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A girl falls to her death in a hotel dumbwaiter, and the ripples keep spreading. In Ali Smith’s Hotel World, the tragic accident isn’t the focus of the novel, but permeates it, leading up to another night, months later, in the same hotel.
Smith takes us into the mind of five people – Sara, Else, Lise, Penny and Clare – whose lives are changed by the accident, and shows us how they see their world, and how their worlds are linked to the hotel where the accident happened. Two of the characters are teenagers with plans; two are professionals with problems; and one is a homeless woman sitting outside a chain hotel. It’s a sad book in many ways. Continue reading