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Rating: 
Summary: Got it Right!
Review: First! This book is really funny!! Second; I agree with all of what the previous reviewer, Linda had to say and I would like to add this: I think I am a bit of an authority on the stuff in this book. The legends, the facts (of course not the stories themselves) but the whole gambit of the Hawaiian islands as seen fron the eyes of a Mainlander. I spent 40 years travelling to the islands, mostly as a incentive travel consultant, where I lived in up to 50 hotels for as much as 3 months at a time. I took people to the islands that are not know for good reading habits, but on some occations I was able to convince the client to send the winners of these trips, "Insight Guides-Hawaii" I'd love it if everyone that ever visited the islands would read, Insight Guides and Hotel Honolulu. These two books. Paul Threoux got it absolutly right! This is the islands. However, it is not a perfect world, so I will not get everyone to read this book.
I read a great deal and on my shelf that houses funny books that I like to go back to now and again, the stack is very small. Books that I read for a good laugh, and that's all include: Catch-22, Babbitt, and Catcher in the Rye. Now I will add, Hotel Honolulu.
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Summary: Hotel Honolulu
Review: Hotel Honolulu contains some of the best writing I have ever read -- Theroux masterfully depicts the humorous events that occur within (and around) a past-its-prime Waikiki hotel, as observed by the book's narrarator. The novel is sort of a series of vignettes about the vacationers who briefly inhabit the world of this second-tier hotel, as well as the locals associated with the hotel (gardners, housekeepers, etc.).The problem, for me, is that the narrarator tends to be extremely condescending when describing many of the characters in the book, particularly the Hawaiian natives. The narrarator depicts most of the natives, including his wife, as ignorant and simple people. I found the "vignettes" focusing on this ignorance to be insulting, at best. That being said, I am glad I read the book. If you can get past the author's condescension, this is a wonderful book full of rich characters.
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Summary: Theroux's masterpiece
Review: Hotel Honolulu is Paul Theroux's best novel, and that's saying something. It is a lovely, lyrical immersion in a man's daily transformation. A masterful look at how the small things shape us. Immense good humor, immense honesty. Theroux knows how to work magic; the story is evocative "beyond words."
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Summary: An extra ordinary "people watching" book
Review: The establishment in HOTEL HONOLULU has 80 rooms and the book has 80 chapters, one for each room. But it doesn't work out to 80 different stories; they're all intertwined -- some more so than others. The book is filled with bizarre, eccentric characters and a LOT of unpleasantness and distasteful stuff. I enjoyed the later pages much more, as Theroux got more philosophical: "It seemed to me that Peewee was there to remind me that my father was not dead. Seeing my father in him, I grieved less, and I saw that even here in Hawaii -- older and far from home -- I was still a part of some great cycle and my father was nearby. It helped me to see my father in him; it calmed me; it eased my pain." Here -- take a trip: "It was one of those brilliant orchidaceous days on the North Shore of Oahu, under the towering palms. A silky breeze lisped through the needles of the ironwoods edging Sunset Beach. The cliffs behind us were as dark and leafy as spinach. ... Down at the beach, a man was casting into the surf, working his fishing rod like a coach whip. The breeze carried a scent of flowers." I thought reading the book might be a fun vacation, but it wasn't so much fun as thought-provoking. But it was fun, too.
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Summary: Sad and funny and very very human. I loved it!
Review: There's a great premise for this novel by Paul Theroux. The narrator is an unnamed middle-aged writer who takes a job as a manager of a small seedy hotel in Honolulu. What follows is a book full of overlapping stories about the constant parade of guests and locals and a fresh look at what Hawaii is like by the New England-born author who now makes Hawaii his part-time home. There's a wide variety of characters and a loose non-conventional plot. Most memorable of all is the larger-than-life figure of millionaire and hotel owner Buddy Hamstra, a big man who over-indulges his appetites in life. There's the writer's wife and daughter as well as permanent and temporary hotel guests and employees. It's a collection of vignettes interwoven with reoccurring themes and finely developed people. It's big and sprawling and full of pathos and humor, small portraits of human nature focusing on the themes of love and death. I found myself drawn into it, enjoying the author's sharp observations and finding myself wanting to laugh out loud. How each character views this world is fascinating and the writer dares to ridicule it all. There's a power in the book that kept me reading in spite of the meandering pace. It's sad and funny and very human all at the same time as it willingly explores such topics such as ethnic tensions and physical disabilities. It might not always be a flattering picture of a place we sometimes think of as paradise, but it sure does seem real, as the characters grope and blunder along in their lives below a constantly shining Hawaiian sun. I just loved the experience of reading this book. Definitely recommended.
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Summary: Terrific novel
Review: This is without doubt one of the finest novels I've read in recent years. Wickely funny at times, but also a painfully correct portrayal of middle-aged uncertainty.
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Summary: Sounds like the hotel I stayed in
Review: When I went to Hawai'i I hadn't yet read this book. I got home and picked it up to read. Now that I've read it I'm glad I got to go to visit first. I have reflected on the stories Theroux tells and I am able to appreciate Honolulu in a way I probably couldn't while I was there. I recognized so many of the people Theroux described and saw myself in them as well. I had to wonder how much of this novel was really fictional; it was far too easy to imagine that these things had happened. (Especially after getting to know some of the people who do live in Honolulu.) Having grown up near a tourist destination this book give me an appreciation for those who have to deal with tourists for a living; it also gave me several insights into the human condition. I would hand this book to anyone who is planning to travel (and not just to Hawai'i).
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Summary: Sounds like the hotel I stayed in
Review: When I went to Hawai'i I hadn't yet read this book. I got home and picked it up to read. Now that I've read it I'm glad I got to go to visit first. I have reflected on the stories Theroux tells and I am able to appreciate Honolulu in a way I probably couldn't while I was there. I recognized so many of the people Theroux described and saw myself in them as well. I had to wonder how much of this novel was really fictional; it was far too easy to imagine that these things had happened. (Especially after getting to know some of the people who do live in Honolulu.) Having grown up near a tourist destination this book give me an appreciation for those who have to deal with tourists for a living; it also gave me several insights into the human condition. I would hand this book to anyone who is planning to travel (and not just to Hawai'i).
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