction, Edith Hope. People claim that there is a certain resemblance with Virginia Woolf in her features. Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2005 by HORAK
Lacks passion
I was extremely disappointed in this book. The woman is supposed to be in love, yet in the height of its expression, she utters "Oh David, oh David". Read more
Published on 10 Dec 2001
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