Hotel World

November 12, 2001
When it was published in the U.K. earlier this year, the latest offering from Scottish writer Smith (Free Love) was made an Orange Prize finalist and shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize. Featured are five women whose lives (and a death) overlap at the Global Hotel, a generic establishment in an unnamed city in England. The novel begins with Sara, a chambermaid who plummeted to her death in one of the hotel's dumbwaiters, as her ghost tries to recollect what it was like to be alive. Else, a homeless woman who sits on the concrete in front of the hotel, is invited by Lise, the receptionist, to stay for a free night. Penny, a freelance travel journalist thrown into the mix, looks for ways to curb her boredom and unwittingly helps Sara's sister, Clare, in her search for Sara's spirit. Smith expertly fuses humor and pathos throughout the novel. When Sara's ghost visits her corpse in the grave, it's none too happy to see her; when it won't answer her questions, she harasses it by singing songs from West End musicals. And when the disgruntled Lise lets Else into the hotel, she contemplates throwing in a free breakfast, as an extra snub to her employers. Smith's narrative style varies with each character and is generally exciting and quite successful, although some readers will find the acrobatics tiring. The connections she makes between the characters—across class lines and even across the line between life and death—are driven home in a beautifully lyrical coda. National advertising. (Jan. 15)Forecast:Although it probably won't create the kind of stir in the States that it did in England,
Hotel World should do well if it scores a few prominent enthusiastic reviews.

December 1, 2001
A heartfelt and introspective ghost story, Hotel World begins at the end and works backward and then meanders some in between. Readers first witness the accidental death of Sara Wilby, a hotel chambermaid who is also the narrator of the story. In an attempt to make sense of her demise, she comes back as an apparition at her own funeral and relives earlier events. While Sara's parents enter a catatonic state, her sister Clare is propelled by her grief into finding answers and reconciliation. She stakes out a spot near the hotel where she can sit daily and observe the commerce going on in the hotel and the nearby shops. So, too, does a homeless woman, Else, who begs for spare change. These and other characters come together in a tender, moving story of innocence, love, and kindness. This first novel was short-listed for the 2001 Orange Prize. Smith's beautiful, unpretentious writing mesmerizes. Highly recommended. Lisa Nussbaum, Dauphin Cty. Lib. Syst., Harrisburg, PA

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2001
In a veritable verbal romp, Smith tells the story of 19-year-old hotel chambermaid Sara Wilby. On a lark, Sara bets the bellboy five quid that she can fold herself into the dumbwaiter, but when she does, it plummets to the basement. Succeeding chapters focus on a succession of individuals who are either directly connected to Sara or to the scene of her death. These five people, who often speak through interior monologues, include Sara's own somewhat forgetful ghost; the ailing, homeless Elsie, who speaks in a private shorthand; the disgruntled hotel receptionist, Lise; a monumentally distracted journalist, Penny; and Sara's grieving sister, Clare. Ultimately, this group helps Clare to come to grips with her sister's death. All the chapters unspool in a great display of verbal pyrotechnics, but whether this is as entertaining for the reader as it obviously is for the author is debatable. Short-listed for both the Orange and Booker Prizes, this title is just the ticket for readers who value technical finesse over plot.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)