Hotel Honolulu
A Novel

Two real issues here: repetitiveness and the ladies. See, Paul Theroux had a great idea here: 1 story per room for the dissipated Hotel Honolulu. The problem, though, was that he maybe didn't actually have 88 separate stories to write about it. Instead, we get a half-dozen stories relating to women w......more

Hotel Honolulu reeks with local color. I was stationed on Oahu in the Army, living off post for nearly 3 years at about the time the novel is set in. I took my discharge there and stuck around for another 6 months, while my wife worked. I loved the place; it’s beaches, mountains and communities. I f......more

"seedy" "flawed" "really twisted, and then ultimately quite perverse" "disturbing" "self-described (or narrator-described, alternately) coconut princess beach bunnies" (referring Theroux's description of women) "over-sexualized misadventures with some seriously unappealing people" "don't bother if you thi......more

Paul Theroux at is caustic best. The narrator is a disenchanted writer who is the manager of a vintage hotel in Waikiki with topless hula contests and bleary- eyed clientele in the Paradise Lost bar. A semi- retired hooker who is the mother of the “young, fresh” Hawaiian he marries lives on the thir......more

I have read most of Paul Theroux's travel books, but to date very few of his novels. Hotel Honolulu is a fascinating book written with a great deal of humor, perspicacity, and local knowledge. It tells the story of a writer who manages to get a gig as the manager of a downmarket Waikiki hotel. It wa......more