| Format: | Hardback |
| Author: | Heather O’Neill |
| Series: | No |
| Genre: | Historical Fiction, Magical Realism, Romance, Adult |
| Publication date: | February 7, 2017 |
| Pages: | 389 |
*There are spoilers in this review, but they are hidden until clicked on.
“They had never been taught words of affection. Although the two had only known harsh terms and words of discipline, they had managed to transform them into words of love.”
— Page 10
“In a world like this, it takes great creative gifts to thwart one’s origins. It might also take true love.
Two babies are abandoned in a Montreal orphanage in the winter of 1914. Before long, their talents emerge, earning them both adoration and hatred. Pierrot is a piano prodigy; scrappy Rose can light up even the dreariest room with her dancing and comedy. While forced to travel around the city performing clown routines to raise funds for their orphanage, the children fall in love with each other. They also make plans for a sensational future together, dreaming of the most provocative circus show the world has ever seen.
When they are separated as teenagers, Rose and Pierrot are devastated. Rose becomes the nanny of two children almost as incorrigible as she is, and Pierrot is taken in by a kindly old man who encourages his talent. But this is the Great Depression, and when their lives crumble individually beneath them, both Rose and Pierrot escape into the city’s underbelly. Dabbling in sex, drugs, and theft in order to get by, neither knows whether the other has survived. But the memories of each other—and of their extraordinary shared ambitions—keep them searching and fuel their determination to succeed. These two are no ordinary criminals, and if they ever hit the New York stage, neither the theater nor the alleys will ever look the same.
Dazzling, whimsical, dark, and affecting, The Lonely Hearts Hotel is an unparalleled tale of charismatic pianos, invisible dance partners, radicalized chorus girls, drug-addicted musicians, brooding clowns, and an underworld whose economy hinges on the price of a kiss. With her musical language and extravagantly realized universe, Heather O’Neill enchants us with a novel so magical, there is no escaping its spell.”
Book jacket description
“He made me feel safe so I could have all these dangerous thoughts. I think that might be what love is.”
Page 210
How I Felt About The Lonely Hearts Hotel
I have so many thoughts about this book, and it’s probably my favorite book.
I thought the writing style was fantastic. There were a ton of descriptions, and I could envision these events as I read them. I loved Pierrot and Rose’s dynamic and how they complement one another. I’m a sucker for these types of love stories. They both had charismatic personalities, and they were so clever and charming.
Maybe it’s because I was adopted (thankfully spared from Rose’s and Pierrot’s traumas) and around the time of reading this (Roe v. Wade overturned), following the lives of these two unwanted orphans made me pay closer attention and angry that this is the type of world we live in. While not all of these events happen to children in the system, I’m not oblivious to the fact that these horrific events can happen to children in today’s times.
“Being a woman was a trap. Something would bring you down before you turned twenty-three. The only time the world shows you any favor, or cuts you any slack, is during that very brief period of courtship where the world is trying to f*ck you for the first time.”
— Page 133
Rose and Pierrot question their identity, and it’s sad when they called themselves unwanted children, but that is true in their case and this time period. After all, Pierrot’s mother was called “Ignorance” at the hospital—and she was only 12!
Anyway, before I stray further, let’s get back to the book and dissect what I liked and disliked.
Here’s the first page, which it really sets the tone for the book:
Warning: rape is mentioned on the first page
The Goodreads reviews are mixed, rightly so considering the dark topics in this novel, but I hope potential readers aren’t instantly put off by the horrific subjects in this book. It was worth the read, and I’m incredibly surprised by how much I loved this book.
A lot of people seemed to have The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern in mind and had similar expectations for this novel. That book was a DNF for me, and I read 124 pages of the book before deciding to not finish it. I really tried, but I couldn’t get into it.
“Humans were always more capable of evil than you could imagine. And they were also capable of more wonderment than you could ever fathom.”
Page 265
Likes
I have never cried this much over a book, but I did, and I’m still emotional thinking about it. I was rooting so hard for Rose and Pierrot to succeed in life, and there were so many times where it seemed bleak. I honestly had no idea how this story would end, but I wasn’t expecting a happy ending.
After all, this was set during the Great Depression. How could two orphans with no real family stand a chance and live an upstanding life?
Here are some things that I liked about the book
They came so, so close to running into one another a few times before they actually did. Having them reconnect in life was a slow burn. This drove me crazy, and I just had to keep going. There were many times and, admittedly, I cried a little as this happened a few times. I was already too invested in their story, and their longing to be reunited again was heartbreaking.
I ached whenever one decided not to go the the place where the other would be, or they turned around before running into one another, or when their acquaintance/friend circles started overlapping and they were just a room away from one another. By this time, I couldn’t wait until they were reunited.
A favorite moment of mine is when Rose and Pierrot are older and searching for one another in Montreal. O’Neill wrote this scene brilliantly and beautifully. They were on the same street but on opposite sides, yet they were acting like they were asking each other questions about how they each turned out, or they talked about mundane moments, imagining they were with each other and sharing that specific moment together.
I shed a good amount of tears reading and envisioning this scene. The questions they had for each other were simple, but it would’ve meant the world for them to have the answers.
If you make it this far into the book, the scene is on page 146. I think this was my favorite part of the book, then the moment when they finally find one another.
Another scene I loved was when Pierrot was trying to sell a snowflake drawing to McMahon. However, McMahon said it was worthless but bought it anyway. Then once Pierrot left, Rose enters the room, sees and loves the drawing and keeps it. I’m pretty sure I teared up reading this scene because it was sweet, and this missed encounter showed how they still got each other and held on to their young dreams they created as children.
The amount of love they had for one another. Despite the six years they were separated, they never truly gave up on each other. Rose carried around their plans they made whenever they were in the orphanage and found that piece of paper to be one of her most valuable items. When they found each other, I lost it. This happened around 2/3 in the book.
I will say, I like how it was Pierrot to actively look for Rose. She didn’t seem to be searching too hard for Pierrot, but he was willing to go whatever lengths it took to find her.
“All I want, Pierrot, is for you to be happy. I can’t make myself happy. Nobody can really make themselves happy. But they can make other people happy.”
“Don’t say that! Don’t ever worry about me. If ever I’m standing in the way of your happiness, I swear I will throw myself right off a roof. All I want is for you to be happy. I’m broken, and you’re perfect. You come first.”
Page 248
Parts of their lives paralleled each other’s. This sounds weird out of context, but I found it to be ironic [and funny in a sad way] how they both referred to themselves as perverts due to how their childhoods traumatized them. Rose enjoyed “reading men’s minds” about what they wanted to do to her sexually, while Pierrot thought about having sex with any woman, and they both found themselves to be awful and messed up thinking these thoughts.
Rose’s ambition. The girl had to do unpleasant things to get by and achieve her dreams. She stood up to men, made herself their equal, and had the men in the palms of her hands. She got things done, and I was so happt for her.
“I find that I can’t help being bad. I promise and promise and promise myself that I won’t be a bad person. But then I just do something bad.”
“That’s because we’re girls. We’re supposed to only have emotions. We aren’t even allowed to have thoughts. And it’s fine to feel sad and happy and mad and in love—but those are just moods. Emotions can’t get anything done. An emotion is just a reaction. You don’t only want to be having reactions in this lifetime. You need to be having actions too, thoughtful actions.”
Page 74
Clowns! While most of the events were grave, I loved and appreciated that there is some humor throughout the book. Along with the wittiness and personalities of our protagonists, there were so many clowns, and I found their acts to be fascinating. I loved how Rose went to visit so many of them to create her own show later on.
Dislikes
Because the contents of this novel are heavy, there is a lot of grit and vulgarity, as well as some erotic and disturbing parts. It’s not the genre I normally gravitate toward. While I would have liked to skip through the many times a penis was mentioned and the brief sexual scenes mentioning a woman’s vagina in slang terms, the crudeness and uncomfortableness fit with the theme of the book.
Despite the grit, crude language, and dark topics, I found that the language and what happens are fitting and justified; otherwise, the book’s tone would be lacking and the element would be missing. Some parts are meant to be eye-opening and uncomfortable, and they definitely did the job. This book didn’t fall flat at all because of how it’s written.
Not really spoiling anything, but Pierrot is sexually abused, starting at age 11, by a nun who was in her twenties. It was a bit uncomfortable mentioning the size of his penis, considering he’s a child, and I am in disbelief this kind of thing would happen. So very fitting, but it was hard to fathom.
Mixed on thinking it dragged on because, at the same time, I loved how long the novel was and the story itself. It did take them forever to find their way back to each other, but each chapter added another layer to the story, and I became even more invested in Rose and Pierrot. They were separated a little after page 50 and didn’t connect until almost page 200. Their lives went in different directions, but not too different since they remained in the city and close to one another. I didn’t want this story to end, but the anticipation was killing me!
Just so I don’t spoil the book, you can click on the text to see my thoughts about some parts I disliked. Even though I didn’t particularly like these, they made sense and I couldn’t imagine changing the book for an all-around happy ending.
Click at your own risk! If you haven’t read the book and would like to, I recommend waiting.
I love spoilers and tend to look them up, but going into this book blind was the best decision. I only spoil myself on a book if I’m debating on DNF’ing it.
— Spoiler dislike #1
Pierrot overdosed and died alone. This crushed me, but I like it because it reflects back to when they found each other and Rose said she never saw Pierrot stoned, and he said she never will.— Spoiler dislike #2
Pierrot and Rose separate. I get why the story went this direction, but after all the obstacles and searching for one another, it broke my heart they couldn’t stay together and be happy.Final Thoughts
Overall, did I like how it ended? Not completely. Of course I wanted a happy ending, but that would’ve felt phony because how things played out made sense with the story. There was still a glimmer of hope, so I think the story worked well and the ending is justified.
I really wish that I could talk about this book with someone I know or who has read it because I’m still reeling from it, so many months later! While this would not be a book for everyone, it was well worth the read. I tend to read a lot of chick lit and some mystery/thriller novels, nothing dark as this, but I truly enjoyed this book. I’m sad that I can’t read this for the first time all over again.
Have you read this book? What are your thoughts about it?
This novel had so many quotes that I had to bookmark and save!
“They had never been taught words of affection. Although the two had only known harsh terms and words of discipline, they had managed to transform them into words of love.”
— Page 10
“It was necessary to thwart all love affairs in the orphanage. If there was one thing responsible for ruining lives, it was love.”
— Page 10
“A young girl’s body is the most dangerous place in the world, as it is the spot where violence is most likely to be enacted.
— Page 28
“Perhaps the most dangerous people in the world are the ones who believe in right and wrong but what they ascribe to as ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ is completely insane.”
— Page 40
“I find that I can’t help being bad. I promise and promise and promise myself that I won’t be a bad person. But then I just do something bad.”
“That’s because we’re girls. We’re supposed to only have emotions. We aren’t even allowed to have thoughts. And it’s fine to feel sad and happy and mad and in love—but those are just moods. Emotions can’t get anything done. An emotion is just a reaction. You don’t only want to be having reactions in this lifetime. You need to be having actions too, thoughtful actions.”
— Page 74
“Being a woman was a trap. Something would bring you down before you turned twenty-three. The only time the world shows you any favor, or cuts you any slack, is during that very brief period of courtship where the world is trying to f*ck you for the first time.”
— Page 133
“He made me feel safe so I could have all these dangerous thoughts. I think that might be what love is.”
— Page 210
“All I want, Pierrot, is for you to be happy. I can’t make myself happy. Nobody can really make themselves happy. But they can make other people happy.”
“Don’t say that! Don’t ever worry about me. If ever I’m standing in the way of your happiness, I swear I will throw myself right off a roof. All I want is for you to be happy. I’m broken, and you’re perfect. You come first.”
— Page 248
“Humans were always more capable of evil than you could imagine. And they were also capable of more wonderment than you could ever fathom.”
— Page 265
