VICKI BAUM - GRAND HOTEL

Image: The Pillars of Society by Georg Grosz

A return to one of my favorite periods in literature: Central Europe in the 1920s. This novel made me miss Berlin and miss the writing of Stefan Zweig. I never escaped the notion that the interlocking characters of the hotel are literary creations (in some cases literary confections); nonetheless, their journeys are compelling, their movements balanced and considered. And there exist a handful of moments in this novel where motivations are at once unexpected and true — these were exceptional moments. Read, October 2019.