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Frangipani Hotel: Fiction (2014)

by Violet Kupersmith(Favorite Author)

3.61 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1306531381 (ISBN13: 9781306531382)

languge

English

genre

Horror

publisher

Spiegel & Grau

review 1: “The first rule of the country we come from is that it always gives you what you ask for, but never exactly what you want.”That pretty much sums up how I felt about these short stories based on Vietnam or Vietnamese people. Although I appreciate reading about that country, and I like a good ghost story, I just couldn't get interested enough in these stories. Yes, spirits, ghosts, superstitions abound, and there is plenty of storytelling going on. So, yes, it gave me what I asked for but not what I wanted.The dialogue in the first story seemed wooden to me, which didn't bode well for the rest of the book, but I was pleased that the other stories seemed to flow a little more naturally.I loved the story “Turning Back ” which includes a girl who looks like a boy mee... moreting a naked man in an alley. No, it is not as creepy or perverted as that sounds. Actually, I really liked both the girl and the man, but to tell more would risk spoilers.I also really enjoyed “Descending Dragon,” the last story in the book. While there was quite a bit of Vietnamese culture and attitude in the book, that particular story could be universal, and is funny in a dark way.So while those two stories suited my reading tastes well, I don't have a love-this-book feeling about it. Perhaps I've been talking to the wrong ghosts.
review 2: Short stories are difficult; either you just begin to like the character and the story ends or the story doesn't develop enough to really care. I think Frangipani Hotel with it's nine stories suffers a little from the later. I did for the most part like the characters, but felt they lacked depth, especially the older characters. This book was advertised as being based on Vietnamese folk tales and because of this I expected to be immersed in the Vietnam culture, but found that it was not focal to the telling of each tale. Finally, I felt several of the stories ended very abruptly and left you almost hanging. Despite, all of this, I think Ms. Kupersmith stories were compelling and somewhat creepy. Will have to see how she grows as a writer. less

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