Review: The Hotel Majestic by Georges Simenon

This Book Is About

My Thoughts On This Book

How many mystery novels can boast cover blurbs from Ernest Hemingway? (“I never found anything for that empty time of day or night until the first fine Simenon books came out.”)

I enjoyed The Hotel Majestic, it kept me guessing and read quickly. Originally written in French in 1942 and translated to English in 1977, the book is not written in any way that’s typical. The story is in third person limited, the paragraphs are rather short, and the dialogs are often one sided (especially in phone call scenes). Also, there are a lot of ‘…’ (hellips) in descriptive sentences, which give a feel of movement in time.

He checked the time by his watch. It was ten to six. He began to walk quickly, pushing his bike, and his breath hung in the air as he panted along, with a burning sensation in his chest from the effort.

Avenue Foch…The shutters of the private houses were all still closed…Only an officer trotting along the ride followed by his orderly…

Getting lighter behind the Arc de Triomphe … He was hurrying along … getting very hot now …

Just at the corner of the Champs-?lys?es, a policeman in a cape, near the newspaper kiosk, called out: “Puncture?”

He nodded. Only three hundred metres more. The Hotel Majestic, on the left, with all its windows still shuttered. The street lamps barely shed any light now.

The manager was plunged in gloom. There was no need to tell an old hand like Maigret that it was a disaster for the hotel and that if there was any way of hushing it up…

“The Clark family have been here a week then…” murmured the superintendent. “What sort of people are they?”

“Well heeled … Very … He’s a great, tall, silent American, about forty … Forty-five perhaps … His wife – poor thing! – seems to be French … Twenty-eight or nine … I didn’t see very much of her … The governess is pretty … The maid, who also looks after the child, is very ordinary, rather surly … Ah! … I nearly forgot to tell you … Clark left for Rome yesterday morning …”

“Alone?”

Overall, The Hotel Majestic is paced so that it’s almost like watching a BBC mystery on fast forward, only stopping and hitting ‘play’ for the important scenes and then hitting ‘fast forward’ again through all the fluff between. It’s very unusual and a bit new and fresh in mind-feel (if you follow me), even though it was written in 1942.

From the introduction:

According to Simenon, the character Jules Maigret came to him one afternoon in a cafe in the small Dutch port of Delfzijl as he wrestled with writing a different sort of detective story.

Georges Simenon was one of the biggest figures in European literature, according to this introduction. I can see why; his prose is completely different from everything else out there; than or now.

Definitely highly recommended for the mystery fan looking for something different.

Rating & Levels For This Book

I Give This Book 3 Vikings out of five	Violence Level 1 Burning Huts out of five	Romance Level 1 Hearts out of five
# of actual vikings in book: 0 What do these levels mean? »	Humor Level 1 Smiles out of five	Lust Level 0 Kisses out of five

Author and Publishing Information For This Book

Author & Book Details Title: The Hotel Majestic Author(s): Georges Simenon (David Watson – translator) ISBN#: 9780143038450 Genre(s): Murder mystery Edition Reviewed: Paperback Illustrations: N/A Page Count: 176 Part of a Series: Yes, there are 75 novels and 28 short stories in the Maigret series

Publishing & Copyright Details Publisher(s): Penguin (Non-Classics) Copyright: 2006, 1977, 1942 In Print: Yes Original Language: French Available in English: Yes Find a Local Book Store »

Comments

Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Comments are closed.