Customer Reviews

The farmers hotel

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Published in 1951, this was an entertaining, psychological tale about a variety of characters who get stuck at a rural hotel in a blizzard. They are two wealthy (think fox-hunting) types, who are not married; a country doctor; a negro employee (in the parlance of the time); a Pennsylvania Dutch cook; a gambling truckdriver; two strippers and their manager/piano player. They all fight a little and party a little. The truck driver seems a bit sinister and eventually tragedy strikes. A tiny snippet of the blurb on the back: "[...]a novel of men and women, caught in a pressure cooker of passion and violence." Good, quick read.

Brief book that captures all life's gifts and burdens. I coouldn't put it down. Simply great, you can almost imagine the hotel itself.

If you were planning to launch into the writings of John O'Hara, this would be a fine place to either start or to finish. I have read all his works, catching this one last, and it came as a pleasant surprise. It has it all: abrupt death, sexual tension, hometown snobbery.... everything that makes O'Hara so great. This book can be read in one night if you typically eat supper early and stay up a little late. It bumps right along and you'll feel a personal sense of achievemnt as you finish. This is mid-20th Century literature at its very best. As I said, a little short, a novelette, perhaps, but still spectacular O'Hara fiction.