Erin reviewed The Third Hotel by Laura van den Berg
Review of 'The Third Hotel' on 'Goodreads'
So much about setting in the opening, I gave up…
212 pages
Published Aug. 7, 2018 by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux.
The Third Hotel
3 stars
(5 reviews)
Rachel Unkefer reviewed The Third Hotel by Laura van den Berg
Review of 'The Third Hotel' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
To me this reads like a very long short story in chapters. Or a collection of linked stories. The structure is disconnected, not just non-linear. And the characters feel like ghosts, even the ones who are still living, but not in an interesting way. Lots of themes feel undeveloped (zombies, elevators), like the last bit of connective tissue just didn’t quite grow in.
matt reviewed The Third Hotel by Laura van den Berg
Review of 'The Third Hotel' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Good! And weird!
Third Hotel felt very much in the vein of Latin American authors like Cesar Aira or Roberto Bolano. It treads in the realm of the uncanny more than the magical. The ending felt a bit sudden, but perhaps that was the point. The journey through the narrator's grief as she moves from the loss of her husband to the complicated life and death of her father felt both mysterious and natural.
