A Small Hotel by Robert Butler

Our last meeting was held at MacKenzie River
on April 11, 2012. We had a big turnout of 10
members. Those who were present were Kathy,
Sarah, Madeleine, Donna R., Julie, Carol, Marsha,
Janet and Betsy. Six of us had read the book.

We agreed that the author had a gift for descritive
writing and character development. It was a tale of
2 people undergoing an unwanted divorce. The male
in the marriage was a loner, isolated and emotionally
unavailable. In over 20 years of marriage he never
told his wife that he loved her. She begged for it, and
finally got it from a lover which eventually led to the
divorce. As it turns out both the man and woman had
issued with their fathers who were both cold, unemotional
people. I was glad that finally fault was not placed on
the mothers.
Some people said they knew men who were similar
to Michael Hays. We all agreed that some men would
rather not indulge in small chit chat. The bottom line is
that this emotional detachment led the wife to indulging
excessively in alcohol and pills and a suicide attempt.
All ended well as he rescues her realizes he loves her and
is at the end trying to change.
Some people liked the venue of the book which was New
Orleans. The author takes us through the French Quarter
exposing us to all the sights, sounds and smells.

Donna chose a book called "The Invisible Bridge" by Julie
Orringer which is a pre world war 11 story set in Hungary.
It is a 600 page book and it is the author's first novel.
I am anxious to start it but must finish my porn trilogy
about the Shades of Grey. A tentative date was set for June 7
which is a Thursday due to the onset of team tennis.