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Thirty-six of the most interesting writers in the Pacific Northwest came together for a week-long marathon of writing live on stage. The result? Hotel Angeline, a truly inventive novel that surprises at every turn of the page.
Something is amiss at the Hotel Angeline, a rickety former mortuary perched atop Capitol Hill in rain-soaked Seattle. Fourteen-year-old Alexis Austin is fixing the plumbing, the tea, and all the problems of the world, it seems, in her landlady mother’s absence. The quirky tenants—a hilarious mix of misfits and rabble-rousers from days gone by—rely on Alexis all the more when they discover a plot to sell the Hotel. Can Alexis save their home? Find her real father? Deal with her surrogate dad’s dicey past? Find true love? Perhaps only their feisty pet crow, Habib, truly knows. Provoking interesting questions about the creative process, this novel is by turns funny, scary, witty, suspenseful, beautiful, thrilling, and unexpected.
A Seattle7Writers project for literacy, this novel was written by Kathleen Alcalá, Matthew Amster-Burton, Kit Bakke, Erica Bauermeister, Sean Beaudoin, Dave Boling, Deb Caletti, Carol Cassella, William Dietrich, Robert Dugoni, Kevin Emerson, Karen Finneyfrock, Clyde Ford, Jamie Ford, Elizabeth George, Mary Guterson, Maria Dahvana Headley, Teri Hein, Stephanie Kallos, Erik Larson, David Lasky, Stacey Levine, Frances McCue, Jarret Middleton, Peter Mountford, Kevin O'Brien, Julia Quinn, Nancy Rawles, Suzanne Selfors, Jennie Shortridge, Ed Skoog, Garth Stein, Greg Stump, Indu Sundaresan, Craig Welch and Susan Wiggs. Foreword by Nancy Pearl. Introduction by Garth Stein.
Anonymous
Posted July 29, 2012
'Abnormal relationships?' Seriously? There is nothing bad about not being heterosexual. To me you sound like a jerk and a discriminator. Get a life.
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 31, 2011
I have read everything Garth Stein has written and as with all the others this one was a great read. The characters were well developed and allowed you to feel what they were experiencing. My favorite by Garth Stein was The Art of Racing in the Rain. Wow what a great story.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted May 30, 2012
Chapter 2 several comments are made that give a suspsion of an abnormal relationship between Alexis and Linda. I skimmed last few chapters to confrim. I would never have bought this book if I kmow this from the "details". I feel cheated out of my money. Some people like me don't care to read about abnormale relationships. This information should be identified up front in the " details". Shame on these authors for being deceptive.
If they are proud of their work then they should not have to hide its true nature.
2 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 4, 2012
LOVE the concept of how this book was written, but do not love that the authors tried to outdo each other to make the story take turns that are too unpleasant to want to spend time with their characters. You will want to quit reading part-way through but you'll hope later authors redeem the story, but they don't.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.ReaderOfThePack
Posted April 28, 2011
Hotel Angeline: A Novel in 36 Voices is unique in that it is one complete novel written by 36 distinct authors. Each chapter represents the work of one author. The novel was originally written in front of a live audience during an event was called The Novel: Live!. Given the parameters of the original event, the outcome is pretty incredible.
Hotel Angeline centers around fourteen-year-old Alexis Austin, who lives in a former mortuary turned hotel. The basement is filled with coffins leftover from the mortuary business. The hotel houses several long-term residents, including a pirate with a peg leg and a bonsai gardener. Alexis' mother, also the hotel manager, is sick and no one has seen her for a while. In her absence, Alexis takes over and tries to run the hotel, dealing with everything from repairing the plumbing to serving afternoon tea. Alexis soon finds herself overburdened with grown-up responsibilities. What's a girl to do? Go on a wild adventure and try to save the hotel from creditors! The long-term residents are like family to Alexis and she cannot bear to see them (or herself) lose their home.
Even though the novel is written by 36 different authors, the change in writing is mostly unnoticeable. There were only a handful of chapters where the writing style seemed noticeably different to me. In the foreword, librarian extraordinaire Nancy Pearl recommends that you read the novel once without noticing the author and a second time paying attention. I was not familiar with many of the authors so I did not have a need to pay close attention to which chapter went with which author on my first reading. I plan to go back through and take note of who wrote the chapters that I enjoyed the most.
Disclosure: I received a free e-galley from the publisher, Open Road Media, via NetGalley.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 8, 2013
I really enjoyed this book. Having several authors did not detract indeed, it made it more interesting. I wonder how the books would vary if each author were given a bare-bones outline and asked to write an entire novel with more time allowed. Joan Duncan Linville
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Posted April 5, 2013
MEETING WITH LC AT MEETING RESULT 1 ~ The manager-Allie
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Posted April 5, 2013
Walks out.l
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Posted April 5, 2013
- Room service
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Posted April 4, 2013
ANY BOYS HERE ARE SINGLE ;)
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Posted April 4, 2013
Hi
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Posted January 28, 2013
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0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted January 5, 2012
This turned out different than I thought it would: more serious, but still pretty zany. Some moments of dark humor, some drama, a bit of mystery. Despite the fact that 36 authors contributed to the story, I thought the plot flowed well. Most of it is written from the perspective of the 14 year old heroine, Alexis. For a time, I had trouble with how Alexis was responding to events until I realized I was thinking with the mind of a grown woman. How WOULD a scared, confused, and inexperienced 14 year old girl react to these circumstances? With that in mind, I saw Alexis in a new light. I was pleased with how her story evolved.
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Posted January 1, 2012
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Anonymous
Posted April 19, 2013
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Overview
Thirty-six of the most interesting writers in the Pacific Northwest came together for a week-long marathon of writing live on stage. The result? Hotel Angeline, a truly inventive novel that surprises at every turn of the page.
Something is amiss at the Hotel Angeline, a rickety former mortuary perched atop Capitol Hill in rain-soaked Seattle. Fourteen-year-old Alexis Austin is fixing the plumbing, the tea, and all the problems of the world, it seems, in her landlady ...