In his new short story, “There’s a Small Hotel,” Andrew Holleran returns to the themes he explored in his last novel, Grief. Once again, Mr. Holleran presents us with a main character who is wrestling with lingering memories. But the hungry ghosts he confronts here aren’t so much of individuals as of a vanished New York City–a city of gay bathhouses and cheap East Village apartments. As in Grief, Mr. Holleran perfectly illustrates how we are all living constantly in both the present and in our own strange, imperfect memories of the past. “There’s A Small Hotel” is the story of one man’s struggle to let go of the expectations that inevitably come with these imperfect memories. I recommend it.
Andrew Holleran’s new short story, “There’s a Small Hotel” is published by Granta.
Click here to read the entire story.
8/29/2013