Piercing . . . Bristling with insight . . . Butler's most
impressive accomplishment lies in capturing the mingled emotions of
anger, remorse, pain and even love that mark most divorces. . . .
Honest and compassionate, Butler's exploration of a marriage's
sundering is the work of a mature, reflective author."--Harvey
Freedenberg, Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Intelligent, deeply moving
. . . Remarkably written . . . A Small Hotel is a masterful story
that will remind readers once again why Robert Olen Butler has been
called the 'best living American writer.' --Jeff Guinn, The Fort
Worth Star Telegram "[A] deliciously, unapologetically romantic
novel . . . [Butler's] empathetic, precise writing flirts with
melodrama but never feels hackneyed. In less skillful hands, this
story would be a guilty pleasure. Instead, it's just a pleasure."
--O Magazine Richly observed . . . Butler's lucid writing style
always conceals turbulent depths beneath a placid surface. He is,
in fact, one of the boldest literary writers working today, willing
to follow his imagination wherever it leads.--Chauncey Mabe, Sun
Sentinel (Florida) Intriguing . . . Intricate . . . Butler
skilfully sets up expectations only to twist them, and twist them
again. Words said and unsaid can change eveything in an instant.
Colette Bancroft, The Mercury News "A sleek, erotic, and
suspenseful drama about men who cannot say the word love and the
women they harm . . . Butler executes a plot twist of profound
proportions in this gorgeously controlled, unnerving, and
beautifully revealing tale of the consequences of emotional
withholding."--Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) "With
mesmerizing detail, Butler excavates layers of memory and
illuminates moments of both tenderness and alienation." --The New
Yorker "From each spouse's point of view we witness the feelings
that didn't break the surface at the time, but never went away."
--The New York Times "Butler . . . is masterful in the way he draws
us into the hearts of his characters. . . . [He] gives the last
pages of his quiet book the urgency of a thriller." --Bookpage.com
"Engaging . . . Butler [has a] unique writing style . . . with rich
descriptions and smooth transitions . . . similiar to Hemingway . .
. A Small Hotel is a powerful statement about human nature."
--bookreporter.com "Butler brings exquisite sensitivity to the
details, unearthing them with the care of [a] good archaeologist."
--Karen Sandstrom, The Cleveland Plain Dealer "Visions of the past
arise in husband and wife on the brink of divorce, as metaphoric,
coded conversations, minute gestures, and hurtful silences threaten
grave consequences in this tightly focused, intensely imagined,
masterfully omniscient novel. Robert Olen Butler understands the
failings of men, and he understanding the failings of women just as
well."--Susan Vreeland, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue "A Small
Hotel is a gorgeous, hot-blade of a novel, infused with lyric
grace--a page-turner that tracks the unexpected turns of a
marriage. Reading it, I could not pull myself away. It is the story
of a man and a woman--of love, betrayal and the cost of silence.
Revelatory and precise, A Small Hotel is a gem of great literary
fiction which contends that the life we live every day is not
pedestrian, but charged, lucent. It can turn on a dime by what we
say and what we fail to say." --Dawn Tripp, author of Game of
Secrets "This tiny, romantic novel could be read at a single
sitting, but it's best savored in small slices, accompanied by the
quiet ticking of the heart. A marriage on the rocks, a race against
time, the duel between past and present that exists in every living
soul. As a woman, I particularly admired the portrayal of the
husband, Michael, the type of silent man who is an enigma to women
and a source of great pain in our relationships with him. Through
Butler's insightful rendering, Michael's point of view came as a
revelation." --Janet Fitch, author of White Oleander Separation and
the seemingly insurmountable divide between men and women provide
the novel's strongest themes and they do so by unflinchingly
illustrating the small moments that seem to come and go
unnoticed--yet in the end define us.--Flavorpill (online)
"Intriguing . . . beautifully told." --New York Journal of Books
Slight, intense, elliptical, it's a book that requires
concentration and forbearance. Brace yourself for the deep
renderings of the slightest movement; stay still for the immersion
in New Orleans. . . . Longing, desire, and silence are the subjects
of A Small Hotel. . . . How strange I felt when I left the world of
this book to return to the 'real world.' Somehow the world of this
book seemed more authentic than the world I actually exist in.--New
World Reviews Lyrical, haunting . . . Readers will be touched by
[Butler's] careful exploration of . . . the human condition and how
we relate to each other. --Curled up With a Good Book
(blog)"[Robert Olen Butler] is an excellent chronicler of the small
domestic moments that create and destroy love." --Patricia Henley,
Sycamore Review
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