Hotel du Lac in Around the World

Apr 09, 2017 Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it really liked it

Shelves: booker-winners-and-listed, location-switzerland, read2017, around-the-world

I knew I was going to like this book the minute I read Edith's description of her hotel room, decorated as it is in shades of overcooked veal. There are so many moments of humor in these pages, but it is quiet, blink-and-you-might-miss-it humor.

"People feel at home with low moral standards. It is scruples that put them off."

"The company of their own sex, Edith reflected was what drove many women into marriage."

The first 100 pages or so of the novel, Edith is more of a narrator of the characters ...more

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Jul 08, 2015 writer... rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories-shortstorymonth, women-s-fiction, paris-in-july, british-books-challenge, contemporary, around-the-world-challenge

Hotel du Lac provides an atmospheric Swiss lakeshore setting for Edith's exile and return to writing after public disgrace. Focused on the few off season guests, Edith's ruminations expand her perspectives of others as well as her personal reflections and self-realizations as the story unfolds to a surprise conclusion. I found the writing dense and altogether too weighty for being touted as a "romantic, witty, humorous, love story". Reading was like wading upstream. Lighter descriptive moments o ...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Angela rated it liked it

Shelves: around-the-world-in-52-books, switzerland

Well, I selected Hotel du Lac as my Switzerland read for Around the World in 52 Books. Other than the fact that the book was set at a hotel located in Switzerland, I have learned nothing new of the country. I guess I should have put a little more research in my book selection. Not quite what I expected.

The book itself was very well written. However, the pace was rather slow and dull. The book centered around Edith Hope, a romance writer based in London. Due to some rather unacceptable behavior ...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Jenna Garrett rated it really liked it

Shelves: around-the-world, western-europe

This is a subtle, quiet book. I didn't know how I felt about it at first - I would have rated it a 3 initially, but found that it continued to simmer and I discovered the depths of the social analysis behind the story as time passed. It is a quick, unexciting read, but makes you think about the social roles of women and men and how those (and we) change (or don't) through marriage, infidelity, and love. It is not a particularly hopeful tale, but I think one can choose (or not) to see it as so, i ...more

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