In a run-down neighborhood in an unnamed city, people live and die in “the Obscure.”Whether anyone remembers the real name of the derelict establishment is a mystery. In this six-story building, most who occupy the rooms are long-term residents, though some stay for as little as an hour.The patronage is an eclectic group: musicians, writers, addicts, hookers, lonely people, poor people, rich … poor people, rich people, once-well-off people, and those who have reason to hide from their former lives or to escape the demands of a disapproving and punishing society.
As shabby as the Obscure is, as long as its walls keep out the wind and the rain, it remains a shelter, a hideaway, and a home for the many bewildered souls.
Hotel Obscure is a collection of seventeen short stories that all take place in or around the “the Obscure.” While the stories stand alone, they are to be read in order. Some characters appear in multiple stories, and sometimes, a story will continue in an unexpected way.
The Obscure is life. It is death. In the blink of an eye, it may appear supernatural. It is a place we all visit … whether metaphorically or physically, at least once in our time on Earth.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I write characters as I hear them speak to me. Some of these stories contain non-gratuitous expletives and sexual references. If this is not to your liking, please don’t read this book. Thank you.
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Captivating, Unique, So Entertaining!
Hotel Obscure is one of the best short story collections I’ve ever read. The tales (quick, easy reads) are brilliant and unfold in a fascinating story world that is like a delightful blend of Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, and a dash of the Twilight Zone. Brodey is a pen-master in her own right, making you believe you aren’t just reading but have stepped inside the oh-so-mysterious hotel.
Each story engages from the first line, draws you in, and surprises with twists you never saw coming. Endings so perfect you immediately start the next story because the ones before were so very good. In fact, I’d dare anyone to read just one story. Fast and satisfying reads, Hotel Obscure is a keeper! Highly recommended.
This book will take you on an incredible journey. The characters in each short story are brought to life in such a way that you cannot help but feel their emotions. Some of the stories are hard-hitting, they twist and play with you, leave you wanting more. A thirst burns as you reach the end leaving you wondering what happened to them. Some, I like to think managed to find a better life. That they, however, tender found hope and trusted in it.
Short stories are difficult to write, they require an immense amount of skill. The author needs to be disciplined. They need to know just when to stop, to not overwork it. Lisette Brodey is that skilled, disciplined author. I’ve read many of her books. Hotel Obscure is up there in my top five books.
While each story is centered around the Hotel Obscure, many are residents, some come to visit, they are all connected. These are not just short stories that move on swiftly to a new and much different subject, these are short stories that intertwine together while being separate at the same time.
Is it not the obscure that touches us the most? Can make us feel something that we never saw coming because we discounted it? Hotel Obscure is going to do that to you. Don’t be fooled. It is going to make an impact. A must-read for anyone that isn’t afraid to face the true realities of life. Wonderfully written and a true credit to the writing skills of Lisette Brodey.
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4.5 stars
The inner lives, secrets and tragic pasts of the residents of the rundown Hotel Obscure: a place for those with nowhere else to go.
I was pleased to find that the seventeen stories in this collection are all quite long, making this book novel-length – there’s plenty to get your teeth into. One element I loved was loose connections between them; if you have a shocking memory like mine, it’s best to read them in order, and without too much of a break in between, so you don’t start thinking, ‘oh yes, she’s talking about that chap in that other one, two stories before…which one was it?’ But it doesn’t matter if you don’t remember, because each works well on its own.
As with most collections, some of them I just quite liked, others I liked more, and a few I thought were outstanding. There isn’t one weak one, though; it’s a fine book, all round. Number three was the first one I really loved, and remained one of my favourites; ‘I’m a F****** Cliché’ had a totally different voice from the first two, and featured a self-destructive writer. I also liked the one that connected to it, ‘I Miss Him (The Great Sabotage)’. The more I read, the more I admired Ms Brodey’s understanding of the human psyche; many contained such astute observations, perfect dialogue, immaculate characterisation and some delightful turns of phrase.
Others I liked a lot:
‘Twenty-Seven’, about a musician’s appalling luck in life.
‘Only Sixteen’, which was one of the saddest.
‘To Be Perfectly Frank’.
‘Thursday, Wrapped in Sadness’ – another heartbreaker.
Some are told mostly in dialogue, others in the inner narrative of the protagonist, either in first or third person; I preferred the latter, but even here there was an exception; ‘Junk Truck’, a most compelling tale in which the main character is stalked by a lonely, probably psychotic woman desperate for her friendship. As with others, the tone reminded me, on occasion, of Dorothy Parker’s short stories, which I have read over and over. ‘Junk Truck’ had its threads neatly sewn together in the final story, ‘Ellmore J Badget Jnr’s Very Unusual Day’.
This isn’t a book for those looking for something ‘feel-good’; though not without humour and the occasional happy ending, the stories are sad, raw, tragic, enveloped in loneliness and desperation, sometimes of the character’s own making. But other times not; on occasion I felt so sorry for the person I was reading about that I wished I could climb the dingy staircase of Hotel Obscure and make everything okay for them. Yes, I most certainly recommend 🙂
Sharp, spiky, brittle as old wood that will shatter into your palm. Be careful reading these stories, they will stick you, and stick with you, especially “The Dollar Hot Dog Man” and “The Tiny Silver Ball.” Those are only a couple of the stories that are buried up under my skin like worrisome splinters. Don’t blame me if they get under your skin, too. You’ve been warned.
A Collection of Short Stories
Every now and then I feel like reading something different . Hotel Obscure is about as far away as you can get from my current life as a comfortably-off, middle aged (if not old!) woman in a small quiet village in Northern England. Hotel Obscure of the title is an American hotel populated by the dispossessed, by hookers, drug dealers, failed rock stars and general low-life. It’s the sort of place people go to hide, or to die, and in this collection the characters do both! (So be warned, this has sexual references, drugs, violence – if you’re easily offended it’s not for you.)
The stories in the book are linked by the place in one way or another and some of the stories intersect in surprising ways. What I really enjoyed about these stories were the characters, who never failed to engage the reader with their hardships and stories of the wrong side of the tracks.. Each story often had a sting in the tail – I particularly enjoyed ‘Requiescat in Pace’ which had a marvellous twist at the end, ‘Not that Lonely’ was a great slice of life showing how connected even the most dysfunctional people are, and dealing with death in a really matter of fact way. Many of the stories have the threat of death lurking beneath like a thread. I loved the ageing Gloria in her overly colourful clothing and Margaret in her ‘fire-engine red’ stilettos and Johnny and Henry and their uneasy comradeship based on proximity of place rather than common interest. Toleration of others is a heart-warming strength of these characters.
Lisette Brodey has a way of getting under people’s skin and noticing how they think and what makes them unique. In the last story, Ellmore J Badget Jr is so repressed and strait-laced that he finds even the thought of adjusting his tie, once his day has started, makes him queasy. Nevertheless I warmed to him and was rooting for this son of a judge who was always a disappointment to his father. Being a disappointment is a theme that recurs in many of the stories, the sense of just having missed the destiny of greatness, or of feeling that you cease to matter to the world. What becomes apparent from the story is that everyone does. The stories are poignant and gripping and I highly recommend Hotel Obscure.