Scan barcode
judithdcollins's review against another edition
3.0
A short quick novel about a couple who relives their life together, past and present as they are preparing for a divorce.
The couple met in romantic New Orleans and married, and over the next 25 years of marriage, life tears them apart through work, parenting, outside interferences, and scars from their childhood. Michael had an unexpressive and harsh father who taught him not to share and he became hard. Kelly on the other hand had a mentally ill father which was also distant. Over time they meet other people and they grow apart.
Kelly is due to be in court, but instead she drives from her home in Pensacola, Florida, across the panhandle to New Orleans and checks into Room 303 at the Olivier House in the city’s French Quarter—the hotel where she and Michael fell in love some twenty-five years earlier and where she now finds herself about to make a decision that will forever affect her, Michael, and their nineteen-year-old daughter, Samantha.
On what is supposed to be the day of their divorce, the reader gets to hear each voice as they look back over the past twenty five years of their relationship. As Kelly is on her way to the hotel, Michael heads off for a romantic weekend getaway with his new girlfriend, yet finds himself increasingly distracted and thinking of Kelly (go figure).
The characters are real and flawed and as always, it is hard to see when you are close to a situation and sometimes taking a step back changes things. A novel which reminds us how communication is key. A realistic and heartbreaking and moving novel which was very sad at times. However, the last fifty or so pages -- the best part as could not wait to see what would happen.
http://judithdcollins.booklikes.com/post/849987/-asmallhotel
The couple met in romantic New Orleans and married, and over the next 25 years of marriage, life tears them apart through work, parenting, outside interferences, and scars from their childhood. Michael had an unexpressive and harsh father who taught him not to share and he became hard. Kelly on the other hand had a mentally ill father which was also distant. Over time they meet other people and they grow apart.
Kelly is due to be in court, but instead she drives from her home in Pensacola, Florida, across the panhandle to New Orleans and checks into Room 303 at the Olivier House in the city’s French Quarter—the hotel where she and Michael fell in love some twenty-five years earlier and where she now finds herself about to make a decision that will forever affect her, Michael, and their nineteen-year-old daughter, Samantha.
On what is supposed to be the day of their divorce, the reader gets to hear each voice as they look back over the past twenty five years of their relationship. As Kelly is on her way to the hotel, Michael heads off for a romantic weekend getaway with his new girlfriend, yet finds himself increasingly distracted and thinking of Kelly (go figure).
The characters are real and flawed and as always, it is hard to see when you are close to a situation and sometimes taking a step back changes things. A novel which reminds us how communication is key. A realistic and heartbreaking and moving novel which was very sad at times. However, the last fifty or so pages -- the best part as could not wait to see what would happen.
http://judithdcollins.booklikes.com/post/849987/-asmallhotel
pattydsf's review against another edition
4.0
My husband and I decided to spend a long weekend in New Orleans and so, in my librarian way, I looked for books to read about the city. It had been years since I had read anything by Robert Olen Butler and I had been reminded of his existence by a discussion of his early stories about Vietnamese immigrants. So when this book appeared on the NoveList bibliography, I decided it was the book for the trip.
Actually, it was not the book for this trip, but I am not sorry I read Butler's commentary on love and marriage. It is just not a good idea to read about divorce when you yourself are celebrating a wonderful marriage of 35 years.
I did find the story well written and the style Butler uses held my interest. I seem to be reading about memories at the moment and what the characters remember in this story propel the tale forward. It was also sort of cool to actually see the Small Hotel in New Orleans.
I recommend this to folks who want books that reflect their setting (New Orleans is almost a character in this book), to readers that are looking for short, good reads and those who believe in fate.
Actually, it was not the book for this trip, but I am not sorry I read Butler's commentary on love and marriage. It is just not a good idea to read about divorce when you yourself are celebrating a wonderful marriage of 35 years.
I did find the story well written and the style Butler uses held my interest. I seem to be reading about memories at the moment and what the characters remember in this story propel the tale forward. It was also sort of cool to actually see the Small Hotel in New Orleans.
I recommend this to folks who want books that reflect their setting (New Orleans is almost a character in this book), to readers that are looking for short, good reads and those who believe in fate.
nixieknox's review against another edition
3.0
Mostly I loved this book. Being familiar with the inability to give voice to one's feelings, I totally empathized with both Kelly & Michael. I can see how a marriage could fall as theirs did. And the last couple of pages, well, let's just pretend I had something in my eye.
The one thing that took some getting used to was Butler's free-flowing sense of time - he would start a sentence in the present and end 20 years in the past. That was off-putting for much of the beginning of the book. However, that writin
The one thing that took some getting used to was Butler's free-flowing sense of time - he would start a sentence in the present and end 20 years in the past. That was off-putting for much of the beginning of the book. However, that writin
mhoffrob's review against another edition
4.0
This Pulitzer Prize winner is a study of marriage, loneliness, and commitment. Beautifully woven tale told through a couple who are separated and perhaps moving on after decades together, in the current tense and through their memories of various times in their lives. The language and interconnecting views are beautifully rendered, and author's reading of the audiobook version was wonderful.
lookingtoheaven's review against another edition
3.0
2 1/2 interesting but more focused on marital strife than I like to read
sheila_p's review against another edition
3.0
This book had 4 stars until the last two pages! I hate Hollywood endings and this one is bad. Up until that point it was a great book. It is a love story but really the story of a relationship and how people handle relationships. It is an intimate look at what is going on inside the minds of two people that love each other, think they understand each other, realize they ultimate don't and muddle through anyway. In life and in love we do the best we can. We are affected by our experiences and we bring our baggage to the table.
I would be interested in knowing other people's take on who the "good" guy and who the "bad" guy is early on in this story. It is a great character study and would make a good discussion book. Except for the ending, but I already mentioned that.
I would be interested in knowing other people's take on who the "good" guy and who the "bad" guy is early on in this story. It is a great character study and would make a good discussion book. Except for the ending, but I already mentioned that.
octospark's review against another edition
4.0
Robert Olen Butler is one of my favorite writers. He is a literary champion, and I love all of his books. This was no exception. It was darker and more contemplative than some of his quirkier stuff (Hell, Mr. Spaceman, Tabloid Dreams, etc) but that doesn't mean it was any less affecting. One of my favorite things about this book was the almost 'stream-of-consciousness' writing he did throughout; there were some sentences that went on for multiple pages. And I didn't even realize it until it was done--"holy crap, that was one whole sentence!"--and then I'd go back and re-read it several times to really get the gist of it, and to revel in it, and to shake my head in awe and gratitude. It's just profound the way he so adequately depicts and conveys emotion and thought processes. Now, truth told, I don't think this was his strongest story, but I'm willing to let that go for the sheer writing power he continually exudes. If you are someone who is dealing with the disintegration of a marriage/relationship, or recently survived the harrowing ordeal of a disintegrated relationship, then you will get a lot out of this book. But even if you're not that person, you're likely to get a lot out of it. Recommended.
bethreadsandnaps's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book. The writing style is very seductive, luring you into the world of the characters and their sadness. For some reason, I thought of that book about love languages while reading this. What if a person's love language is words of affirmation, and the person is married to someone who does not give love in that language? Person gets frustrated, unsatisfied by not getting what they need, find someone who tells her what she so desperately wants to hear, but they are hollow words when it comes down to it.
I'm glad this book has a happy ending.
It's all characters and relatively no plot, but it is a thought-provoking read.
I'm glad this book has a happy ending.
It's all characters and relatively no plot, but it is a thought-provoking read.
jennyshank's review against another edition
3.0
http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/books/20110826-book-review-a-small-hotel-by-robert-olen-butler.ece
The author, known for his risk-taking, offers a quiet but well-executed story about a disintigrating marriage
FICTION
A Small Hotel
Robert Olen Butler
(Grove, $24)
Some of literature's greatest plots would have been ruined by modern technology. Take Romeo and Juliet — if those lovesick teenagers had been able to text each other, there would have been no mix-ups over who was dead and who wasn't. And what if Jane Eyre could have gone online to learn that Mr. Rochester was already “in a relationship”?
But in his new, melancholy novel, A Small Hotel, Robert Olen Butler considers the difficulties that one couple has in understanding each other, despite all the contemporary communication devices at their disposal. Michael and Kelly Hays, who are in the process of a divorce, call each other's cellphones incessantly, but can't seem to express their true feelings to each other.
The present action of A Small Hotel takes place over the course of one eventful day, when Kelly is supposed to finalize her divorce from Michael at a judge's chambers in Pensacola, Fla. Instead, she heads to the Olivier House hotel in the New Orleans French Quarter, where she and Michael spent their first night together 25 years earlier, and have been visiting ever since. She packs light, bringing just a few clothes, a bottle of Scotch, and enough Percocet to send a horse to his maker. She is woefully sad. , and in an introspective frame of mind.
Meanwhile, her soon-to-be-ex husband Michael, a successful lawyer, is off with new squeeze Laurie, a woman “young enough to be his daughter,” at a party at an old plantation where everyone must wear antebellum costumes ala Scarlett O'Hara. This isn't Michael's sort of thing—he's hit with a “niggling unease at showing himself in public in costume.” He puts up with it because Laurie wants him to, but he's preoccupied with memories of Kelly.
Given this set-up, it will seem clear who was the victim and who the victimized in Michael and Kelly's relationship, but through layers of flashbacks that build toward the crisis point in their marriage, Butler will gradually upend initial perceptions.
A Small Hotel drifts from past to present, alternating between Kelly's and Michael's perspective as each relives the key moments of their marriage, from their remarkable meeting during Mardi Gras to the birth of their daughter to each character's childhood, which reveals the crux of their problem: Michael has never told Kelly “I love you,” three words she's always desperately needed to hear.
Butler, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his story collection A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain, narrated by Vietnamese immigrants, has a reputation for taking risks with form, setting, and perspective in his inventive fiction. [He's written a book composed of short narratives delivered by severed heads (Severence), a story collection based on lurid tabloid headlines (Tabloid Dreams), and satirical novel set in hell (Hell). In contrast,] A Small Hotel, a quiet story about the disintegration of a marriage, seems like it wouldn't be much of a challenge for him. But it takes a writer of Butler's experience to be able to guide the reader through this cavalcade of flashbacks without being confusing or unclear, and to structure the revelations for maximum suspense and drama.
There are times when A Small Hotel feels unremittingly bleak. When Butler writes that “laughter wafts into the room like a fresh scent from the street” while Kelly berates herself and contemplates suicide, you might wish you could step outside and join the revelers on Bourbon Street. You also might question whether the issue of Michael not saying “I love you” and the psychology Butler creates to justify this is believable enough as a cause of the wreckage of this relationship. But well, why not? Surely some marriages have had this problem. And at the end of the book, when hope comes barreling in out of nowhere, you'll want to rush toward it quicker than Rhett Butler did toward Scarlett O'Hara in her green curtain dress.
Jenny Shank's first novel, The Ringer, was a finalist for The Reading the West Award, sponsored by the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. She is the Books Editor of NewWest.Net.
The author, known for his risk-taking, offers a quiet but well-executed story about a disintigrating marriage
FICTION
A Small Hotel
Robert Olen Butler
(Grove, $24)
Some of literature's greatest plots would have been ruined by modern technology. Take Romeo and Juliet — if those lovesick teenagers had been able to text each other, there would have been no mix-ups over who was dead and who wasn't. And what if Jane Eyre could have gone online to learn that Mr. Rochester was already “in a relationship”?
But in his new, melancholy novel, A Small Hotel, Robert Olen Butler considers the difficulties that one couple has in understanding each other, despite all the contemporary communication devices at their disposal. Michael and Kelly Hays, who are in the process of a divorce, call each other's cellphones incessantly, but can't seem to express their true feelings to each other.
The present action of A Small Hotel takes place over the course of one eventful day, when Kelly is supposed to finalize her divorce from Michael at a judge's chambers in Pensacola, Fla. Instead, she heads to the Olivier House hotel in the New Orleans French Quarter, where she and Michael spent their first night together 25 years earlier, and have been visiting ever since. She packs light, bringing just a few clothes, a bottle of Scotch, and enough Percocet to send a horse to his maker. She is woefully sad. , and in an introspective frame of mind.
Meanwhile, her soon-to-be-ex husband Michael, a successful lawyer, is off with new squeeze Laurie, a woman “young enough to be his daughter,” at a party at an old plantation where everyone must wear antebellum costumes ala Scarlett O'Hara. This isn't Michael's sort of thing—he's hit with a “niggling unease at showing himself in public in costume.” He puts up with it because Laurie wants him to, but he's preoccupied with memories of Kelly.
Given this set-up, it will seem clear who was the victim and who the victimized in Michael and Kelly's relationship, but through layers of flashbacks that build toward the crisis point in their marriage, Butler will gradually upend initial perceptions.
A Small Hotel drifts from past to present, alternating between Kelly's and Michael's perspective as each relives the key moments of their marriage, from their remarkable meeting during Mardi Gras to the birth of their daughter to each character's childhood, which reveals the crux of their problem: Michael has never told Kelly “I love you,” three words she's always desperately needed to hear.
Butler, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1993 for his story collection A Good Scent From A Strange Mountain, narrated by Vietnamese immigrants, has a reputation for taking risks with form, setting, and perspective in his inventive fiction. [He's written a book composed of short narratives delivered by severed heads (Severence), a story collection based on lurid tabloid headlines (Tabloid Dreams), and satirical novel set in hell (Hell). In contrast,] A Small Hotel, a quiet story about the disintegration of a marriage, seems like it wouldn't be much of a challenge for him. But it takes a writer of Butler's experience to be able to guide the reader through this cavalcade of flashbacks without being confusing or unclear, and to structure the revelations for maximum suspense and drama.
There are times when A Small Hotel feels unremittingly bleak. When Butler writes that “laughter wafts into the room like a fresh scent from the street” while Kelly berates herself and contemplates suicide, you might wish you could step outside and join the revelers on Bourbon Street. You also might question whether the issue of Michael not saying “I love you” and the psychology Butler creates to justify this is believable enough as a cause of the wreckage of this relationship. But well, why not? Surely some marriages have had this problem. And at the end of the book, when hope comes barreling in out of nowhere, you'll want to rush toward it quicker than Rhett Butler did toward Scarlett O'Hara in her green curtain dress.
Jenny Shank's first novel, The Ringer, was a finalist for The Reading the West Award, sponsored by the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association. She is the Books Editor of NewWest.Net.