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Hotel Milano
From the bestselling writer of Italian Ways, Europa and The Hero's Way, a story set during the first days of lockdown in Europe, about the unexpected kindness of strangers and one man's emotional reckoning.
Milan, 2020. Drawn abruptly from his reclusive life in London for a friend's funeral, Frank finds himself in the eye of a pandemic he had barely registered on the news. From the relative comfort of his balcony at Hotel Milano, he surveys the train station across the piazza, seeing the mad dash for the last trains, hearing the sirens and watching the police stop people in the street. He feels himself remote from it all.
Then, one night, the sound of a child's footsteps leads him to discover a family sheltering secretly above him: a family who need his help. As the days pass, this reserved and difficult man begins to open himself to others. Faced with the task of saving a life, he must also take stock of his own.
Milan, 2020. Drawn abruptly from his reclusive life in London for a friend's funeral, Frank finds himself in the eye of a pandemic he had barely registered on the news. From the relative comfort of his balcony at Hotel Milano, he surveys the train station across the piazza, seeing the mad dash for the last trains, hearing the sirens and watching the police stop people in the street. He feels himself remote from it all.
Then, one night, the sound of a child's footsteps leads him to discover a family sheltering secretly above him: a family who need his help. As the days pass, this reserved and difficult man begins to open himself to others. Faced with the task of saving a life, he must also take stock of his own.
229 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 19, 2023
51 people are currently reading
421 people want to read
About the author
Tim Parks
121 books581 followersBorn in Manchester in 1954, Tim Parks grew up in London and studied at Cambridge and Harvard. In 1981 he moved to Italy where he has lived ever since, raising a family of three children. He has written fourteen novels including Europa (shortlisted for the Booker prize), Destiny, Cleaver, and most recently In Extremis.
During the nineties he wrote two, personal and highly popular accounts of his life in northern Italy, Italian Neighbours and An Italian Education. These were complemented in 2002 by A Season with Verona, a grand overview of Italian life as seen through the passion of football. Other non-fiction works include a history of the Medici bank in 15th century Florence, Medici Money and a memoir on health, illness and meditation, Teach Us to Sit Still. In 2013 Tim published his most recent non-fiction work on Italy, Italian Ways, on and off the rails from Milan to Palermo.
Aside from his own writing, Tim has translated works by Moravia, Calvino, Calasso, Machiavelli and Leopardi; his critical book, Translating Style is considered a classic in its field. He is presently working on a translation of Cesare Pavese's masterpiece, The Moon and the Bonfires.
A regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and the London Review of Books, his many essays are collected in Hell and Back, The Fighter, A Literary Tour of Italy, and Life and Work.
Over the last five years he has been publishing a series of blogs on writing, reading, translation and the like in the New York Review online. These have recently been collected in Where I am Reading From and Pen in Hand.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 78 reviews
December 3, 2024
Frank lives in London, alone. He’s seventy five years old now and weighing his life it’s clear that he feels he’s already lived what’s worth living and he’s now resigned to eking out his remaining years by continually walking the busy streets of the capital. He’d previously written articles for a highbrow magazine, an arrangement brought a premature end to thanks to a particularly provocative article he’d penned. But his ex-boss, who had remained a friend, has died, and he’s been invited to attend his upcoming funeral in Milan. Should he go? Tempted by the possibility of bumping into his combative ex-wife, he decides he will.
On arrival in Milan, he books into a five-star hotel opposite the main railway station. Well, he might as well make the most of what might be his last hurrah. But what happens next is something of a surprise to him, as from his balcony perch he witnesses what seems to be a mass escape from the city; the COVID pandemic has arrived and the exodus has begun. Frank had stopped monitoring the news some time ago, so he hadn’t seen this coming. But worse, his reaction is to somehow perceive this as something that’s happening to other people and to fail to recognise the inherent risks to himself. It’s all a bit of an irritation, and inconvenience. He’ll go about his business as best he can and attempt to work around or simply ignore any restrictions put in place.
The story is told through Frank’s eyes, and it’s largely structured as a stream of consciousness account of his time at the hotel, his thoughts about the funeral he attends, and those he meets there. He also reflects on the people and events that he deems to have been most important to him through his adult life. Aside from his ex-wife and his exciting but needy (and significantly younger) one-time lover, his now deceased friend/ex-boss and his son are figures who feature largely in his thoughts. But his introspection is jarred by the discovery of a family of non-guests living secretly in the hotel. What is he to do about this?
Frank is at once a haunted soul who is struggling to put his life into an acceptable context and a man who is now conflicted as to whether he has reached the end of the road or if, potentially, a new track of tarmac might be opening up in front of him. As someone some ten years younger than Frank, I found some of this slightly scary – is this what I’ve got to look forward to? Thankfully, the story is suffused with just enough intrigue to offset the pathos that might have otherwise smothered it. I liked Frank and recognised something of myself in him, a little but not too much! I enjoyed his wry observations – like me, he’s a big people watcher – I admired his devil may care attitude to the real danger he faced and I also really liked how the book ended, something I often find a bit of a let down.
I’d previously read the author’s A Season with Verona: Travels Around Italy in Search of Illusion, National Character . . . and Goals! in which he travels around Italy following this rather unfashionable provincial football team. But that was many years ago, and now I wonder why I’ve not dipped into his work again since. I plan to put that right, Tim Parks is a fine writer with interesting things to say. I want to hear more of it.
My thanks to Random House UK for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
On arrival in Milan, he books into a five-star hotel opposite the main railway station. Well, he might as well make the most of what might be his last hurrah. But what happens next is something of a surprise to him, as from his balcony perch he witnesses what seems to be a mass escape from the city; the COVID pandemic has arrived and the exodus has begun. Frank had stopped monitoring the news some time ago, so he hadn’t seen this coming. But worse, his reaction is to somehow perceive this as something that’s happening to other people and to fail to recognise the inherent risks to himself. It’s all a bit of an irritation, and inconvenience. He’ll go about his business as best he can and attempt to work around or simply ignore any restrictions put in place.
The story is told through Frank’s eyes, and it’s largely structured as a stream of consciousness account of his time at the hotel, his thoughts about the funeral he attends, and those he meets there. He also reflects on the people and events that he deems to have been most important to him through his adult life. Aside from his ex-wife and his exciting but needy (and significantly younger) one-time lover, his now deceased friend/ex-boss and his son are figures who feature largely in his thoughts. But his introspection is jarred by the discovery of a family of non-guests living secretly in the hotel. What is he to do about this?
Frank is at once a haunted soul who is struggling to put his life into an acceptable context and a man who is now conflicted as to whether he has reached the end of the road or if, potentially, a new track of tarmac might be opening up in front of him. As someone some ten years younger than Frank, I found some of this slightly scary – is this what I’ve got to look forward to? Thankfully, the story is suffused with just enough intrigue to offset the pathos that might have otherwise smothered it. I liked Frank and recognised something of myself in him, a little but not too much! I enjoyed his wry observations – like me, he’s a big people watcher – I admired his devil may care attitude to the real danger he faced and I also really liked how the book ended, something I often find a bit of a let down.
I’d previously read the author’s A Season with Verona: Travels Around Italy in Search of Illusion, National Character . . . and Goals! in which he travels around Italy following this rather unfashionable provincial football team. But that was many years ago, and now I wonder why I’ve not dipped into his work again since. I plan to put that right, Tim Parks is a fine writer with interesting things to say. I want to hear more of it.
My thanks to Random House UK for providing a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
April 18, 2025
British writer Tim Parks (1954) has made it his trademark to introduce neurotic male protagonists, usually writers who are going through an intense crisis, usually in an Italian context, and literary wrapped in a feverish stream of consciousness. In that sense, Hotel Milano is a typical Parks, set in Milan in March 2020, the very place where the Covid pandemic reached its first dramatic peak. The ‘neurotic-one’ on duty is 75-year-old writer Frank Marriot, who initially remains deaf and blind to the world collapsing around him, so preoccupied is he with the death of a dubious literary colleague whose funeral he has come to attend in Milan. Eventually he is confined to the setting of the 5-star Hotel Milano, but still, Marriot is only concerned with musings on the death of his second wife (30 years his junior), with his battle with the literary establishment and his withdrawal from the world, with the hopelessness of growing old, and so on. In other words, with everything except the many deaths that are falling around him at that moment. Only the family of the female Egyptian room cleaner, who is staying illegally in the hotel, confronts him with the harsh reality of the outside world, and in a sense brings about a catharsis.
It sounds strange, but despite the dramatic setting, you can certainly call this novel light-hearted and entertaining. But that is mainly because Parks keeps the storyline under control like a grandmaster, and regularly makes us smile with Marriot's bumbling and nervous musings. At least at first, because it seems to me that towards the end the author didn’t know exactly how to put the story down, and decided to wrap it up quite suddenly. I especially missed the dramatic intensity and much more complex themes of Parks' masterpieces Europa and Destiny. Mind you, this is a smooth read, so certainly not a bad novel, but in my opinion Parks has certainly done better.
It sounds strange, but despite the dramatic setting, you can certainly call this novel light-hearted and entertaining. But that is mainly because Parks keeps the storyline under control like a grandmaster, and regularly makes us smile with Marriot's bumbling and nervous musings. At least at first, because it seems to me that towards the end the author didn’t know exactly how to put the story down, and decided to wrap it up quite suddenly. I especially missed the dramatic intensity and much more complex themes of Parks' masterpieces Europa and Destiny. Mind you, this is a smooth read, so certainly not a bad novel, but in my opinion Parks has certainly done better.
March 6, 2025
3,5’tan 4.
pek çok insan beğenmemiş “hotel milano”yu. bunun sebeplerinden biri de insanlara mart 2020’de yaşadıklarımızı anımsatması. normal bir tepki. ben pek de normal bir insan olmadığım için pandemiyle birlikte kendime dair bir aydınlanma süreci geçirdiğimden (40 ve pandemi çakışması) vallahi o günleri anımsamayı da çok seviyorum.
tim parks sevdiğim bir yazar. burada 75 yaşında, yani riskli grupta biri olarak eski arkadaşının cenazesine gittiği milano’da mahsur kalıyor diyelim. haber izlemediği için covid konusunda biraz umursamaz. ama işler değişip de milano’da mahsur kalınca o lüks otelin adım adım distopik bir mekana dönüşmesinden tutun sokaktaki, insanlardaki değişimleri çok iyi anlatmış. maske zorunluluğu, bulunamayan maskeler, mesafe, ateş ölçerler, dokunmamak, market sıraları… yahu neler yaşadık. elbette bunların yazılması gerekiyor.
ayrıca ben diliyle yazılmış romandaki anlatıcı frank da kendisiyle hesaplaşıyor. iki evliliğiyle, evlenir evlenmez kanser olan ikinci karısı rachel’ın gencecik ölümüyle, o nedenle mi bu kadar umursamaz olduğuyla, kim olduğu, ne istediğiyle… (evet o yaşta bile)
o nedenle ben bu sorgulamaları genç karısından dolayı romanda hep karşımıza çıkan baba-kız meselesini sevdim. romanda zorlama olan neydi peki? evet bence de mısırlı aile ve frank’in kendisini parçalarcasına onlara yardım etmeye çalışması biraz zorlamaydı. evet beyaz avrupalı zengin adam bunları sever ama muhtemelen bu denli tehlikede değil. en azından memnuniyetle sidik bok kusmuk temizlemez. bunları yapacak biri için para harcar en fazla.
ama tim parks’ımız nedense böyle sınıfsal ırksal bir durum da yaratmak istemiş. olsun sadece mükemmel pandemi başlangıcı anlatımı bile benim için yeterliydi.
roza hakmen’in kusursuz çevirisiyle.
pek çok insan beğenmemiş “hotel milano”yu. bunun sebeplerinden biri de insanlara mart 2020’de yaşadıklarımızı anımsatması. normal bir tepki. ben pek de normal bir insan olmadığım için pandemiyle birlikte kendime dair bir aydınlanma süreci geçirdiğimden (40 ve pandemi çakışması) vallahi o günleri anımsamayı da çok seviyorum.
tim parks sevdiğim bir yazar. burada 75 yaşında, yani riskli grupta biri olarak eski arkadaşının cenazesine gittiği milano’da mahsur kalıyor diyelim. haber izlemediği için covid konusunda biraz umursamaz. ama işler değişip de milano’da mahsur kalınca o lüks otelin adım adım distopik bir mekana dönüşmesinden tutun sokaktaki, insanlardaki değişimleri çok iyi anlatmış. maske zorunluluğu, bulunamayan maskeler, mesafe, ateş ölçerler, dokunmamak, market sıraları… yahu neler yaşadık. elbette bunların yazılması gerekiyor.
ayrıca ben diliyle yazılmış romandaki anlatıcı frank da kendisiyle hesaplaşıyor. iki evliliğiyle, evlenir evlenmez kanser olan ikinci karısı rachel’ın gencecik ölümüyle, o nedenle mi bu kadar umursamaz olduğuyla, kim olduğu, ne istediğiyle… (evet o yaşta bile)
o nedenle ben bu sorgulamaları genç karısından dolayı romanda hep karşımıza çıkan baba-kız meselesini sevdim. romanda zorlama olan neydi peki? evet bence de mısırlı aile ve frank’in kendisini parçalarcasına onlara yardım etmeye çalışması biraz zorlamaydı. evet beyaz avrupalı zengin adam bunları sever ama muhtemelen bu denli tehlikede değil. en azından memnuniyetle sidik bok kusmuk temizlemez. bunları yapacak biri için para harcar en fazla.
ama tim parks’ımız nedense böyle sınıfsal ırksal bir durum da yaratmak istemiş. olsun sadece mükemmel pandemi başlangıcı anlatımı bile benim için yeterliydi.
roza hakmen’in kusursuz çevirisiyle.
April 13, 2023
Last weekend we had a Milanese taxi driver who was very surprised to hear that covid was still a thing. Why you still wearing masks, he asked? Covid finished now. It reminded me of a conversation that I had back at the very start of covid, with a friend who has lived in Milan for ten years. On 28 Feb 2020, we chatted via Skype. I told her we were stocking up for the pandemic. She said 'Oh, please. It's just the flu.' I said 'I don't think you should think like that. It isn't just the flu.' She said 'That's what the experts are saying here. It's just a new flu virus for which there's no prevention/ vaccine available yet. Only has killed people with other pathologies.' And then...
Nine days later, a national lockdown was declared in Italy. This latest novel by Parks is a hybrid, part reverie, part thriller. A strange combination which he has the chutzpah to bring off. An elderly Englishman, who by profession has been an observer of the world, finds himself in a posh hotel in Milan, arriving just a day or so before the borders are closed. He lost his taste for his profession long ago, and he has no interest in finding out what this covid is, and what he should do about it. There is a sense that he has reached a point in his life where caring is not worth the effort. That, however, is easier said than done, as the story unfolds.
Full disclosure, as you can see from my 'books read' I am very keen on Tim Parks, but that's for a reason, this IS good. Friends, read it!
Nine days later, a national lockdown was declared in Italy. This latest novel by Parks is a hybrid, part reverie, part thriller. A strange combination which he has the chutzpah to bring off. An elderly Englishman, who by profession has been an observer of the world, finds himself in a posh hotel in Milan, arriving just a day or so before the borders are closed. He lost his taste for his profession long ago, and he has no interest in finding out what this covid is, and what he should do about it. There is a sense that he has reached a point in his life where caring is not worth the effort. That, however, is easier said than done, as the story unfolds.
Full disclosure, as you can see from my 'books read' I am very keen on Tim Parks, but that's for a reason, this IS good. Friends, read it!
February 7, 2023
Another pandemic novel, and a good one. It goes back to March 2020, when we hardly knew a thing about COVID and how it would affect us all. The main character is Frank, a 75 year old British writer, who at first seems a bit unsympathetic and unfeeling but slowly changes when he meets the family of refugees (?) that have been hiding in the attic above his hotel room in Milan. Beautifully told novel about kindness in difficult times.
Thank you Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley for the ARC.
Thank you Penguin Random House UK and Netgalley for the ARC.
November 1, 2024
Hotel Milano, uzun zamandır okuduğum en yeni kitap. 2023'te yayımlanmış. Tim Parks'ın dilimize kazandırılan tüm kitaplarını okumuş bir okuru olarak konusu hakkında hiçbir fikrim olmadan bunu da hemen edindim ve pandemi ile karşılaşınca çok şaşırdım:) 3-4 yıl önceki pandemide başımıza gelen her detayı "a evet, böyleydi" diyerek okudum ve hafızanın zayıflığına hayret ettim. O öngörülemez ve karamsar dönemde yaşadıklarımız ne çabuk silinmiş.. Birisinin bunları kayda geçirmesi gerekiyordu. Tim Parks yaşadığımız çağa tanıklık ediyor.
75 yaşındaki Frank'in, eski bir gazeteci, arkadaşının cenazesi için Milano'ya gitmesi ile başlıyor kitap. Frank televizyon izlemiyor haberleri takip etmiyor 'hengamenin ortasında bir münzevi' gibi yaşamaya devam ediyor. Ancak tam bir kapanma ve kısıtlama başlamasıyla otelde mahsur kalıyor. Kendisini zaten hayatın içinde hissetmediği için pek de sarsmıyor onu hiçbir şey. Herkes İtalya'dan kaçmaya çalışırken, marketler kapanır seyahatler kısıtlanırken ne olduğunu hiç merak etmeyip "tek isteğim odama dönüp kitabımı okumak" diyebiliyor:) Tennyson ve Homeros okuyor. Kitaplardan cümleleri kendi hayatına yerleştiriyor. Yalnız kaldıkça, okudukça geçmişi musallat oluyor. "Okuduğun her şeyi kendi hayatınla ilişkilendirmek bir çeşit çılgınlıktır" denildiğinde "Okumanın başka bir yolu var mı ki?" cevabını veriyor.
Önce şaşaalı sonra kasvetli bir mekana dönüşen otelde mahsur kalma hissi okurken anında The Shining filmini hatırlattı ki yazar da bir noktada bu filmi andı.
'Kısa zamanda değişen, hiçbir şeyin anlamlı olmasının beklenmediği' bir dünyada eve dönmesinin de meseleyi noktalamak anlamına gelmeyeceğini düşünüyor.
Tim Parks, çağımız yazarlarının çoğunun işlediği toksik aile ilişkilerinden, psikololik şiddetten, çocukluk travmalarından azade bir kurguyla kısa kopuk cümlelerden boğulan okur için nefes aldırıcı, akıcı, zamanı mekanı hissettiren bir eser ortaya çıkarmış.
Yazarın tüm kitaplarını tavsiye ederim. Öncelikli tavsiyem Kader kitabı.
75 yaşındaki Frank'in, eski bir gazeteci, arkadaşının cenazesi için Milano'ya gitmesi ile başlıyor kitap. Frank televizyon izlemiyor haberleri takip etmiyor 'hengamenin ortasında bir münzevi' gibi yaşamaya devam ediyor. Ancak tam bir kapanma ve kısıtlama başlamasıyla otelde mahsur kalıyor. Kendisini zaten hayatın içinde hissetmediği için pek de sarsmıyor onu hiçbir şey. Herkes İtalya'dan kaçmaya çalışırken, marketler kapanır seyahatler kısıtlanırken ne olduğunu hiç merak etmeyip "tek isteğim odama dönüp kitabımı okumak" diyebiliyor:) Tennyson ve Homeros okuyor. Kitaplardan cümleleri kendi hayatına yerleştiriyor. Yalnız kaldıkça, okudukça geçmişi musallat oluyor. "Okuduğun her şeyi kendi hayatınla ilişkilendirmek bir çeşit çılgınlıktır" denildiğinde "Okumanın başka bir yolu var mı ki?" cevabını veriyor.
Önce şaşaalı sonra kasvetli bir mekana dönüşen otelde mahsur kalma hissi okurken anında The Shining filmini hatırlattı ki yazar da bir noktada bu filmi andı.
'Kısa zamanda değişen, hiçbir şeyin anlamlı olmasının beklenmediği' bir dünyada eve dönmesinin de meseleyi noktalamak anlamına gelmeyeceğini düşünüyor.
Tim Parks, çağımız yazarlarının çoğunun işlediği toksik aile ilişkilerinden, psikololik şiddetten, çocukluk travmalarından azade bir kurguyla kısa kopuk cümlelerden boğulan okur için nefes aldırıcı, akıcı, zamanı mekanı hissettiren bir eser ortaya çıkarmış.
Yazarın tüm kitaplarını tavsiye ederim. Öncelikli tavsiyem Kader kitabı.
September 17, 2023
Unusual story about a man essentially trapped in his luxury hotel at the start of the pandemic, I was gripped until the end. I’ve never read any Tim Parks but will definitely try some of his other books. Very well written.
June 28, 2023
I loved this book. It's tender, understated but warm and never boring. The drama here is internal as well as external. A man is dealing with age-related demons, past and present. While on a visit to Milan to attend a former boss' funeral, he is confronted by memories of people who were part of his personal history, developing insights on what they have become and how they have changed that mirror what is happening to him. He is also meeting new people, who help him understand his new place in the world as an older man. Wonderful writing, intelligent and accurate.
December 6, 2024
Tim Parks ne yazsa okurum
November 28, 2024
Offf. Ruhum daraldı.
December 9, 2024
Tim Parks'ı "Kader" ile tanımış ve çok etkilenmiştim. "Hotel Milano"yu da o hevesle aldım ama hem Covid ağırlıklı konusu, hem kitabın sıradan bulduğum kurgusu hayal kırıklığı yaşattı...
January 21, 2024
The 'Covid novels' have well and truly began, haven't they?
Hotel Milano
by Tim Parks isn't the only one I've read, but it's the first where the whole story is based around the pandemic.
It begins with a man named Frank, who is drawn abruptly from his reclusive life in London for the funeral of a friend. The funeral is in Milan, and he makes hasty preparations to travel there.
Frank is an ex-journalist, and left the industry disillusioned. As a result, he doesn't own a television or read newspapers... and so has no idea that as he flies to Italy, he is heading into the eye of the pandemic.
He checks into the luxury Hotel Milano and within days the city is in lockdown and travel has been restricted. Frank's stay is anything but straightforward - beginning with the funeral and encounters with people from the past, to becoming embroiled in the complicated lives of other hotel guests and staff.
There were elements of the story I enjoyed - the growing sense of claustrophobia and frustration as the restrictions mounted was well done. We all know how the pandemic played out, but that didn't detract from the sense of tension that Parks created. However, some of the subplots didn't eventuate to much. I don't necessarily mind a lack of resolution but in this case, particular characters seemed to be introduced for a purpose, only to have the story peter out.
The impact of significant age differences in relationships was focused on through a number of characters, and was also central to Frank's reflections, but again it never resulted in anything meaty - there are no revelations, and in fact, the inclusion of a hotel guest, a young woman, and Frank's interest in her is just plain icky.
Overall, uneven.
2.5/5
It begins with a man named Frank, who is drawn abruptly from his reclusive life in London for the funeral of a friend. The funeral is in Milan, and he makes hasty preparations to travel there.
Dan's funeral has woken you up, I thought. And smiled. Woken for a wake.
Frank is an ex-journalist, and left the industry disillusioned. As a result, he doesn't own a television or read newspapers... and so has no idea that as he flies to Italy, he is heading into the eye of the pandemic.
He checks into the luxury Hotel Milano and within days the city is in lockdown and travel has been restricted. Frank's stay is anything but straightforward - beginning with the funeral and encounters with people from the past, to becoming embroiled in the complicated lives of other hotel guests and staff.
There were elements of the story I enjoyed - the growing sense of claustrophobia and frustration as the restrictions mounted was well done. We all know how the pandemic played out, but that didn't detract from the sense of tension that Parks created. However, some of the subplots didn't eventuate to much. I don't necessarily mind a lack of resolution but in this case, particular characters seemed to be introduced for a purpose, only to have the story peter out.
The impact of significant age differences in relationships was focused on through a number of characters, and was also central to Frank's reflections, but again it never resulted in anything meaty - there are no revelations, and in fact, the inclusion of a hotel guest, a young woman, and Frank's interest in her is just plain icky.
Overall, uneven.
2.5/5
April 14, 2023
Мъжът на 80 плюс, въпросите на старостта и вечните въпроси на смъртта и живота. В Милано, началото на пендемията 2020. Няколко добри попадения.
July 16, 2024
Al vaker boeken gelezen die in Corona tijd spelen, maar in dit boek heeft Corona voor het eerst een duidelijke rol. Oudere man die onvoorbereid maart 2020 naar Milaan gaat, zich aan omstandigheden aanpast, nieuwe mensen leert kennen en tijd heeft op de belangrijkste relaties in z'n leven te reflecteren. Mooi en goed geschreven boek.
February 12, 2023
Hotel Milano is perhaps Tim Parks’s best novel of recent releases. He has a special way of writing stories about interesting, entitled men - particularly men in the later stages of their lives. And this novel lives up to that MO if you like.
Frank is a character you’re not too sure about at first, but you do warm to him. I often find I don’t have anything in common with the protagonists of Tim Parks’s stories, and that can make it difficult to connect with them. But Frank has a hidden kindness and empathy that takes desperate people in need to bring those qualities out.
What Parks is also great at is writing stories that only show a snapshot of their life. One or two events that happen in the moment, rather than taking readers throughout the protagonist’s life as if it were a journey. This doesn’t always work - but with Hotel Milano it does. You get sucked into the claustrophobia of being shut inside a hotel with the same reoccurring characters.
I do feel this won’t appeal to everyone. It certainly lacks a commercial angle - which is absolutely fine, I just don’t know if people are ready for a Covid story right now though. This may antagonise people directly affected by the pandemic and lockdowns.
Frank is a character you’re not too sure about at first, but you do warm to him. I often find I don’t have anything in common with the protagonists of Tim Parks’s stories, and that can make it difficult to connect with them. But Frank has a hidden kindness and empathy that takes desperate people in need to bring those qualities out.
What Parks is also great at is writing stories that only show a snapshot of their life. One or two events that happen in the moment, rather than taking readers throughout the protagonist’s life as if it were a journey. This doesn’t always work - but with Hotel Milano it does. You get sucked into the claustrophobia of being shut inside a hotel with the same reoccurring characters.
I do feel this won’t appeal to everyone. It certainly lacks a commercial angle - which is absolutely fine, I just don’t know if people are ready for a Covid story right now though. This may antagonise people directly affected by the pandemic and lockdowns.
January 18, 2023
A solid pandemic novel following and English writer inadvertently stuck in a Milanese hotel as the pandemic starts to spiral. Parks always writes the Engliahman abroad really well, and this is no exception. I was getting shades of Cleaver as I read this, although possibly with a more sympathetic protagonist. I highly recommend this one.
January 16, 2024
Schöne Sprache, aber nein, das reicht eben nicht
April 12, 2024
This is the first novel I’ve read about the COVID-19 pandemic. It was mentioned towards the end of Sally Rooney’s Beautiful World, Where Are You, but it wasn’t a major feature of that book’s plot. It’s also the first proper Tim Parks novel I’ve read; Italian Life: A Modern Fable of Loyalty and Betrayal is novelistic but felt like a non-fiction memoir.
Hotel Milano centres around Frank Marriot, a 75-year-old retired writer from London, who travels to Milan to attend the funeral of his friend and former magazine editor, Dan, just as the COVID-19 pandemic is breaking out in Italy in early March 2020. He stays in the expensive Grand Hotel Milano near the railway station and gets stuck there as lockdown restrictions are imposed across the region, restricting travel.
Frank muses over his career, relationships, and old age while he is confined to the hotel and its immediate environs. And despite the public health restrictions, he makes connections with the other people he encounters in the hotel.
I found it interesting to read Parks as a novellist. Although some familiar themes from his non-fiction return, the focus is much less on the curiosities of Italian life and culture in this book. It was compelling reading and it makes me want to read more of his novels - particularly Europa, which was shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize.
Hotel Milano centres around Frank Marriot, a 75-year-old retired writer from London, who travels to Milan to attend the funeral of his friend and former magazine editor, Dan, just as the COVID-19 pandemic is breaking out in Italy in early March 2020. He stays in the expensive Grand Hotel Milano near the railway station and gets stuck there as lockdown restrictions are imposed across the region, restricting travel.
Frank muses over his career, relationships, and old age while he is confined to the hotel and its immediate environs. And despite the public health restrictions, he makes connections with the other people he encounters in the hotel.
I found it interesting to read Parks as a novellist. Although some familiar themes from his non-fiction return, the focus is much less on the curiosities of Italian life and culture in this book. It was compelling reading and it makes me want to read more of his novels - particularly Europa, which was shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize.
September 29, 2024
This wouldn't be a book I would usually reach for. I only read it as it was the next on the list for my book club. I struggled to get into it at the very beginning - perhaps because of the writing style. I often found myself doubling back to read over a page to make better sense of it. I then switched to the audiobook for it and it flowed a lot better. Towards the end of it I got into it. Ultimately you begin to learn that the main character hasn't been as active in life since his wife died, and it is COVID and being trapped in a hotel room that ironically gets him back into living again.
June 6, 2023
Ja meidon ik weet t niet - het verhaal speelde zich dus af in COVID tijd en daar hoef ik niet per se aan herinnert te worden maar het was op zich wel interessant om iemand anders (75 jarige man die vast zit in een hotel in milaan) hun beleveniswereld te kruipen, maar ook absoluut niet denderend snap je
April 15, 2024
An enjoyable, straightforward read.
May 26, 2024
This is quite different to anything I have read, but in a good way. I found myself wondering why the main character, Frank, didn't have much get up and go in the beginning. But then I warmed to him and the way he looked after others. A book about finding yourself later in life.
October 1, 2024
Had I not needed to finish this book for my book club, this would’ve been a hard DNF for me. I swapped to the audio book after chapter 5 which made the rest of the novel slightly more bearable for me. I didn’t enjoy the writing style and personally found it quite confusing to read at times. Overall nothing about this book grabbed me and I unfortunately would not recommend!
February 14, 2023
A thought provoking, poignant, and well written story that I loved.. I love Tim Parks as reading his books it's like looking at my country through different eyes and discovering new things.
This story is another one that made me think and turn pages as fast as I could.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
This story is another one that made me think and turn pages as fast as I could.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine
February 5, 2023
Reclusive Frank, a 75-year-old retired writer and academic, receives an invitation to the funeral of an old friend and rival. Almost in spite of himself he decides to go, ready, he feels, to confront old memories. But Frank no longer keeps up with the news and is unaware of the increasingly alarming Covid pandemic that is unfolding. In Milan he soon discovers that he can no longer ignore what is happening in the wider world when he finds himself quarantined in his hotel by the escalating restrictions. By nature introspective and self-absorbed, the reader is privy to Frank's inner thoughts and reflections and he becomes very real. Well-constructed and expertly paced, the novel is an absorbing and resonant read and certainly a convincing Covid novel – of which I suspect we shall see many more examples over the coming months and years. This one is a commendable forerunner and I found entering into Frank’s world as Covid spreads its grip a compelling and authentic experience.
November 17, 2024
Ik geloof niet dat ik het echt zou aanraden. ‘Grappig’ om terug te gaan naar Milaan tijdens de eerste lockdown. Bizar verhaal maar ergens had het ook werkelijkheid kunnen zijn.
May 8, 2024
My first pandemic novel. I'm not really interested in this sub-genre, but in the case of Tim Parks, whom I adore, I made an exception. Like so many of Park's stories, this one is set in Italy, in Milan to be precise. The protagonist, who has traveled there for the funeral of a business colleague and friend, is trapped in a luxury hotel due to the rapid outbreak of the Covid pandemic and has a lot of time to deal with himself and his fellow human beings.
The author only hints at the first-person narrator's past: Early seventies, former journalist and author from London, who wrote a groundbreaking essay but then threw it all away at some point. His relationships with two women have also come to an end. One of them, his ex-wife, went to bed with the colleague who is now buried in Milan, and his relationship with her and his son from the marriage is rather difficult. The other woman was the joy of his later years, but was snatched from him by illness and death of his younger partner.
Much of the book is a retrospective of an old man who has already experienced a lot in life and has actually done everything. The main character of the book can't really answer the question of what is still to come. Instead, he strikes up conversations with other hotel guests, is interested in women, but above all sacrifices himself for a refugee family living unrecognized in the hotel, some of whom are suffering from Covid. The countdown to the planned return flight to England is running and the end of the book is open to interpretation.
I liked the novel. It is an unagitated retrospective by an old man who no longer expects to experience much more and is therefore not afraid of the pandemic. It's about death, loss and love, in other words the big dramatic themes, although the tone is rather sober and chatty. The protagonist vacillates between introspection and compassion for others - I couldn't really connect with the main character, but I didn't find him unsympathetic either.
You can also tell that Parks is turning 70 this year and that he is asking himself different questions at this stage of his life than he used to do earlier. Incidentally, like Cormac McCarthy, Parks no longer uses quotation marks in direct speech, which sometimes makes reading a little more difficult. A good book, even if not an absolute milestone. I liked "Cleaver", which is also about the navel-gazing of an ageing man, a little better.
The author only hints at the first-person narrator's past: Early seventies, former journalist and author from London, who wrote a groundbreaking essay but then threw it all away at some point. His relationships with two women have also come to an end. One of them, his ex-wife, went to bed with the colleague who is now buried in Milan, and his relationship with her and his son from the marriage is rather difficult. The other woman was the joy of his later years, but was snatched from him by illness and death of his younger partner.
Much of the book is a retrospective of an old man who has already experienced a lot in life and has actually done everything. The main character of the book can't really answer the question of what is still to come. Instead, he strikes up conversations with other hotel guests, is interested in women, but above all sacrifices himself for a refugee family living unrecognized in the hotel, some of whom are suffering from Covid. The countdown to the planned return flight to England is running and the end of the book is open to interpretation.
I liked the novel. It is an unagitated retrospective by an old man who no longer expects to experience much more and is therefore not afraid of the pandemic. It's about death, loss and love, in other words the big dramatic themes, although the tone is rather sober and chatty. The protagonist vacillates between introspection and compassion for others - I couldn't really connect with the main character, but I didn't find him unsympathetic either.
You can also tell that Parks is turning 70 this year and that he is asking himself different questions at this stage of his life than he used to do earlier. Incidentally, like Cormac McCarthy, Parks no longer uses quotation marks in direct speech, which sometimes makes reading a little more difficult. A good book, even if not an absolute milestone. I liked "Cleaver", which is also about the navel-gazing of an ageing man, a little better.
April 21, 2023
As a seasoned globetrotter for +30 years currently on my third train from Leuven Belgium to Leeds I highly enjoyed this read. Very thoughtful and warm. Just done the Eurostar for the very first time. The book lasted all the way to Leuven and back up to London. Glad I brought two more.
The book hotel Milano is a detailed description of human observations and thoughts. I connect with many of them and felt overwhelming rich and content while reading the book. It's about travels and meeting people which I done myself for many many years.
Tuesday night after too many Belgium trappist beers I ended up sharing my kebab and chips with the beautiful Russian receptionist in my hotel at 0215.
Was last month in Milano so can connect to the landscape and it's people.
The book describes the start of the covid epidemic and I recall I was in Venice a month before the outbreak so I can feel for them that did not survive it. Had covid twice or three times by now. Latest time was end of March 2023. Feeling fine and I really hope Frank recovered and could travel back home and meet Ben and Sophie and hand her the birthday presents.
God bless you all.
The book hotel Milano is a detailed description of human observations and thoughts. I connect with many of them and felt overwhelming rich and content while reading the book. It's about travels and meeting people which I done myself for many many years.
Tuesday night after too many Belgium trappist beers I ended up sharing my kebab and chips with the beautiful Russian receptionist in my hotel at 0215.
Was last month in Milano so can connect to the landscape and it's people.
The book describes the start of the covid epidemic and I recall I was in Venice a month before the outbreak so I can feel for them that did not survive it. Had covid twice or three times by now. Latest time was end of March 2023. Feeling fine and I really hope Frank recovered and could travel back home and meet Ben and Sophie and hand her the birthday presents.
God bless you all.
January 11, 2025
Kader ve Europa romanlarını çok sevdiğim Tim Parks’ın son kitabı Hotel Milano’ya keyifle okuyacağım beklentisi ile başladım ancak kitabı beğendiğimi söyleyemeyeceğim.
Yazarı sevdiğim için kıyamadığımdan 3⭐️ verdim.
Okumak isteyenler için önemli bilgi; hikaye Covid-19 döneminde geçiyor. Yakın dönem kabusumuz pandemi ile ilgili bir okuma benim içimi daralttı açıkçası…
Yazarı sevdiğim için kıyamadığımdan 3⭐️ verdim.
Okumak isteyenler için önemli bilgi; hikaye Covid-19 döneminde geçiyor. Yakın dönem kabusumuz pandemi ile ilgili bir okuma benim içimi daralttı açıkçası…
August 28, 2023
I enjoyed Part 1 of the text, where we learn about Frank and his life as a writer, but as the story unfolded I was wanting more. I was left with more questions than answers…is Ben really his son? What happened to Omar and his family? Does Carmen’s father regain consciousness? Does Frank make it home? Unfortunately, it was a frustrating read for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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