I thought this was a wonderfully quirky tale. Hotel California is the sort of place loved by moviemakers elsewhere -- full of characters that are larger than life.

Mrs Watson -- what did she really see in those cards of hers?

Ozaku -- what was he saying, all those times? And what was going to happen to his next roommate, now that Mrs. Watson isn't there to stop him?

Joe and Audrey -- an intriguing couple with a secret past.

I'm sure the rest of the residents are just as colourful, and I wouldn't mind reading some of their stories, too. Especially if they drive Mrs. Watson's nephew into fits of apoplexy.

The ending was, alas, also very faithful to the truth. Leonard had hopes and dreams, but Joe smashed them. like that final shot glass, by finally standing up to his responsibilities. It may be that Joe and Leonard still had a future together, but I doubt it will be the one that Leonard was looking for.

Corvus, it was a fantastic read! Your characters are so rich and three-dimensional. I fell in love with the eccentric oddness that was the Hotel California. Leonard was an intricate blend of cynicism and idealism, I was with him every step of the way. The foreshadowing was subtle, and your prose well-balanced with dialog and expostition. As a whole, it was extremely satisfying -- the end, included. It left me thinking, trying to figure certain clues and allegory, and wondering after the characters' welfare. That's a gift.

Thanks so much for all your hard work.

............I liked this story, it was odd and humorous I almost thought I was reading a play by Neil Simon.

Very well done Corvus!

I loved the subtle humor, the forshadowing. Mrs. Watson was a classic, and poor Leonard kept an even keel when confronted by so much.

That was indeed a very good and fascinating story! Awesome Job, Corvus!

I think that for some reason this was my favourite paragraph:


It's just a very lovely, and humours text!

Great job!

-Kevin

A great take on the topic 'escape', almost fairy-taleish. Can you escape fate? If you try, will it turn out the way you hoped, or thought it would? Here, of course, it didn't, and the twists you had in the story were just great.

I loved the gender confusion, especially the way Leonard saw Joe as a beautiful woman at first but then saw all his flaws when his wife was there (He blamed it on his tipsiness, but it's still open -- was it Joe who failed to be convincing in the presence of his wife or was it the daylight, or was it just Leonard's perception of him that had changed?) Anyway the mere idea of a horticulturalist-cum-drag queen is a delight, and the fact that he's created his own little paradise on this Circe's island of a building, fleeing from real life, is wonderful. It makes you wonder what it is Leonard is fleeing from, or if he's just there in the capacity of a catalyst for Joe (as well as for Mrs Watson and her nephew), the person who comes in to turn all their lives upside down.

I loved the ending. Just as Joe finally decided (was talked into) doing the right thing, he was prevented from doing so by... fate? And we don't know what he *will* do. Will he do what he says he'll do, the 'right thing'? Or will he go back to running away from reality?

Great story.

It's nice to see such a fresh, original story--plus, it's well written.

What a very insightful analysis, Procyon! It greatly adds to my enjoyment of the story! How I wish I had noticed it during my initial reading!

Thanks to everyone who's left a review! I wanted people who read this story to get the same sense that I got when I read the works of Saramago, Garcia-Marquez, and Vonnegut in particular. In other words, I wanted to try using humor and fantasy -- not the serious Tolkien variety, but the tall-taled, half-believable, urban-legend sort -- to.... well, if I could pinpoint what good stories did, then there'd be no point writing them! Anyway, thanks to Graeme, Kevin, Benji, Libby, CJ, rec, and Procyon for having responded so far. And I think I have, typically, forgotten to credit people who betaed for their beta. Tut mir leid! I think I'm being burned in effigy in the editor's corner. But many, many thanks to Procyon and Billy for looking things over! :D

Really sureal! I love your characters!

Your writing style is so polished and unique. If you're already writing like this at 19, I can only imagine what works you'll be turning out in the future. For what it's worth, I think you're very, very talented.

jfalkon -- thanks!

SonoLuminus -- just watch my ego balloon. *balloons*


A few days ago, I had a (straight, guy) friend of mine read Hotel CA to get some feedback from the other side of the track. To be brief, he didn't like it. He found that Joe and Leonard:
1. "weren't especially interesting,"
2. and Leonard's attraction to Joe 2. to be "implausible."

Moreover, he said:
3.

I'd like to hear people's opinions regarding my (straight, guy) friend evaluation, particularly #3. Was Joe a coward? And, more importantly, how do you think "family duty" affects the (for the lack of a better word) "gay experience"? (Sounds like a Caribbean resort!) I wrote a rather lengthy response to him, which I'll probably post later -- if enough people respond, haha.

Tchüß! corvus

............Me thinks your str8 friend was overly critical of a satirical piece that was meant to be quirky. What did he think he was reviewing?? War & Peace??

I agree with Benji. He has some valid points, but I think he's placed too much emphasis on them.

1. Joe and Leonard are not interesting characters... if you were looking for something different to what they are. The story has a very whimiscal, unbelieveable feel to it. Those two are not your typical characters, and if your friend was looking for a typical story, he wasn't going to find it.

2. You can't say any attraction is implausible without putting it into context. In a real-life scenario, he's probably right, but the story wasn't set in a real-life situation. It was fantasy with a strong dose of the mystical. If you want to apply that particular criteria, the whole story is implausible -- everything from the predictions of the cards to the death by piano.

3. Here, he has a point. Running away from responsibilities is something that will alienate a certain group of people. Joe was a coward, but, being generous, I see him as a flawed human. One that needed to be pushed and prodded into doing the right thing, only to find out he's too late. If I met someone like Joe in real life, I wouldn't be impressed by them. Indeed, I would probably be disgusted by them. But I recognise it was only a story and don't apply the same moral ruler to the characters

1. Well, that's a bit weird. I can kind of understand it in Leonard's case since we don't get to know anything about him, but Joe? How could anyone not find him interesting, making his entrance as Audrey looking for keys in a broken flower pot?

2. Well... I'd have gone for Joe any day, abandoned family and all. I mean, the plants! Okay the near-dripping mascara towards the end would have been a bit of a turn-off, but I think I'd be able to overlook that.

But obviously, if I were a straight guy I might not have fancied him.

3. It's interesting to see how so many people are so very quick to condemn characters, not only your friend, but also all those people who get so terribly upset over Sam in 'On n'aime qu'une fois'. Of course I'd get upset if Joe, or someone, had done something like that to me (which I know from first-hand experience btw, though I never over-watered anyone's plants), but it still amazes me how people should think that it's so easy to do the right thing.

It's not.

In fact, almost everyone on this forum who was in a state over Sam's meanness, as well as your friend who obviously despises Joe (who is, after all, a fictional character!) so much that it makes him not like the whole story (!), will very likely do 'the wrong thing' too, some day, or at least want to do it very badly and have a horribly hard time resisting. But of course it's much easier to make up excuses if it's yourself doing something that hurts someone else.

I don't really know what you mean by family duty, or the gay experience for that matter. Is the former having to work and support kids, or being faithful to a partner? And the latter, sleeping around with guys (don't we all do that at some point?) or going to gay clubs, acting gay? Or going to the gym, acting obsessed with one's abs and hitting on people in the locker room?

And btw, why haven't I been shown your lengthy response?? I feel neglected. You should send it to me ASAP.

Well done Corv first part laughed off the bat. Mrs. Watson an odd lady, Descriptions of the japanese man.

Mrs Watson's nephew came off as a brat that never got his way.

Well done Corvus,, I really enjoyed your story, it's a really good story for anyone to read

I don't know, I think I've met people like Joe in real life and liked them. Not exactly like Joe, of course, but pretty similar in some respects (they liked gardening. J/K) Anyway, not being able to forgive people is a pretty bad flaw as well, as is being too quick to condemn them.




Still wondering...




Haha yeah I liked the part about Mrs Watson's nephew...

Wow, Corvus, what a wonderful surreal story :-).
I wasn't really prepared for that plot... hehe. But who would !?
Excellent job ! And I don't agree with your straight friend... I think "running away" from your responsibilities is a human reaction. Probably not the best move, but human/realistic non the less. It may make the character unsympatic for some readers, but that doesn't make the story a bad one at all.
To me, Leonard and Joe are 2 very interesting characters. Sure, not your average next door neighbour (well, actually i am not sure what my next door neighbours do behind closed doors... so who knows ). But thats what makes them interesting. And seeing very odd couples on the streets every day, i don't think any attraction between 2 humans is "implausible" at all. Lol, if only "plausible" attractions would happen, the human race would probably have become extinct a long time ago .

I think this will be another "GA classic".

Yeah, who knows what goes on nextdoors? Goodness. I have a next door neighbour who looks like Anthony Perkins, and for years he had his mother living in a flat on the top floor. Only she never went out, so nobody ever saw her -- then she died, but I tell you, I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me they'd found her there sitting in a chair, white-haired and ...yeah. You know.