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bookwomble's review against another edition
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
4.5
I approached this book with some diffidence, humour, and the appropriate subjects of humour, often being very much of their time. The opening anecdotes were lightheartedly funny sketches of workers and patrons of the hotel, though there were parts that justified my reservations. Then, about ⅓ in, without losing the bantering tone, Bemelmans introduced some darker, even sinister, characters and situations, that might have raised eyebrows in polite society: Professor Gorylescu, the table magician, smoulders with a seedy loucheness that hints of more troubling proclivities.
Kalakobé, the one Black character, could have been a problem, and while Bemelmans does exoticise him somewhat, he presents him with dignity, noting that Kalakobé refuses the description "negro" and insists on his being "African".
There's a nasty incident at the end of the first anecdote which had raised my hackles, however, Bemelmans deftly weaves this into his final story: very satisfying. "Raconteur" fits Bemelmans well, and I had the feeling of hearing these stories in a corner of a dimly-lit dining hall after all the patrons have left, around a littered table with a stained cloth, waiters in shirt sleeves with unbuttoned collars, smoking cigar stubs and finishing off the opened wine and brandy bottles, regaling each other with the petty demands of diners and unwarranted tyrannies of the <I>maître d'hôtel</I>.
Kalakobé, the one Black character, could have been a problem, and while Bemelmans does exoticise him somewhat, he presents him with dignity, noting that Kalakobé refuses the description "negro" and insists on his being "African".
There's a nasty incident at the end of the first anecdote which had raised my hackles, however, Bemelmans deftly weaves this into his final story: very satisfying. "Raconteur" fits Bemelmans well, and I had the feeling of hearing these stories in a corner of a dimly-lit dining hall after all the patrons have left, around a littered table with a stained cloth, waiters in shirt sleeves with unbuttoned collars, smoking cigar stubs and finishing off the opened wine and brandy bottles, regaling each other with the petty demands of diners and unwarranted tyrannies of the <I>maître d'hôtel</I>.
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Fatphobia, Bullying, Antisemitism, Classism, Mental illness, and Sexism
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