I’ve slacked on this review. I finished this book ages ago. Conclusion: the book exists. You get the feeling that it’s meant to be read as a physical copy, poorly bound, in a café, with a cigarette, and other literati around, reading the same or other slim novellas. A few of them are Marxists. Coffee is black and strong. Everything is in black-and-white. There may be berets. Someone should pound their fist on the table.
I, on the other hand, read this book on a kobo on an airplane. So … yeah …
Nothing much happens. I mean, obviously a lot happens if you just list all the things that happen (her parents own a store, they sell their store, they buy another store, they buy a hotel, they move to the country, she goes to university, etc.) but it’s still a nothing happens sort of book. The conflicts are petty (overbearing father, ineffective mother, dismissive sister, loser boyfriend) and unsubstantial. It’s all sort of abstractly interesting, like an art house film. I like some art house films, but I also tend to forget stories without strong plots, and I think The Four Roads Hotel is going to be one of those ones I end up forgetting I even read it.
The Four Roads Hotel by France Théoret went on sale October 1, 2017.
I received a copy free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.