Book Review: The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill
Thanks to my incredibly kind and thoughtful fiancé and his friend, I got to read and have an ARC of this book in October of 2016, when the book is only due to come out in February of 2017. I am currently sitting on my bed reading a book that isn’t even published yet. How cool is that? I may or may not have cried when he surprised me. Here’s a hint: I did.
I’ve received ebook ARCs before but I have never ever held an uncorrected proof in my hands until now. And it feels amazing! Holding a book feels good, holding your own book feels great, but holding a special edition or advance printing of a book feels orgasmic. Just me?
This is the first book I’ve read by Heather O’Neill, and I love the title and cover. Both are reminiscent of something Beatle-related, like Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. I don’t know or think that the cover will change before being printed but I suppose we will have to wait and see. There’s a little bit on the cover that does say it’s an ARC, but that’s for official purposes. Okay, I will shut up about it being an ARC and will talk about the actual book.
I was under the impression that this is a young adult work, but it is not. At all. This is a very mature book, and I am saying this from having read page one. Also, having said so, I’ve only read the first page and am hooked.
The book takes place in a French-speaking orphanage, though it does not lay in the valleys and between the mountains of France but rather is nestled under Mont Royal in Montreal, Canada.
I don’t know if this is an ARC thing or just the way this book is but I like how the chapters can sometimes start wherever the previous one finished. Not always, but it was the case for chapter three, for example. And seven.
I am so hooked by this book. I went to bed, woke up, and kept reading. It’s 7:39 in the morning as I write this and I’ve been reading for an hour already. It’s engrossing and beautiful. I love the writing style and the imagery, and the historical fiction setting is not as tedious as I usually find it. I’m actually enjoying it.
A quote that broke my heart is the following from page 10: “If there was one thing responsible for ruining lives, it was love.”
I really like the name of chapter 4: “The Early Years of a Brilliant Idiot.”
This book does have a lot of disturbing content. Sexual assault, blunt and horrid rape and pedophilia, so it is not for the weak-hearted. I found myself cringing and looking away at times. But don’t get me wrong, it is incredibly well-written. Even the disturbing bits.
I found a tidbit that painted a beautiful albeit melancholy picture. This is from page 231: “He rolled up a bit of tobacco and decided he would never find her. When he lit up the thin cigarette, it made a slight sizzling noise, like the sound of a writer’s manuscript being tossed into the fire.” Imagining a manuscript being tossed into the fire is so profoundly sad to think about. Maybe it’s because I can relate to the nature of the situation, being a writer myself but just the thought of something you worked so hard for and on being thrown away so simply breaks my heart.
I really like the name of chapter 45, which is “Nocturne in Pink and Gold.” I suppose I like it so because it makes me think of rose gold, but just thinking and imagining pink and gold and nighttime is just an overall beautiful scene.
Here’s a quote I was going to include in my list of favorites below but I’d like to dissect it a little bit. “Rose logically had no desire to have a baby, but she wanted one just the same. Every time they made love, there was nothing on earth she wanted as much as to be impregnated. Everything in her body wanted it. She never said so, though.” The bit that got me was the end, where she never said so. She’s obviously madly in love with this guy as he is with her and she wants to create life with him, but I just wish she were comfortable enough to talk to him about it.
As always, I make a list of favorite quotes I come across whilst reading. Here are the quotes I liked enough to pluck out of this book:
“The erection had brought him back from the dead.” Page 3
“It had purple lids over its eyes. It looked like it might be thinking about a poem.” Page 4
“There was a chicken coop where little round eggs appeared as if by magic every morning. Tiny fragile moons that were necessary for survival.” Page 7
From the Book of Minor Infractions: “A little girl looked into the sun at an angle to make herself sneeze.” Page 9
“She had a curvy, healthy figure that needed to be seen naked to be appreciated.” Page 14
“The cookie was delicious, but it tasted of death.” Page 15
“Sadness was nothing to be afraid of. You could laugh at it. It was as absurd as a sneeze. It lasted as long as the pain from the sting of a bee.” Page 26
“She wanted to hit him and have a bruise appear on her body.” Page 28
“If a bird flies by, he drops what he is doing and just stares straight up at it.” “Perhaps he is so affected by beauty that he will risk a beating just to gaze upon it.” Page 53
“If there were a teacup left on the table, it would be filled with unhappiness.” Page 81
“Being a woman was a trap…The only time the world shows you any favor or cuts you any slack, is during that very brief period of courtship where the world is trying to fuck you for the first time.” Page 133
“She was proof that a woman could take as much from life as a man.” Page 162
“He stood up when he saw her, thinking she had a knack for appearing out of the blue when he wanted to see her the most. He could never get bored of her face.” Page 165
“They made love against the door with their clothes on.” Page 166
“…everyone was perfectly happy. If you ever experience such a feeling, you should probably realize that God will take notice. Something will be taken away.” Page 167
“This was so much like performances they had done when they were children. Except they didn't have to go back to an orphanage afterward and sleep in separate beds. They were adults. They could make love.” Page 237
“When [our child] tells us that it thinks there is a monster in the closet, instead of telling it that it is a fool, we will board up the closet with planks and nails.” Page 240
“”There’s the Pony with the Broken Leg.” “Don’t look at that constellation. It’ll make us too sad.”” Page 248
“If ever I’m standing in the way of your happiness, I swear I will throw myself right off a roof. All I want is for you to be happy. I’m broken, and you’re perfect. You come first.” Page 248
“When the tailor was done, there was a pile of measuring tape on the ground as if a mummy had just performed a striptease.” Page 281
“”Oh, I’ve always loved numbers,” Fabio said. “They behave so prettily, don’t you find?” Rose immediately made him wipe off his face paint and work as her accountant.” Page 285
“The audience was filled with a hundred nine-year-olds dressed in furs and fancy pearls.” Page 311
“Pierrot was lying on the bed, his arms spread out on either side of him. Rose had a bare foot on either side of his hips. She slowly descended. She seemed to be descending for five years. It was so lovely. He put his hands on her knees. He put his mouth on her cunt and gave it a kiss. Rose could put on some pretty little private shows.” Page 314
“They would be in Montreal, performing for an audience of one in a high chair. A baby makes the ordinary miraculous.” Page 333
“All children are really orphans. At heart, a child has nothing to do with its parents, its background, its last name, its gender, its family trade. It is a brand new person, and it is born with the only legacy that all individuals inherit when they open their eyes in this world: the inalienable right to be free.” Page 373
“Many of them, like him, would never grow old enough to understand that you only go from one hardship to another. And that the best we can hope from life is that it is a wonderful depression.” Page 380
“All the children in the city put candles in their windows that night. The Milky Way become for one night a tiny island in the Saint Lawrence River.” Page 381
And so with that, I have finished the book and completed my first ever read of a handheld ARC as opposed to an ebook.
This book is beautiful. The beginning was extravagantly intriguing, the middle was hooking and captivating, and although there were about 50 slow pages before the true end began, the end was mesmerizing. The writing is so artistic and lyrical and flowing that it almost seems as though these aren’t words on a page for a book but rather lyrics on a staff for a song.
Our protagonists are Rose and Pierrot, neither of which are their real names. They are raised in a Montrealian orphanage and find innocent companionship and love in one another. Both are natural performers and create magic when engaging in artistic endeavors together.
As young adults they are separated but reunite and weave themselves back into each other’s lives. This book is a love story about lonely hearts. It’s about the love of a person, the love of heroin, the love for performing and art and music and singing, the love of lusting, and the love of life, despite how messy and unstable the whole of it is.
I got a Great Gatsby vibe from this book. It takes place during the Great Depression so I suppose the era in history connection is understandable, but you must know that The Great Gatsby is my favorite classic, so having this book be reminiscent of that only made me love it more. This is one of my new favorite books and I had placed it on that shelf about halfway through my reading of it. I strongly urge you to read this book once it is published or if you can get your hands on an ARC beforehand.
A five star read. Worth every second of strained nighttime reading, and a lonely heart will lose some of its melancholy upon completion of this story.
xoxo, Veronica Nagorny
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by Veronica Nagorny 2016
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