A Small Hotel: A Novel by Robert Olen Butler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Instead of showing up in Pensacola to finalize her divorce, Kelly Hays checks in to the Olivier Hotel in New Orleans, where she first met her husband Michael, with a bottle of Scotch and a bottle of pills. Unaware of this, Michael is driving to Oak Alley Plantation, an hour west of New Orleans, with Laurie, his new girlfriend. Through the alternating viewpoints of Kelly, Michael, and Laurie, Butler teases out incidents to show the fraying of a marriage. It is a poignant study of miscommunication in human relationships that will have readers holding their breath for the outcome. I wish I had started this while I was in New Orleans for ALA instead of on the plane home! Thanks to Grove Press and Publisher's Group West for the ARC of this novel.



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