Hotel Bemelmans [Paperback]

Ludwig Bemelmans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2002

If there is such a thing as a comfort food book, Bemelmans stories are it. His evocative tales of a grand hotel life have a reporter's eye for sensory detail, yet he always manages to bathe his world and it's lovable characters in the mood for a fairytale. Meet the girl-hungry hotel Magician, Kalakobe the African cook, Mr Sigsag, Monsieur Victor, Mespoulet, and an unforgettable cast of down but not yet out hotel employees. This book offers a feast of food writing. And once you've read one Bemelmans tale, you fall in love and want to read the lot.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The latest instalment in the corporate adventures of Alex, the pinstriped cartoon character who appears in the pages of the 'Daily Mail'. It's been a tough year for the investment banker: his world is rocked by financial scandals and he faces a fight to keep his job. A collection of Cook's finest and funniest writings - many of which have never been published before. Christmas verse: under influence of gin, turkey and baby look confusingly alike. Why does the baby smell of stuffing? What has the family eaten for Christmas dinner?

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Random House (October 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0091887879
• ISBN-13: 978-0091899493
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 7.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #544,810 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ludwig Bemelmans (April 27, 1898-October 1, 1962), Austro-American essayist, humorist, novelist, artist, and author of books for children, was born in Meran, in the Tyrol, in territory that was then Austrian and is now Italian. In 1914, he arrived in New York with letters of introduction to managers of several large hotels. Having worked his way up to a position as a waiter at the Ritz-Carlton, he left to enlist in the United States Army in 1917. Eventually he opened his own restaurant; only in 1934 did he turn to writing, at the suggestion of a friend in publishing who, noticing the whimsical paintings with which he covered the walls of his apartment, urged him to undertake a children's book. Hansi, the first of Bemelmans' fifteen books for children, beguiled most reviewers with its simple watercolor illustrations and nostalgic story of two children and their dog in the Austrian Tyrol. His greatest success, however, was Madeline, a rhymed picture book about a Parisian schoolgirl who becomes the envy of her classmates when her appendix is removed. Indeed, the Madeline books, of which there were five, remain the work that Bemelmans is primarily remembered for. The inspired amateurishness of the illustrations and the sophisticated doggerel verses have been an influence on later juvenile literature. Madeline's Rescue, the second book in the series, was awarded the Caldecott Medal in 1953. Bemelmans claimed to have no imagination, and all his books were the more or less direct product of his experience. He described his life as a restaurateur in Life Class and Hotel Splendide, his travels to Ecuador and Italy in The Donkey Inside and Italian Holiday, and his stint as a Hollywood screenwriter in the novel Dirty Eddie. At the time of his death he was working on the story of his childhood. Bemelmans was a genial satirist and lover of life, but a serious intent often underlay his humor, especially in his novels. A case in point is Blue Danube, a fanciful story set on an island of the Danube, the comedy of which is very much clouded by the appearance of a band of odious Nazis. A somewhat more successful novel was Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep, concerning the unusual journey of an elderly Ecuadorian general from his villa in Biarritz to his home in South America. From the time of his marriage to Madeline Freund in 1935 (they had one daughter, Barbara) until his death in New York of pancreatic cancer, Bemelmans traveled, painted, and generally wrote a book or two a year. Reviewing his posthumous novel, the comic love story The Street Where the Heart Lies, Burling Lowrey in Saturday Review called Bemelmans "a superb craftsman with a sure eye for atmospheric detail and a supremely accurate ear for the speech of Adult Innocents madly in love with the unattainable.. . He was a complete original, with an absolutely unique temperament and view toward the world."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hotel Bemelmans, published by Overlook Press is abridged, January 3, 2006

By 

Alfred Slote "Bemelmans' fan" (ann arbor, michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hotel Bemelmans

Potential purchasers of Bemelman's lovely "Hotel Bemelmans" should know that as far as I can tell all the Hotel Bemelmans books advertised on Amazon is a shortened edition of the original Hotel Bemelmans published in 1946 by Viking Press. The books advertised here were published in 2000 by Overlook Press and contain 24 stories. The Viking Press edition has 36 stories. I learned this the hard way having purchased 3 copies of the shortened Overlook Press book. Some wonderful stories have been left out. e.g. Art at the Splendide. I have the original and am looking to buy some more.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the Madeline reader who grew up, November 29, 2004

By 

Genevieve S. Gibson (Seattle, Wa United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hotel Bemelmans (Hardcover)

You enjoyed "Madeleine" as a child and now you can enjoy some further tales by the author Ludwig Bemelmans that were written for the grown up who still has that child-like love for fantastic illustrations and clever stories. I remember reading in a book all about the author that he was brought up and trained in the hotel industry. He was a bit of a difficult child and his Mother sent him to stay with relatives who were hoteliers. He learned the trade inside and out and eventually went to America and worked in the Hotel trade in New York. So his stories are perfect. He was also a well known member of cafe society and was part of that lovely life in the mid-twentieth century where everyone spent their days and nights in hotels mingling. Many of the tales are loosely autobiographical and an absolute delight. Think of it as a book filled with literary desserts. Anthony Bourdain (a most appropriate choice) writes the introduction for the book as well.
Another book that I recommend is "Bemelmans: The Life & Art of Madeline's Creator" to give an a detailed background and context into the stories.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegance & the Human Comedy, November 4, 2004

By 

Mark Newbold (Pittsburg, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Hotel Bemelmans (Hardcover)

Ludwig Bemelmans best known today for his successful Madeline children's series, is far too good and important a writer to relegate him to merely Madeline. (though I am very fond of Madeline myself) There is a treasure trove of solid adult writings that have endearing qualities that commit themselves to fond memory. Bemelmans was a bon vivant, gourmet, gourmand, traveller, and more importantly a student of human nature and all the quirks therein. These elements plus a eye for the pathos of life make him a writer to be rediscovered & cherished. Hotel Bemelmans was my personal introduction to his adult writings, and I have been a fan ever since. This book will provide a smorgasbord of his style and eye for everyday foibiles within the microcosm of the grand hotel's of the past that he knew and loved so well. His broad verbal and ink brush stokes, for he's the illustrator as well, can capture in a paragraph or a simple line drawing what other authors require pages to describe. Applause for the return of Hotel Bemelmans, and a warm invitation for you to step into the lobby and register for a gastronomic literary experience.