Hotel Bars and the Art of Being Conscious

by August Delp

A "Top 100 Notable Indie" of 2021 —Shelf Unbound

Consciousness, experience & existence, friends & lovers, alcohol, meaning, life's journey—all the good stuff—are rolled together in this Gen X, coming-of-middle-age story. Driven in equal parts by characters, plot, and ideas, this book should not be missed.

"For those who enjoy an intelligent escape, Hotel Bars provides a thought-provoking and entertaining read... The story is well-plotted and colored with entertaining detail..." —BlueInk Review

"Delp's prose is smooth..." —Kirkus Reviews

"There are interesting insights about big questions throughout... Characters leave after last call a little more enlightened..." —Foreword Clarion Reviews

After dropping off her only son at a Swiss boarding school, independent and self-sufficient Daisy becomes a hotel bartender in order to pursue experience and search for meaning, looking to explore life's next stage. She befriends Coop, an advertising executive and bar patron, who is also a recent empty nester. Together, they attend a consciousness conference at which Daisy reconnects with Bianca, a neuroscientist and Daisy’s college roommate from many years prior.

The brilliant and hyper-connected Bianca, once a rising star in the neuroscience world, has semi-secretly worked on the development of mind-control drugs for the last two decades. She is recruited by a billionaire software mogul to help free his niece from a Japanese cult.

In parallel storylines, Bianca battles the cult and Daisy undertakes a backpacking pilgrimage to find the meaning of life. The intertwined plots explore the nature of consciousness and its implications for the human experience.

279 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 2, 2021

Reviews

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a fun exploration of a woman's search for meaning after her son leaves home, with PNW flavor. Well drawn scenes and places, smart dialogue and ideas, and a surprising covert op to add some spice. A little too much "brain" talk and "meaning" talk for me - those sections could have been whittled more. Overall a good read.

[Stella Jorette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hotel Bars and the Art of Being Conscious is more of a thought experiment than a novel but a thought experiment well worth reading. Peculiarly cerebral, alone but not lonely, characters contemplate the meaning of life whilst seated comfortably at the pinnacle of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Main character, Daisy decides to seek meaning through experience, and the experience she chooses is bar-tending. She has her reasons, but Daisy is a highly functional untroubled alcoholic. (And warning: much and varied alcohol is convivially consumed in the course of this tale without ill effect to the point that this book might not suit a reader in recovery). But through the bar-tending, she encounters several characters who aid her search, including scientist Bianca who adds to the conversation about meaning. But in the end, Daisy must finds her meaning of life alone. And the result is of interest, especially those in similar straights to Ms Daisy.

[KATHY · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rated this very good because although it was hard to stay with at times, it gave a lot of food for thought and had a good story line, especially with the related sidelines of mind control and cults. The existentialism debate wouldn't have been as interesting without that. Highly interesting how the main character brought their question to bar-tending and all the input they got there! I found this knowledgeable and interesting subject matter, particularly with our current cultural crisis of "meaning".

[William Kellett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the conversations about consciousness in the book are valuable. However, the story is disjointed and weird.