Lily King "Hotel Seattle" - the master of the short story
Created: 09/09/2022, 15:00
By: Sven Trautwein
Lily King has received numerous awards for her novels.
For the "Vogue" she is considered one of the great short story authors.
My book tip.
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A book about love.
In ten short stories, the award-winning author Lily King develops different perspectives on the subject, which in her texts does not appear romantic at first glance.
Characterized by experiences of loss through separation, the author repeatedly shows a way that family life is possible - albeit in a different constellation.
Short Stories by Lily King “Hotel Seattle” © CH Beck
A fourteen-year-old falls in love with a married man and dreams of romance until she learns that love and lust can be two opposites.
A young man comes out and then loses his best friend, whose insecurity turns into aggression.
A woman struggles with the rejection of her teenage daughter and feels lonelier than ever, but a mother's bond with her child is not so easily shaken.
Lily King's stories are touching, surprising, hopeful - and fortunately also a little romantic.
CH Beck
The characters with their lies about life remind me a little of Daniela Dröscher's “Lies about my mother”.
Different scenarios, different ages, but always the search for one's own self.
And some of the short stories are about the relationship with one's own parents.
Fourteen-year-old Carol witnesses how a much older man seems to take an interest in her in "Kreatur".
For her everything should be very romantic, like in "Jane Eyre", which she loved so much.
A few days ago a woman came in with fabric samples and asked him to look for books in those exact colors.
Last week a man asked about "War and Peace," and when Mitchell told him he didn't have anything by Tolstoy in stock right now, the man asked if anyone else had the book.
It wasn't a good time for books.
"Five Tuesdays in Winter" in "Hotel Seattle" / CH Beck
Bookseller Mitchell is looking for love in "Five Tuesdays in Winter".
After the first few pages he felt a little lost, like William Thacker played by Hugh Grant in Notting Hill.
The business with used books didn't go very well, and love was to take a little longer.
In the short story “North Sea”, Lily King performs a scene change to Germany, to Harlesiel.
Here I would have to look in the original to see if the story really takes place there.
Because of the location, it seems a little removed from the other stories that otherwise take place in Maine or other states of the USA.
"North Sea" is also about a not entirely problem-free relationship between the daughter and the mother.
Lily King "Hotel Seattle": My verdict
The master of short stories describes the problematic family relationships that surround us in a varied and open-hearted manner.
A must for all fans of intense short stories.
Anyone who prefers to read a long drawn-out novel should still take a look here.
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Lily King Hotel Seattle
Translated from the English by Hanna Hesse
2022, CH Beck ISBN-13 978-3-406-79101-7
Price: Hardcover €24, e-book €17.99, 252 pages (different format) – Order now (promotional link)
Lily King
Lily King, born in 1963, grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Maine with her family.
She has received numerous awards for her novels.
Her bestseller Euphoria (promotional link) won the Kirkus Prize and was voted one of the top five literary books of 2014 by The New York Times.