- Hardcover: 346 pages
- Publisher: Headline Book Publishing (May 9 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0747215383
- ISBN-13: 978-0747215387
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.3 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 635 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,633,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Grimes's mystery-spinning skills take a backseat to character development and human relationships in her second, quite appealing "literary" novel (after The End of the Pier). She etches an enchanting portrait of spunky Emma Graham, the 12-year-old narrator, an incorrigibly inquisitive girl with a love of rib-sticking food. Tethered to table-waiting responsibilities in the family's frayed-at-the-edges resort hotel, Emma's only connection to youngsters her age is her consuming interest in the death by drowning of another 12-year-old girl 40 years ago: wearing a party dress, Mary-Evelyn Devereau apparently fell from a rowboat on nearby Spirit Lake in the middle of the night. Cleverly manipulating crotchety old ladies and backwoodsy old men in her pursuit of answers, Emma discovers that Mary-Evelyn's aunt Rose ran off with Ben Queen. The recent murder of their daughter, Fern Queen, and the spectral presence of a girl resembling the deceased Rose compound Emma's quest. Emma's take on the colorful characters in her small-town world?from the "bedeviled by silence" retarded Wood brothers to her great aunt Aurora, who lives on gin and fried chicken delivered by hotel dumbwaiter?makes this both a provocative study of lonely people and a delightful read. The suspense is value-added.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
YA?Swirling in a fog of hints and possibilities, Hotel Paradise leaves readers pondering and replaying the story over and over again. Told from the point of view of a bright 12-year-old girl and set in small-town America, it begs comparison with Olive Burns's Cold Sassy Tree (Ticknor & Fields, 1984) and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. With her father dead, her older brother occupied with his own pursuits, and her mother obsessed by the managing of Hotel Paradise, the young heroine is ignored and adrift. Friendless except for the few adults in the nearby town who take an interest in her, she is nameless until the end of the book. She becomes obsessed by an event that occurred 40 years previously, the drowning of another ignored and unloved 12-year-old, Mary-Evelyn Devereau. When a Devereau relative is found murdered, the narrator sets out to connect all the clues and solve the mystery. Grimes's depiction of the main character's observations and imagination rings true. This book should appeal to YAs in its descriptions of family, adults, and life situations from a young person's point of view. The lack of a neat ending may be disappointing at first, but there is so much food for thought in this book that many teens will find it enjoyable and thought-provoking.?Carol DeAngelo, Garcia Consulting Inc., at EPA, Washington, D.C.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
where in the world is the plot to this book?,
By
This review is from: Hotel Paradise (Mass Market Paperback)
I agree that this book is well written, and has some beautiful phrasing at times,hence the three stars. However, the plot development is poor and the character development is awful. The characters are just plain boring, although it seems as if the author is trying to pass them off as eccentric. The end is so incredibly frustrating. I felt as if I'd slogged through over 400 pages of redundant, stagnated plot and arrived nowhere. Who killed Mary Evelyn? Who killed the woman at Mirror Pond? What's going on between the sherrif and Maude? What's going on between the main character's mother and Lola Davidow? Is she indebted to her in some way? The only thing that got answered was who killed Ben Queen's wife. It's almost as if Martha Grimes just lost interest in the story toward the end. I will try another of her books, because she writes well, but I wouldn't recommend this book unless you're already a fan.
4.0 out of 5 stars
"Mayberry" meets "Twin Peaks",
By Literary Lass "neocat_08840" (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Hotel Paradise (Mass Market Paperback)
An open appeal to all of Donna Tartt's fans who were disappointed by "The Little Friend," take a moment and check out the goings-on of the "Hotel Paradise."Like the Tartt book that attempts to shadow a pre-adolescent girl's need to solve a decade-old crime, "Hotel Paradise" also focuses on a 12-year-old narrator who becomes obsessed with a murder that occurred 40 years prior in her hometown. Martha Grimes's slice of American life was written in 1995, predating Tartt's work by 7 years. It's everything Tartt's readers had been hoping for. The plot of "Hotel Paradise" is solid; its characters are lovable and eccentric--their quirkiness is enjoyable, never stretching the rubber bands of credibility. The humor is warm; the mystery is tantalizing; the narrator's perceptions are just right for a bookwormish young girl who is still part child but eager to become a woman. It's a compelling page-turner, and you will feel like an honorary member of the town. Pour yourself a large cup of coffee, cut a huge slice of Angel Pie, and lose yourself in the inhabitants of this sleepy, mysterious burb. Think of it as "Mayberry RFD" meets "Twin Peaks." There are worse places to get lost.
4.0 out of 5 stars
a good read,
By D. Laughlin "mystery lover and knitter" (Pittsburgh, PA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Hotel Paradise (Mass Market Paperback)
I really enjoyed this book. I have long been a fan of Martha Grimes and her Richard Jury series and this is the first book of hers that I have read that does not center around that British crime solver. One of the things that I loved about it was its' humor and I have not seen another reviewer refer to that. I found myself smiling at the 12 year old's train of thought. Not all of the characters are fully developed, but that may be left to other books that are concerned with this distinctly American location by Martha Grimes. I am looking forward to dropping into Cold Flat Junction and The End of the Pier to see what Maud and Sam and others are up too.
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