Hotel World is made up of six interconnected tales about women. A dead girl, a street person, a sick woman, a liar, a lost girl, and a chance encounter. I wish the second through the fourth stories had been cut. I loved the opening piece told by the ghost. It felt like a good whimsical modern day Our Town. However, the next three women's stories don't add anything great.
Then comes the sister's piece, and it is touching. The last story is wonderful in so many ways. I loved the snippets of people's lives in the end piece. Had we given those three in-between stories a miss, this would easily be a 9. The three women feel like small parts made big for filler, and pissed me off so well that I can only rate this one a 5.
As it is, this is a Booker finalist and short stories so I'm counting it towards 100 Shots of Short and my 101 list.
1 comment:
It's funny how uneven short story colelctions can be, isn't it? I had that experience with Dressing Up For the Carnival-I loved a couple of the stories and felt 'meh' about the rest.
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