Termush

Meh. This has an interesting premise - it could have great - but it never really ‘goes there’. Aspects of the story circle around certain possibilities but the author never makes things clear. Is the hotel lying to the guests? Did the recon team ever return? Is the management using trips to the bunker as a way to calm people down? Do the protagonist's visions of the hotel's past have any relevance to the story?

‍

The fact that these possibilities are suggested rather than affirmed may be why this book is considered “a classic”, but to me, it makes the writing indecisive and timid. The novel also doesn’t have a conclusive ending so we’re left hanging.

‍

She seems to me to be still restless, not only because of what happened yesterday but because a slight anxiety and insecurity are fundamental to her nature. Thus she is able to face the world outside without the sleepwalker’s confidence that characterizes the rest of us, which, although it enables us to take action, at the same time prevents us from questioning our behaviour and its motives.

‍

The premise is this: A group of wealthy people have paid big bucks to have a place to stay after nuclear war where they can live in luxury and be protected from fallout and everything else gross and miserable that exists in a post-apocalyptic world. But things happen that show that the management has no plan for the various things that might transpire when a group of people are contained in this way and people from the nearby villages know about the hotel. The hotel’s ultimate back-up plan is their large yacht parked just off their private beach on the Atlantic Ocean.

‍

Suddenly I feel I am in the space between two breaths, in the moment of time it takes to stretch out a hand to another person, in the second when the heart beats and braces itself to beat again. I stand and wait with nothing to wait for.

‍

While reading this I couldn’t help but think that in the hands of a more confident writer this might have been an excellent novel. The characters would have been better constructed and the different ways that people deal with odd happenings could have been explored.

‍

My misgivings about the authority of the hotel management have not diminished. When the radio reports of the reconnaissance party are delivered, one can no longer assume that they will be uncensored. Neither can one expect that the guests will resist this censorship.

‍

It may be that the translation isn’t exactly right or that I prefer a story to be more clearly defined, but I didn’t enjoy this. The writing isn’t bad, but I wouldn’t recommend this novel.

‍