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Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner
Penguin Publisher
Anita Brookner is considered one of the great contemporary writers of English fiction. Her novel, Hotel Du Lac, won one of the most prestigious British literary award, The Booker Prize in 1984. Before becoming a full time writer, she dedicated herself to the study of History of Art and wrote some interesting books on the eighteenth and nineteenth century art. In Hotel Du Lac, the reader can easily detect her artistic touch in the description of the characters and in her attention to the minutest details of the beautiful Swiss landscape. She is more than an artist, she casts a spell on her readers. Indeed she has the ability of giving her pages a
visual quality. I think that the book is one of the most remarkable literary contributions to the Swiss travel industry, as while reading it you feel like booking the first flight to the lake of Geneva where the action of the narration takes place.
The protagonist is a woman in her late thirties called Edith Hope, which in
fact is rather meaningful and suggestive of her personality. She is a
writer of romantic fiction who does not demand prestige, success or money
out of life; she only wants to love and be loved, which may seem a simple
thing to ask for, but in fact is so hard to get.
In a society of special effects, glamour and a search for more and more
thrilling emotions, Edith has the courage of claiming the simplicity of her
demands and stick to it even when she is tempted by somebody else to do
otherwise. Right from the very first page I was intrigued to find out the reason why
such a unique and intelligent woman like Edith had been confined to a sort
of exile by the lake and when I got the answer, I considered her choice as
an act of bravura, something that only a few real men or women would like to
have the courage to do. Hotel Du Lac is a book of self-analysis through the protagonist's interaction with other female guests in the hotel (who are stereotypes of different women), Edith's recollections of her past and letters written
to "Dearest David", she will get to the resolution of how she wants to lead
her life presently and in the future. The Lake becomes a symbolic mirror where the protagonist can see her real self and make the necessary adjustments in her new image. The novel speaks out to the mind and heart of women. Being a woman myself, I deeply enjoyed every sentence, I literally devoured it in a weekend, I could not let it down for a moment
This book should not be considered a feminist book, I strongly recommend it
to men as well. Men who are able to read between the lines can even find some good tips to recognize the gold-digger type of women, as there are some brilliant
specimens of them in the novel. The novel ends up with a telegram, the reader should pay particular attention to what Edith finally decides to write in it. Crossing out the words "Coming Home" and writing "Returning" has a special significance. The meaning of these two verbs contain the deeper message of the novel. Edith's final decision is not a compromise, but a sign of flexibility, Miss Hope's symbolic message of hope to all of us.
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