The White Hotel

Rating:
Summary: Disturbing, yet Beautiful...
Review: This novel on the surface seems to be a shocking exploitation of human sexuality and historical violence. However, the reader takes more away from this novel than an uncomfortable silence; this book beautifully weaves Virgin-Christ and Freudian imagery into a deeply introspective look into the mind -- the place where desires, memories, and even the capacity for the future lay. The heroine, Lisa Ergman, is treated by Freud and is the basis for his notorious "Anna G." case study. Thomas delves more deeply into this woman's life, illuminating the discrepancies and the events which lead up to her debilitating condition. Then he ties her suffering in the mind into the suffering of all humanity in the Holocaust. This is a book from which the more concerned and deeper reader can take away a valuable lesson in the human roots of psychoanalysis and the inner workings of humanity -- the torture and ecstasy from within and without. "The White Hotel" raises serious concerns about the validity of our own memories and the value of dissecting it. I would have given it five stars, but the last section of the novel seems tacked on and inappropriate.

Rating:
Summary: One of the most beautiful books ever penned
Review: Whne I was first asked to read this book, I loathed the task of it. But from the moment you begin to read it, Tjomas sucks you in with the incrediby imagery he presents. I could NOT put the book down. I stayed up all nihgt reading it, fascinated by the poetry, the Freud-esq themes, dreamscapes, and WWII tie-ins. There are two parts to the novel, which build on each other and go from completely abstract peoprty to a lucid recount of the horrors of concentration camps. Read this book. It will move you beyond words.