Anita Brookner published her first novel at 53, and went on to have an impressive career, winning the Booker. This inspirational stuff at midlife (late life?) and so I through I would give her a go. HOTEL DU LAC tells about a middle aged woman, Edith, spending some time in the off-season at a genteel hotel in Switzerland. It’s as glum as it sounds.
Eventually we find out that Edith has just bolted out on her wedding day, and is here to hide from the shame. She spends much of the time writing letters to the man she is actually in love with, who is extremely married; but most of the book is concerned with the other guests, who are almost all female. It’s wild to see the misogyny. Try this, from Edith:
“But I only miss (my mother) in the sense that I wish she could have lived long enough to seehtat I am like her in the only way she valued: we both preferred men to women.”
“Well, who doesn’t,” said Monica, her brows arching to their fullest extent.
I am surprised to see it was published in the 1980s. It read like my worst fantasy of how bad the 1950s might have been. There is only one male guest, and this is the only person to whom she speaks in any kind of intelligent fashion. SPOLIER ALERT, NOT THAT THE PLOT IS THAT IMPORTANT. He eventually proposes, and she declines, deciding to continue to pursue her married man. Apparently we are supposed to feel this is an appalling risk, because the danger of spinsterhood is so awful.
I’m not sure how I felt about this book. I can’t say what I liked about it, or even if I liked it, but I can see it will stay with me.