The Electric Hotel

by Dominic Smith

Dominic Smith’s The Electric Hotel winds through the nascent days of cinema in Paris and Fort Lee, New Jersey—America’s first movie town—and on the battlefields of Belgium during World War I. A sweeping work of historical fiction, it shimmers between past and present as it tells the story of the rise and fall of a prodigious film studio and one man’s doomed obsession with all that passes in front of the viewfinder.

For nearly half a century, Claude Ballard has been living at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel. A French pioneer of silent films, who started out as a concession agent for the Lumière brothers, the inventors of cinema, Claude now spends his days foraging mushrooms in the hills of Los Angeles and taking photographs of runaways and the striplings along Sunset Boulevard. But when a film-history student comes to interview Claude about The Electric Hotel—the lost masterpiece that bankrupted him and ended the career of his muse, Sabine Montrose—the past comes surging back. In his run-down hotel suite, the ravages of the past are waiting to be excavated: celluloid fragments and reels in desperate need of restoration, and Claude’s memories of the woman who inspired and beguiled him.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Audiobook, Literary Fiction, France, Film

336 pages, Hardcover

First published June 4, 2019

About the author

Dominic grew up in Sydney, Australia and now lives in Seattle, Washington. He is the author of five novels, including The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, a New York Times bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Dominic's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Chicago Tribune, Texas Monthly, The Australian, and The New York Times. He has received literature fellowships from the Australia Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. He teaches writing in the Warren Wilson MFA Program for Writers. More information can be found on his website: www.dominicsmith.net.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

well, every book its reader &yadda…

i won this in a gr giveaway, and when it arrived, i admired it as a physical object, but upon reading the synopsis i was all, “why did i…?” until i remembered i had entered the giveaway because this was the author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, which i had heard such spectacularly glowing things about from reviewers i trust. i still haven’t read The Last Painting of Sara de Vos—i bought it but haven’t felt any urgency to read it because it doesn’t sound like my kind of book, despite the praise from people whose opinions matter to me. one day i will, and i will probably love it, because reviewers make it sound very appealing, but this one wasn’t my thing.

those readers with an affinity for stories about the early days of filmmaking or well-researched historical fiction in general will probably love this book. my own taste in film is…unsophisticated, and for me to appreciate historical fiction, there needs to be a beating-heart story at the center of all the period details.

this was factual and atmospheric, for sure, but it was also dry and slow-going for my tastes. it took me ages to read, because i was never hooked by it—it wasn’t the kind of book that i wanted to drop everything and read, and when the choice between “should i spend the afternoon reading or should i binge-watch Unbelievable?” presented itself, well, the book lost that battle. along with some others.

i absolutely applaud authors of historical fiction who do the work. it is very clear that smith didn’t just hire some intern to bullet-point him a list of historical highlights to window-dress this book. the research permeates the narrative atmosphere—it feels thoughtful, meticulous, lived-in. but it also comes across a bit constrained—the characters are flat, and i felt no emotional connection to them. they aren't as well-integrated into their personal stories as they are into the larger historical story. much like caveman-me watching a silent film, there just seemed to be an element missing

there are some high points—sophie’s heroic performance as hamlet repeatedly disrupted by folks in the theater next door losing their minds over the film of an omnibus barreling towards them, the susan berg soup scene, claude’s slyfox WWI move, but much of it just didn’t resonate with my personal tastes in subject matter and writing style.

i liked it fine, you will probably like it more, and we will both be correct.

that spine, tho' = ♥



don't worry, the cat'll land on all of its feets.



*****************************************

my SECOND goodreads win of the year! after a very disappointing first six months, maybe my luck is finally turning!!!

come to my blog!

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dominic Smith has written a fascinating account of the early days of film, borrowing his title from that of a recently rediscovered and restored silent film from 1908. Through his main character, French photographer Claude Ballard, he recalls Claude's early life making very short moving image strips for the Lumiere brothers, travelling around the world showing these to packed theatres. Popular strips were one of a falling cat, a stuntman on fire diving into the sea at a Sydney beach and later a beautiful actress, Sabine Montrose, taking a bath. Now an elderly resident of a shabby Hollywood hotel with a roomful of canisters containing ancient decaying silent films, he tells his story to a young student of film, in particular his life long love for Sabine and what happened to his lost cinematographic masterpiece 'The Electric Hotel'.

The author has clearly carried out extensive research into silent films and I really enjoyed learning about the detail about the techniques and people involved in the early days of silent film, however some may find this slows down the narrative and be impatient for the plot to unfold. Rest assured that the plot will become consuming once all the main characters are in place and the filming of the 'Electric Hotel' is underway. And this is not the only highlight of the novel as Claude goes on to film and produce propaganda films in WWI.

Overall I found this a very rewarding read - I learnt a lot about silent films and how urgent it is to restore those that are left before they succumb to 'vinegar syndrome', I gained a new perspective into the filming of WWI and I enjoyed the story of Claude's life and his turbulent love for the somewhat cold but beautiful Sabine Montrose. 4.5★

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux for a digital copy to read.

[Blaine DeSantis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just a great historical fiction book about an individual who was part of the original motion picture industry in France and then came to the US. Superbly researched, this is a great look at the early movie industry from the Lumiere` brothers, to the early beginnings of the silent movie industry and eventually the use of moving pictures for both propaganda purposes, but also to show the horrors of WW 1. As always, Dominic Smith writes a wonderful book on a fascinating topic. For me he is one of the best pure historical fiction authors currently living. Try it, you will like it, and it might hook you on his other books as well!!

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smith's The Electric Hotel is a historical novel that feels more like a real-life historical sketch. It feels so real, so true, so accurate, you'd swear it's not fiction at all. And what's he done here is create a novel do rich and textured that it's many things at once. It is, without question, a love story with the silent film era and the birth of the movie industry. It is also a meditation on history, on memory, and what secrets lie in the elderly people we drive past every day.

The Electric Hotel is a reference to a classic silent movie and to an aged dame of the great movie era, the Knickerbocker Hotel on Ivan, which as the book opens, is a decaying behemoth peopled by aged characters who barely leave its confines. By the Sixties, the hotel had seen better days. It had once been the place where Houdini's widow held seances and Dimaggio and Monroe had drinks. It was the place of shocking suicides and where Graham Nash (CSN) and Elvis Presley stayed. It was the place of legends. But when the book opens and a film student arrives to interview Claude Ballard the place is a faded dream.

But, according to the story, Claude was one of the pioneers of the movie industry, headquartered in the Palisades of New Jersey, and in competition the great Thomas Edison. But Claude had a secret weapon, Sabine Montrose, the femme fatale of silent movies whose bathtub on a Manhattan rooftop bewitched the world when put to celluloid and whose appearance as a serial killer in The movie The Electric Hotel pulled in the crowds. The story of the birth of the movies is fascinating as the world learns about this new art slowly and without fulling understanding what it could be.

But the story is not just a historical lesson as the other level is what became of these characters over the years. How their love affair rose and blossomed and faded and took their lives on a desperate haunted journey back to France where Sabine had lived as a teenager and where Claude is captured by the Germans and forced to film for them. And then as the years go on how Claude ends up in the hotel on Ivar Street, just another old codger.

So much symbolism here with the brittle celluloid of that early era fading and disintegrating and all but disappearing. The same with our memories, our pasts, the high points of everything. And how it all looks in retrospect. A very powerful, many-layered tale that is more than you think it is.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Electric Hotel is a love letter to an earlier time, not necessarily an easier time, but the early years of film, a time of adventure, excitement, exploration, wild success and horrible failure. Also a time of new techniques, new materials and much thinking on one’s feet. It is also a love letter to the friends, partners and lovers who were part of that glorious, difficult, wondrous time, the people who shared the victories and defeats of the early film era.

The novel centers on Claude Ballard who has been living in the same Los Angeles hotel for some 50 years, a man who never leaves his room without a camera, a man who has been filming life since he met the Lumiere Brothers in Paris in the late 19th century. One day, in 1962, he agrees to meet with a film student who would like to learn about his life. The result is what unspools here before us as a history of film, the world and Claude in both.

From having read Smith’s prior book, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, I was very aware of his skill in dealing with artistic techniques, matters of lighting, etc. That skill and sensitivity comes to the fore again here. The descriptions of the early forms of film, both how they are created and how they are received by unsuspecting audiences completely new to the phenomenon, are very well done. I felt as if I was in the room, seeing the early images.

The personal side gets equal attention, the friendships, love affairs, hatred, business dealings that become personal. This novel fits the history of film into the world around it. It shows us the early film industry of New Jersey, the overbearing influence of Thomas Edison. There is a world here populated with living, breathing filmmakers, directors, actresses and actors, daring stuntmen, wild animals. And there is introspection, thoughtful consideration of film and life.

In short, this is a book for most readers I know and another success from Dominic Smith. 4.5 rounded to 5

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Erin]

Goodreads giveaway win!

[Dale Harcombe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Claude Ballard, is an eighty five year old man at the beginning of this story. He is waiting for Martin Embry, a film buff and historian who wants to learn about Claude’s career as one of the early exponents of the silent film industry. From this meeting between the two men in 1962, the story retraces the scenes to show how Claude came to start off in the film profession and the influences along the way. It also tells the story of his love for the actress Sabine Montrose, who became his muse. But Martin also wants to know what happened to Claude’s last film The Electric Hotel?
I had really been looking forward to this book after reading Dominic Smith’s earlier book, The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. I expected this one to be an interesting read and in many ways it is, filled with a lot of fascinating information about the early silent film industry. There is no doubt it has entailed a great deal of research and that shows. Sadly though, at times the research and penchant for detail slows things down. Among all that research the story can tend to get a bit lost. While I found it mesmerising at times, at other times I found the whole film making exercise rather tawdry.
Part of the problem was that of feeling removed from the action, rather like watching a silent film. Maybe that was the point? But I never connected with the characters, which meant it did not have a great emotional impact on me. For this reason it took me longer than it would normally take me to a book. Overall, I enjoyed aspects of it, just not the whole. Also if you are a person who dislikes books without quotation marks, be warned this has none. Instead it employs the use of – to indicate speech. That didn’t worry me as it does feel in keeping with the whole film idea.
I was thrilled to receive an uncorrected proof from Allen & Unwin and was glad I read it. But in the end it just didn’t captivate me the way I expected it to.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved The lost Painting of Sara de Vos. This, I think, is an earlier novel by the same author. It tells the story of the life of Claude Ballard, the director of the most ambitious silent film of its time but since forgotten. We meet Claude when he's old and living alone in a downtrodden Hollywood hotel. A student studying the early days of cinema tracks him down and gets him to tell his story.

A novel needs compelling relationships to work. There has to be dramatic interaction. In this very long book there's barely a single relationship of interest. Claude has his one love and remains true to it his entire life. But this makes for a static plot, a continual circling around the same small plot of land. it's a lovingly written novel but it basks in description and lacks thrust and, for me, much lively interest.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1962, fictional silent film pioneer Claude Ballard, now in his eighties and living in a dilapidated Hollywood hotel, is sought out by a young man writing his dissertation on the history of early movies. The storyline covers Ballard’s eventful life, including his medical photography, creation of films to promote the Lumière brothers’ cinématographe, infatuation with an actress, production of The Electric Hotel, and involvement in capturing images of the Great War. It focuses on an ensemble of characters whose personal and professional interactions drive the plot.

This strength of this book lies in its vivid depiction of the history of the early silent film industry. The narrative covers the precursors to today’s Hollywood, from its initial short action scenes to full-length movies. It allows the reader to get a feel for what life was like in the early days of cinema, how audiences initially reacted, and the tendency toward sensationalism.

Though the pacing is a bit uneven and there are a few minor anachronisms, the multiple storylines are well-integrated. Sensitive readers may want to be aware that the book contains animal cruelty and graphic scenes of war-related atrocities. It will appeal to readers interested in the history of filmmaking.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I ask a man what he's reading, usually the answer is "history." I know this sounds sexist, but men gravitate more in that direction and feel a deeper interest in history, and Dominic Smith is a prime example. His works are evidence of dedicated research, and his books bring the past to life that gives his tales contemporary immediacy whether they're set the 17th century Amsterdam of Sara deVos or here in The Electric Hotel, set in the early cinematic days of the Lumiere Brothers and in turn of the century New York. Although these are the only two books of his that I have read, it seems that many of his novels concern the creative process, whether it's painting, daguerreotypes, and in this case, the moving image. His characters both factual and representative, inhabit the pages, making for an exciting, immersive read. When his focus shifts to the German invasion of Belgium during WWI, I was reminded of the magnificent War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans, another example of fine writing that also included elements of the creative process.

As a professor of creative writing, Smith's book contains some truly beautiful passages: ("Edison might have showed up late to the motion picture party, but now he was swaggering through a crowded house like vaudville's hooligan younger brother." "He'd carried want for so long that he wasn't prepared for loss." "Despite its hold on the city, the war now felt like an abstraction..., a series of parabolas and probabilities.") There were several lines that made me smile, such as "For God's sake, I just chased you through a labyrinth. Do you also need a violinist?" And, finally, one quote that sums up the enduring effect of the past which may be the theme of many of his works: "...the past never stops banging at the doors of the present. We pack it into tattered suitcases, lock it into rusting metal trunks beneath our beds, press it between yellowed pages of newsprint, but it hangs over us at night like a poisonous cloud, seeps into our shirt collars and bedclothes."

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claude Ballard has been living in the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel for almost half a century. His suite is crammed with rapidly deteriorating film reels and other memorabilia from his days as a lauded silent film director and cameraman. When a PhD candidate in film history comes to interview Claude about his lost masterpiece The Electric Hotel, Claude reflects on his twin obsessions; moving pictures and the actress, Sabine Montrose.

Moving from Paris in 1895, when the Lumière brothers first revealed their cinematic invention, to Fort Lee NJ, the epicentre of America's burgeoning film industry in the early 1900s, and then on to Belgium and Andorra during the Great War, Claude's story reveals the highs and lows of both his professional and personal life.

I loved Dominic Smith's last novel, and was excited to read The Electric Hotel, despite having reservations about the subject matter. My concern was that a story about movie-making in the silent era might be too technical, and thus rather dry. While Smith does give us some film history and enough technical information to appreciate Claude's skill, it was anything but dry. I found it fascinating. Surprisingly the part of the story that dragged a little for me was towards the end when Claude was drawn into the Great War, but even that had some freshness, giving me a new perspective by setting the action in Belgium. And I must say, Claude's deliverance was quite thrilling.

In regard to Claude's personal life, I felt like I really got his feelings for Sabine, the beautiful but aloof older woman. I wanted a happy ending for him, whether it was with her or not. No spoilers here, other than to say Smith's resolution of this storyline was perfect, in my opinion.

Overall I enjoyed this story even more than I expected to, and am already looking forward to whatever Dominic Smith produces next.

With thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC to read.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Electric Hotel is the fifth novel by award-winning Australian-born author, Dominic Smith. For over thirty years, semi-reclusive French cinematic genius, Claude Ballard has kept a suite at Hollywood’s Knickerbocker Hotel, a suite filled with film and memorabilia, but it’s not until 1962 that he consents a request by aspiring film historian, Martin Embry to discuss his life.

When Martin is invited into Claude’s suite, he is assaulted by the vinegar smell and demonstrates to Claude how his precious archive of celluloid is deteriorating. Claude eventually consents to allow a selection of the canisters to be restored and copied. At their regular meetings, he describes for Martin how he first became enthralled in the world of moving pictures.

When he shows Martin his copy of the movie thought to be forever lost, The Electric Hotel, he explains how the key players in the making of that movie came together. The various problems and setbacks that besieged the filming process are explained in much detail, as is the grand premiere and the legal stoush that follows it. The sight of Sabine Montrose’s old valise under his bed takes Claude back to Belgium during the Great War, and this is definitely much more interesting than what has preceded.

The pace is quite slow, the narrative, wordy, and Smith’s attempt to bring this era to life falls short as his characters are initially a little distant and not easy to connect with. The behaviour of the characters meant to evoke sympathy in the reader is such that it is difficult to muster any. But perhaps fans of film history will be fascinated. It’s clear that Smith has done a lot of research into the subject, but trying to include it all is a mistake. The read would be greatly improved if much of the tedious first three quarters was relegated to the cutting room floor.

While some of the prose is gorgeous, this novel is not a patch on Smith’s previous novel, The Last Painting of Sara De Vos. And unfortunately, Smith's latest historical fiction loses half a star because he has succumbed to the irritating editorial affectation of omitting quote marks for speech. He almost redeems it by indicating the start of dialogue with a dash - but not quite. This is not Smith’s best work.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by Allen & Unwin.

[Faith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Electric Hotel was the title of a very ambitious silent movie made by the director Claude Ballard, his muse and actress Sabine Montrose, stuntman Chip Spaulding and the producer and impresario Hal Bender. It was longer than any previous movie and included a tiger and dangerous special effects. Unfortunately, it encountered legal problems that prevented its circulation.

Most of this book is a flashback describing Claude’s experiences in the early days of the movie business, including the making of The Electric Hotel. I thought that this book started off very slowly and I was tempted to abandon it because I wasn’t really interested in Claude’s obsession with the disinterested, much older and very difficult Sabine. However, the book did provide a glimpse of how the early snippets of film were made and received by the public. Once Claude connected with Hal I became more interested in the descriptions of the business. Unfortunately, the book lost me again during the post-Electric Hotel period when it shifted the characters to Europe during WWI. Other than the movie-making itself, there wasn’t much depth to this story, in the characters, setting or history, but it was a pleasant read and I did manage to finish it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

[David J · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me knows I love cinema too, especially the Golden Age of Hollywood. With Dominic Smith’s The Electric Hotel, we go back a little further to where cinema all started with (fictional) French pioneer Claude Ballard, who has been living at the Knickerbocker Hotel in LA long after his silent film The Electric Hotel ended not only his career but that of his love and muse, Sabine Montrose. Smith spins a tale of cinematic history with a detailed and affecting look at the relationship between Ballard and Montrose. And I’m here for it, folks.

So, as a film buff I’m pretty biased here. I started out as a Disney fan (1940’s Fantasia is still my favorite) and went on to be fascinated with Old Hollywood and foreign and art house films. So this book was absolutely perfect for me. Smith deftly inserts some fictionalized elements into the start of cinema that really brings it to life in an engaging way. But he also exerts his strength to the realistic scenes between Ballard and Montrose, as well as some harrowing depictions of WWI.

Smith’s research of cinema history is evident from the get-go and there is sometimes some technical information that some could see as a bit too much, but I enjoyed all of it. If you’re looking for some good historical fiction that deals with silent cinema, then this is for you. And even though there’s a bit of wartime stuff, at least it isn’t WWII—again. Aren’t we all tired of that by now? Anyway, I say give this a read. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

[Theresa Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘Maybe memory is just electricity passing through us. Old voltage in the joints.’

This was a glorious novel of historical fiction. Possibly one of my favourite reads in the genre this year. In his latest novel, The Electric Hotel, Dominic Smith brings the beginnings of the silent film era to life with so much atmosphere and energy. It was a real joy to linger in the pages of this novel and learn something about a history I previously knew nothing about. I haven’t even seen a silent film before, at least not in its entirety! I have a strong urge to do so now, and I really wish it could be Smith’s invented ‘The Electric Hotel’. This fictionalised film, of which the story builds up to and then descends from, was brought to life with absolute intensity; I could picture the scenes so vividly, Smith writes that well. The film name, ‘The Electric Hotel’, is borrowed from a Spanish silent ‘trick film’ released in 1908 that was thought to be lost but has now been preserved and resides in safe keeping in the Filmoteca Espanola film archive. In his author note, Dominic Smith writes that more than seventy-five per cent of all silent films have been lost, mostly due to the instability of the medium – celluloid nitrate is both highly flammable and prone to decay. Reading this just made me all the more sad that I haven’t seen one.

When you think of how present movies are in our lives today, how frequently they are made and released, it seems strange to think of a time when they didn’t exist. The marvel of seeing silent moving images on a big screen was beautifully captured within this novel, so too, the skill and work involved in producing these images. From short moments to minutes long, we see motion picture production from its infancy and travel with the characters to the dizzying height of making the longest feature film for the era: an hour long continuous story with a plot, orchestrated score and professional sound effects, complete with outrageous stunts and a real life tiger – because a film would not be a film without the sensational. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this film come to life from an ambitious idea to a premiere event. And you can’t even begin to imagine what was involved in making a film of this magnitude. Even the short clips that preceded it involved so much labour and meticulous planning. There was very often no room for ‘take two’. It was a case of get it right the first time because we can’t afford to do it again.

Not only is this a story about early cinema. The Electric Hotel is also a study of love and friendship, of peace and war, and using the medium of film to contextualise the state of the world for others. The novel does have a lot of the technical aspects of film and film making broken down and detailed, but I rather liked that. It gave me a real sense of knowledge which enhanced my appreciation of the efforts these early pioneers of cinema had to go to in order to achieve their means. The process of creation, production, and distribution was fascinating and I was more than a little amazed to discover that early film makers were such ‘jack of all trades’. Because we begin the novel when Claude is elderly, I found it difficult to suppress a growing sense of sadness that kept building in me throughout the story. After all, I knew where this was headed, right? Wrong. And therein lies the mastery of Dominic Smith’s storytelling. This is the third novel I’ve read by Dominic Smith and I am quite comfortable now with using the words ‘literary’ and ‘genius’ in the same sentence as his name.

‘She sometimes felt like a coil of wire, a medium for the unravelling ideas of men, for storytellers and visionaries.’

The Electric Hotel is a highly recommended read and for fans of historical fiction, it offers a guaranteed outstanding journey back through time to a fascinating era of innovation and creativity.

Thanks is extended to Allen & Unwin for providing me with a copy of The Electric Hotel for review.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m of the opinion that anything can be interesting if the right person is writing about it.

I’ve no particular interest in early film history, but figured I could get interested based on the above principle.

Unfortunately, this book didn’t do it for me.

There are some fun factoids about the early days of film and Smith writes smoothly, but mostly this was an unrewarding slog.

The relationship between Claude and his muse just isn’t that interesting, and the bulk of the plot is centered around their time together.

All that is to say, I was bored. Really bored.

I expect readers who are into film history or who are fans of historical romance would like this book just fine. But for me, there was simply not enough to hold my attention.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.*

[Paltia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone has a story to tell and Claude is no exception. By chance he responds to an interview request from a film history student. Suddenly he has an audience once again. His story as a pioneer of silent movie making unfolds as Martin, the student, hangs on every word. Claude, an outstanding and creative gentleman has the boundless vision and energy to lead a group to moviemaking history. His ability to identify their talents and ways of being in the world are exactly what’s needed to make the most of each and every one of them. Whatever isolation he once felt vanishes. In the telling of his story he lives those days once again. A fascinating and in depth look at the early history of movie making. By the time I was finished I was ready to watch a silent movie.

[Magdalena aka A Bookaholic Swede · Rating 2 out of 5]

Claude Ballard was once a French pioneer when it comes to silent films. He started off working for the Lumiere brothers before he moved on to make his own short movies but his last movie The Electric Hotel bankrupted and ended his career. Now he's living at the Hollywood Knickerbocker Hotel foraging mushrooms in the hills of Los Angels. And that's where a history major student comes to find and interview him. To talk about his career and this brings back memories. Claude starts to remember his past, the making of the films and most of all Sabine Montrose, his muse.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW OVER AT FRESH FICTION!

[Meike · Rating 3 out of 5]

Australian writer Dominic Smith gives us the story of a lost silent movie - okay, the movie, the title-giving "The Electric Hotel", is fictional, but many of the processes discussed and historic circumstances shown are real. This is a treat for readers who are interested in the history of movies and cinema, feat. a whole cast of characters who illuminate different aspects of the craft and the creation of a new art form. And silent movies are getting a little more popular again: In Luxembourg City, there are regular events where silent movies are shown while the (mostly original) live music is played, from solo piano to the whole symphonic orchestra - and it's great!

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this book. So well written—literary for sure but moving, interesting, and not full of itself. I loved the subject matter—the very early days of silent films in Europe and the United States—told in a flashback from 1962. The historical sequences, particularly the scenes of movie filming and production during World War I and right before in Ft. Lee New Jersey(where movies were made before they moved west to Hollywood) are moving and striking in their capture of what “it must have been like.” Also, an entertaining and melancholy love story, I highly recommend this book.

[Desiree Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Totally drawn in right away. Great imagery, historical setting and references. Put had to put it down at page 7. For some inexplicable reason, the publisher chose to ditch quotation marks for conversation and replaced with just a dash at the beginning of each line. Super distracting and pulled me out of immersion continuously. Such a bummer

[Randy Ades · Rating 5 out of 5]

Masterpiece

Dominic Smith's The Electric Hotel is a magnificent historical novel. it deals the lives of a fictional French-German cinematographer-director during tinIt is brilliantly and beautiful written

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I could not stop reading Dominic Smith's new novel The Electric Hotel. I was transported back in time to the heady early days of film, disturbed by a trek into the horrors of WWI, and enthralled by the vivid characters and their stories, especially the tragic story of unrequited love.

Claude Ballard's cutting-edge, notorious 1910 film The Electric Hotel had impelled audience to high emotion. It was his highest achievement, but it came crashing down when Thomas Edison sued his company for copyright infringement--as he did all his competition, seeking a monopoly on the film industry.

Claude has not seen a movie since 1920 when in 1962 a grad student in filmography seeks him out. He realizes he has been "pickling" himself for thirty years, holed up in a hotel filled with other aging film industry has-beens, his hoard of film decaying from vinegar syndrome.

"He'd witnessed and photographed the passing of a golden, burnished epoch." from The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

As Claude answers Martin's questions and shares his hoard of decaying canisters of film, he revisits his early life and ascent from a French farmer's son who in 1895 was mesmerized by the early Lumiere films, how he became a noted movie maker, then while bravely filming WWI he was taken by the German army, always haunted by the film actress who broke his heart.

"When I dream of that old life I see it like a strip of burning celluloid. It smokes and curls in the air, but it's impossible to hold between my fingers." from The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

Sabine Montrose had beauty but no heart. She arrived in Paris as a teenager and fled when men pursued her. She learned to act and to use men but never would give her heart. Claude became one of her victims when the older woman took him into her bed for one night only. Claude was caught in her web, filmed her and made her an international star, forever hoping that Sabine would allow him into her life once again.

"Loving a woman was like that...was chasing smoke." from The Electric Hotel by Dominic Smith

The son of a failed nickelodeon owner, Hal was the theater owner who ran Claude's films; the small, spunky boy Chip was the burning man in a circus act when he joined the company as a stuntman. Sabine's mysterious mentor Pavel was always at her side.

The mystery of what happened pulled me along like a magnet, but I cherished every sentence of the gorgeous writing and would not skip a line.

Smith was impressed by the quality and art of the early movies he viewed during his research. What treasures have been lost? The Electric Hotel is an actual 1908 film recently rediscovered. I viewed it online here. A couple take a room in a hotel in which stop-action animated luggage takes itself up the elevator and unpacks itself. Brushes clean the traveler's boots. I can imagine the impact on audiences over 100 years ago!

I received an egalley from the publisher in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.

[Mo · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been trying to read this for the past 2 weeks, but just can't make myself read any more of it.



Made it to page 66 and gave up.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. My thanks (and apologies) to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.

[Kathryn in FL · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of the ARC copy won from Goodreads offered in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to all who made this copy available.

I was excited to win this copy. The author has a great story telling ability but I found some details unnecessary, a bit wordy and needing a bit more editing. However, some may find these details add richness to the hotel's former opulence as well as the person's involved. The writing overall is engaging and professional. Since this is not the final product some issues may be resolved in the publication.

I was frustrated while reading due to the small print that gave me a headache while reading. This happened each time I picked the story. I kept the book almost 3 inches from my nose and as I tired (I had a multiple fracture in my upper right arm) that had me suddenly nodding off from extreme exhaustion due to pain, the book kept hitting me in the head and awakening me! I am sure it was a funny sight but for me a bit hazardous, lol.

Though I didn't finish due to the small print and very long paragraphs, I would not discourage those potential readers, who like Hollywood History and slice of life biographies.

[Martie Nees Record · Rating 4 out of 5]

Genre: Historical Fiction/Nickelodeon Early Filmmaking Era
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Pub. Date: June 14, 2019

“The Electric Hotel” is a love letter to an earlier time, written in poetic prose, regarding the creation of filmmaking. The title refers to the advent of electric light and its influence on the budding film industry. Our protagonist is an 85-year-old fictional character named Claude Ballard. He lives in a run-down Hollywood hotel and spends his days photographing street scenes. Claude is one of the pioneers of the movie industry, filming first in France, then in New York, and finally in Fort Lee, NJ. He has not made a movie since his “grand cinematic experiment,” “The Electric Hotel,” which premiered in 1910. The film and his company were his crowning achievements, but he lost it all when Thomas Edison sued him for copyright infringement, as he did with his competitors. This is a story about the rise and fall of Claude’s renowned film studio, told in both the past and present.

Claude reminisces with a young film student who comes to interview him in the hotel. “Maybe memory is just electricity passing through us. Old voltage in the joints.” We learn that Claude was a photographer’s apprentice for the real-life Lumière brothers when he saw his first reels shown in the basement of a Paris hotel in 1895. His work for the Lumières takes him to New York, where he shows moving pictures in a nickelodeon next door to a live theater. The audience’s boisterous responses to Claude’s pictures infuriate touring French actress Sabine Montrose while she is on stage next door. As a result of the commotion, her performance suffers. They clash when they meet. This is the beginning of his obsession with the actress who seduces and inspires him but never loves him as he loves her.

“The Electric Hotel” in Smith’s novel refers to a real, lost silent movie from 1908 by the Spanish director Segundo de Chomón. Smith borrowed this film’s title and some visual elements for his novel. Smith may have been heavy-handed in describing the early filmmaking techniques with one too many explanations of the use of light, camera movement, and the limitations of short film reels. However, if you are a film enthusiast, you won’t mind. “The Electric Hotel” is a beautifully written novel. “Strange, how a person could create something they didn’t understand. But maybe that was what made art great.” With meticulously researched historical detail and philosophical insights, I recommend this sweeping historical novel.
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[Jypsy]

I didn't enjoy The Electric Hotel like I thought I would. I like historical fiction, but I have no interest in the history of film or the main character. I read some and skimmed through some. Overall, this story didn't intrest me enough to really care what happened. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Allen and Unwin]

From the award-winning author of the acclaimed bestseller The Last Painting of Sara de Vos comes a luminous new novel tracing the intertwined fates of a silent film director and his muse.

[Tundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story unfolded and revealed itself in a way that made it an absolute page turner for me. It was so well balanced that I would be struggling to say it was character or plot driven. I know nothing about the silent film era but found this a fabulous seed around which this story was built. I really enjoyed The Last Painting of Sara de Vos but think Dominic Smith has taken his writing up another notch with this. I’m not sure I needed the ending to tie every character up so neatly but I guess many people will appreciate that. I think this would make a magnificent movie - if they can make it how I visualise it in my head!

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claude, one of the earliest filmmakers, recounts the past and muses, "When I dream of that old life I see it like a strip of burning celluloid. It smokes and curls in the air, but it's impossible to hold between my fingers." Claude had a unique idea that even the Lumiere brothers or Edison had not dreamed of: a film with a narrative! He first cast a young Australian, Chip, who sets himself on fire then dives into the ocean for a living: 'He died and got reborn every single day" (in Chip's vernacular). Chip feels one of his vices is 'cleaning his rifle' a little too often, but then again this guy is about 16 years old or so. A world famous stage star is cast, Sabine, the film is made, and preparations begin for the films historic premiere. And then...well, I can't give anything away. I thought the writing lovely. For example: "At about ten-thirty the earth moved into the comet's icy tail, about thirteen million miles from its fiery head," instead of the other way around. Smith goes on to say, "The scintillations [from the comet] came in waves and lasted until two-thirty in the morning....They continued to drink and eat...occasionally pausing to applaud..." As if the comet, or the people on the movie screen, could acknowledge the clapping of hands. Five stars to the first half: imagine the first narrative film being made. Three stars to the second half (WW1 and Edison's impact on Claude and Chip and Sabine). But what really makes this a solid 4-star work is the reaction of those people watching Claude's masterpiece and mistaking it for what it isn't. If you love movies, and you're interested in their impact on our world (yes, absolutely, our world changed with photographs and films) this is a must read for you! I luxuriated for over a week in this lovely read although I really wanted to rip through it in 2 days or so.