Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner is one of my favorites, notwithstanding the fact that on The Greatest Books of All Time site, this sits as low as the 7720th place, which means that I should perhaps reconsider the notion of checking with this list to see what to read next, it was not even the first time when I find something I admired out of the park – however, I have more than five thousand reviews of books from this place and notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made at this address https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html if you care to check it

 

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner is one of my favorites, notwithstanding the fact that on The Greatest Books of All Time site, this sits as low as the 7720th place, which means that I should perhaps reconsider the notion of checking with this list to see what to read next, it was not even the first time when I find something I admired out of the park – however, I have more than five thousand reviews of books from this place and notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made at this address https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html if you care to check it

 

 

10 out of 10

 

I am ecstatic about this book, for it is the second time that I have read it and only set is aside a few hours ago, the first time I have listed to it in the https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/hotel-du-lac-by-anita-brookner.html 32x bus, it was something 300, but the thing that is important here is that it was so fabulous the circumstances stayed with me

 

This magnum opus did win the Booker Prize in 1986 and despite the fact that it seems to be a ‘novel about nothing’, in that we do not have the battle of Waterloo or any other taking place, it is exhilarating and perfect for this reader at least, with a wonderful heroine, Edith Hope, a writer that stays in the Hotel du Lac

She has had to leave England, because she had been a ‘runaway bride’ just like in the mesmerizing The Graduate https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-graduate-by-charles-webb-10-out-of.html one of my favorite films and books – indeed, one of those rare cases, Deliverance is another one, where the novel is a chef d’oeuvre and the adaption makes it among the crème de la crème – and she has to take refuge

 

The writer is in love with David, a married man that appears to be infatuated, but not amorous, and to stabilize her situation, because she was pressed by her friend (Penelope was her name?) she is also confused, chagrined by this extra marital relationship and pleased by it, and decides to marry, there is the wedding day…

Everyone, the groom, guests are ready, arrangements have been made, there are staff hired to fix the food, cheese, asparagus and other specials, Edith is on the way to the ceremony, but tells the driver to pass by, go around the park, and eventually, the marital vows are cancelled, she asks for forgiveness, but does not ‘receive it’

 

There are interesting characters in the Hotel du Lac, despite the fact that this a place which is not on the map of famous attractions, Mrs. Pusey and her daughter, Jennifer, are perhaps the most intriguing, their age is a major surprise, and the alleged teenager (well, they did not really make such a huge error) is misbehaving

All this has reminded me of a better known magnum opus Magic Mountain https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/magic-mountain-by-thomas-mann.html there are differences, evidently, Magic Mountain takes place on…a mountain, there is a sanatorium, but still, you are in Switzerland for both, and people are isolated, more or less, from the hoi polloi, sent away from the Madding Crowd

 

We have some fantastic change of plan, just like Aristotle recommended, when we expect the main character to take one route, she announces this decision – in a way – and the we see that the perhaps unexpected path is abandoned, and then we have a different outcome, you get the convoluted direction this is taking

I have tried to avoid any spoilers, as if people are crowding here to read this nonsense – I have also cherished Look at Me https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/06/look-at-me-by-anita-brookner-10-out-of.html by the same divine author, Anita Brookner

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’

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