I absolutely adore this novel about a motley group of travelers and locals who hole up at a Pennsylvania roadside inn during a snowstorm. ( )

St. Bart's 2015 #7 - a vey quick read....and one that is hard to put my finger on what made me really like it. It was a sort of slice of life recap of day-1 of the grand opening of a small old hotel, freshly renovated, in a small forgotten out-of-the-way eastern PA town. A terrible snowstorm seems as if it will put a huge damper on their big day, but hopeful, optimistic hotelier Ira and his black employee Charles are undaunted. And the storm causes quite a first night as an unusual cast of characters finds their way through the hotel doors. Not too awfully much happens, yet they all impact each other in ways good and bad. The end leaves one shaking their had out of sympathy for those rotten few that spoil it for everybody, yet inspired by those hopeful ones that continue to believe in our inherent goodness. Sparse, simple, effective...O'Hara condensed.....nicely done. ( )

סקס, תככים וביקורת חברתית בנובלה לא רעה של אוהרה ( )

Published in 1951, this was an entertaining, psychological tale about a variety of characters who get caught at a rural hotel in a blizzard. They are two wealthy (think fox-hunting) types, who are not married; a country doctor; a negro employee (in the parlance of the time); a Pennsylvania Dutch cook; a gambling truckdriver; two strippers and their manager/piano player. They all fight a little and party a little. The truck driver seems a bit sinister and eventually tragedy strikes. Good, quick read. ( )