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Fortune Hotel
 
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Fortune Hotel (Paperback)

by Sarah Champion (Editor)
4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 320 pages
  • Publisher: Hamish Hamilton Ltd (3 Jun 1999)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0241140439
  • ISBN-13: 978-0241140437
  • Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 13.4 x 2.3 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,112,080 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review
From the moment that we see the jacket, where half of the words are back-to-front and upside down, 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 postmodern 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

4 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:
 (2)
3 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (4 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars lots of fun and games and loathing, 6 Aug 1999
By A Customer
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.
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4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Idea, Great Writing, 15 Oct 1999
By A. Ross (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
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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4.0 out of 5 stars Unrivalled collection of off-the-wall travel stories, 24 Jul 1999
By A Customer
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.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun, unusual and of a very high quality
I loved this collection of wild stories, exotic places and alienated travellers. Will Self was funny and bizarre, Jean McNeil was intoxicating, almost all of the stories were... Read more
Published on 8 Jul 1999

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