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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I ended up being a bit ho-hum about this. 5 dislocated female voices all linked in to the same chain hotel where a bizarre accident has claimed the life of the first voice, hovering as an unreconciled ghost. Whiel all 5 voices were genuinely different from one another, all were a tad similar in their being deracinated: the dead girl, a homeless waif, a journalist/writer who can't settle to anything and craves fresh experiences, the bereaved sister and the hotel's alienated receptionist. There is not a whole lot of healing and positivity here. I'm reminded of the characters of Janice Galloway, another Scot and though this is not dialogue but streams of consciousness, there is something about the remorseless of James Kelman too.
The fifth voice, a stream of consciousness that runs on without fullstops belonging to the bereaved sister was something I really glazed over. In fact it wasn't until the final short chapter and the rather touching but healthy response of a watch-repairer woman who the dead girl had an unrequited remote crush on that I was really engaged.
The fifth voice, a stream of consciousness that runs on without fullstops belonging to the bereaved sister was something I really glazed over. In fact it wasn't until the final short chapter and the rather touching but healthy response of a watch-repairer woman who the dead girl had an unrequited remote crush on that I was really engaged.
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Lo leí muy rápido, pero estuve todo el tiempo preguntándome si me gustó o no. Lo que sí sé es aue voy a seguir leyendo a esta autora porque me pareció diferente la forma de escribir.
This book left me feeling a little bit sick inside. I appreciate the experimental narration, and I saw some value in it. I love the concept of a stream of consciousness ghost, and the language was impeccably interesting. But I didn't enjoy the reading process as much as I would have liked to.
Erano almeno due anni e mezzo che non leggevo qualcosa di così buono: Ali Smith è riuscita a ricordarmi la differenza che c'è tra un libro in quanto prodotto editoriale ed un libro in quanto opera d'arte. Ogni capitolo è una sorta di ininterrotto monologo interiore da parte di un personaggio diverso, la trama si costruisce lentamente attraverso la sovrapposizione di tutti i capitoli. Fin qua tutto nella norma. Anzi, alle prime pagine ero perfino un po' infastidita, mi ricordava certe trame di Faulkner (per me non è un fattore positivo) o la solita frigida menata postmoderna. Invece, la costruzione quasi impressionista dei personaggi e l'architettura narrativa fitta di rimandi interni si sono riuscite a fondere straordinariamente bene in una narrazione di sensibilità rara. Niente, mi sono innamorata.
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Ali Smith's standing among my very favorite contemporary fiction writers further solidifies. She's truly, remarkably singular in her work's ability to combine radical stylistic experimentalism, postmodern narrative approaches, and a persistent centering of old-fashioned ideas like love and beauty. There are so very, very few books like this one: books at once both dazzlingly avant-garde and tenderly, quite movingly, rich with life and humanity.
Ali Smith is one of the most wonderful wordsmtihs ever. In this magical and deceptively slight book, she weave together the lives of women who have all been affected by a great tragedy. her focus is on the everyday consequences and results of death and pain and love, which she observes with precision and great empathy. The structure of the book invites you at its end to go back to the start, and indeed I did to close out my experience of this Hotel World where it began. Magnificent.
emotional
fast-paced
A book that will make you want to live
Started it, hated it, couldn't read it. Just not for me.