Beautiful Heartbreak

I seem to be underestimating the shorter novels, much to my detriment. Although I finished reading my last book on the 19th, and I was carrying "Hotel du Lac" in my bag from the 20th on, I didn't start reading it until Monday morning! Three whole days of lost reading because I looked at the page count and thought, 'I can knock that out in one evening'! I just finished it on the bus home to tonight, so I'm feeling a little disappointed with myself.

That having been said, I did enjoy this novel and I'm already planning to read a few more titles by Anita Brookner. I struggled a bit getting into the story the first couple chapters, as I found her choice of language more refined than what I am accustomed with, to the point of being challenging. I was feeling very uneducated, which was compounded by the dialogue exchanges en francais - even though I am Canadian and took 6 years of French, my French is very weak. By the third chapter I had relaxed enough to accept that even though I wasn't familiar with some of the words, I still understood the general meaning, and the magic of story-telling took over.

I saw a lot of myself in the character of Edith Hope, and I find that a bit depressing. She's a romantic (in addition to writing romance novels) who has been disappointed in love although she seems very content with her life. After an out-of-character scandal, her friends have packed her off for a holiday of undetermined length at the eponymous hotel. It's the end of the holiday season so the hotel is nearly deserted, although there are a handful of equally depressing women still in residence who make good use of Edith as an audience. In less skilled hands this might have been a very depressing story, as it's mainly about broken hearts. As it is, I found it beautiful, empowering (there's a bit of a feminist vibe), and endearing. Yes, still heartbreaking, but that's life outside a romance novel!

I took a look at the descriptions of a few other titles by Brookner, and it seems she often uses 'exile and return' in her stories of individuals maturing. Even though Edith almost makes the same error during her exile which led to it, as she returns she seems to have gained acceptance for herself as she is, which gives her more strength and conviction. She's a very modern female hero, and I quite like her. In fact, I can think of a few girlfriends I am going to recommend this novel to!

Next up, I'm going to back-track and read Thomas Keneally's "Schindler's Ark" - hopefully I will have the fortitude to give you a mid-book blog!

Happy Reading!