Wonderful, Olivia! So good. I’m saving it to reread tomorrow, pen and quote book in hand. Also, I too am reading Huck Finn. I just finished listening to James by Percival Everett.
We need to compare notes soon! I'd never heard of James before, but I looked it up, and I'm intrigued. I know there's a lot of controversy around Jim's portrayal, but he's one of my favorite parts of the novel. I'll have to read that one next!
Huck Finn does have absolutely amazing descriptive passages. It's been a while since I read it, but that I do remember. My dad was from Illinois and when we drove to visit my grandmother we drove through St Louis. I remember visiting Tom Sawyer's cave as a kid and taking a boat ride on the Mississippi. So that part of the country is there in my memory, even if it's rather dim.
The book that came to mind while I was reading this is an unlikely one: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. It's kind of a fairy tale about a Russian count who survives the Revolution but is condemned to live the rest of his live in the Metropol Hotel. And there's a lot that's simply not historically accurate. And it's definitely not very accurate about Moscow. But I read an interview with the author who said the genesis of the novel was his love for these stately old hotels. Thus I think what makes the novel rich is the love of the hotel as a place. It's a love letter to the grand hotel in the same way that From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankwiler is a love letter to the Metropolitan Museum. And it has the same sort of wish-fulfillment feel: what if you could just LIVE here?
Wonderful, Olivia! So good. I’m saving it to reread tomorrow, pen and quote book in hand. Also, I too am reading Huck Finn. I just finished listening to James by Percival Everett.
We need to compare notes soon! I'd never heard of James before, but I looked it up, and I'm intrigued. I know there's a lot of controversy around Jim's portrayal, but he's one of my favorite parts of the novel. I'll have to read that one next!
Huck Finn does have absolutely amazing descriptive passages. It's been a while since I read it, but that I do remember. My dad was from Illinois and when we drove to visit my grandmother we drove through St Louis. I remember visiting Tom Sawyer's cave as a kid and taking a boat ride on the Mississippi. So that part of the country is there in my memory, even if it's rather dim.
The book that came to mind while I was reading this is an unlikely one: A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles. It's kind of a fairy tale about a Russian count who survives the Revolution but is condemned to live the rest of his live in the Metropol Hotel. And there's a lot that's simply not historically accurate. And it's definitely not very accurate about Moscow. But I read an interview with the author who said the genesis of the novel was his love for these stately old hotels. Thus I think what makes the novel rich is the love of the hotel as a place. It's a love letter to the grand hotel in the same way that From the Mixed up Files of Mrs Basil E. Frankwiler is a love letter to the Metropolitan Museum. And it has the same sort of wish-fulfillment feel: what if you could just LIVE here?