Strange things are happening at the Grand Hotel...
A hotel as a work of art in little ol' Mangowak? It was about as
unlikely as an indoor creek.'
Robbed of his zest for life by the absurd innovations of his local
council, including knocking down the only pub in his beloved home town
and roofing over a section of the creek to protect swimmers from the
rain, artist Noel Lea exiles himself in the hills above Mangowak, on
the southwest Victorian coast. He returns to find an unexpected destiny
awaits. At a turning point in the town's history it seems he has a
crucial role to play, as the unlikely publican of an even unlikelier
hotel.
This is a novel about an Australian pub twenty-first-century style,
where the toilets play automated Dadaist recordings, Happy Hour comes
with a blessing from the Pope and the patrons' libidos are as voracious
as their thirst for the local ale. As events in the hotel take a twist
that not even its inventive publican could have imagined, a long-held
local mystery begins finally to unravel. Noel and his friends find
themselves in uncharted territory, and, to make matters worse, the
local authorities are hell-bent on closing them down.
From the award-winning author of THE PATRON SAINT OF EELS and RON
MCCOY’S SEA OF DIAMONDS, Gregory Day's third novel is a witty, earthy
and lyrical tour de force that takes some well-aimed swipes at the
aspirations and absurdities of contemporary life.
Reading Group Book Questions
- It has been suggested that a major theme of The Grand Hotel is the fine line between laughter and tears. Do you agree?
- In what other ways, and to what ends, is humour employed in the novel?
- How does Noel’s belief that time is music get played out in the story?
- What role is played by the dancing brolga that Noel spies in the clearing near the start of the book?
- Can you name some significant parallels or connections between The Grand Hotel of the past and present? For instance, is there any possible relationship between The Dancing Brolga Ale in the reawakened Grand and The Native Companion Ale in the original one?
About The Author
Gregory Day is a writer, poet and musician whose debut novel, THE
PATRON SAINT OF EELS (2005), won the prestigious Australian Literature
Society Gold Medal in 2006. His CDs include THE BLACK TOWER: SONGS FROM
THE POETRY OF WB YEATS, which was hailed by the Yeats Society of
Ireland as the finest musical interpretations of Yeats ever made, and
THE FLASH ROAD: SCENES FROM THE BUILDING OF THE GREAT OCEAN ROAD. His
second novel, RON MCCOY’S SEA OF DIAMONDS (2007), was shortlisted for
the 2008 NSW Premiers Prize for Fiction. He lives with his family on
the southwest coast of Victoria.
