“The Ghosts of the Hotel Jerome” (The Last Chairlift), by John Irving, translated from English (United States) by Elisabeth Peellaert, Seuil, 992 p., €29, digital €21.
Readers of John Irving enter a new novel by the American-Canadian writer as they would enter a boarding house where they have their customs. Sure to find intangible decorative elements (the state of New Hampshire, a boarding school for boys, etc.), perpetual guests (strong-willed mothers, jealous of their secrets, admirable stepfathers, Greco-Roman wrestling coaches, small men, giant women , queer characters, numerous quite eccentric supporting roles…), house specialties (abundant sex scenes adorned with burlesque, spectacular and tragic deaths), without forgetting an extensive library to rely on (Dickens, Melville, Shakespeare in the lead).
Some stay in home Irving is more forgettable than the others. But the memory of the best moments that the boss – of The world according to Garp has I will find you passing through God’s work, the devil’s part (Seuil, 1980, 2006 and 1986) – pushes you to return there at every opportunity.
Especially because they are not so numerous: with The ghosts of the Jerome Hotel, The writer, born in 1942, signs his fifteenth novel, almost sixty years after his entry into literature with Freedom for the bears (1968; Seuil, 1991); Eight have passed since the previous one, Avenue of Mysteries (Threshold, 2016). It must be said that another of its immutable characteristics is its depth, the author having a taste for intrigues that extend over several decades and a narrator’s inclination nourished by the great novels of the 19th century.my century of twists, turns and digressions. At the risk, sometimes, of chatting? It’s true. But no one can accuse John Irving of narrative stinginess.
Adam’s destiny
With The ghosts of the Jerome hotel less than ever. At 1,000 pages, it is the longest in his bibliography. We find all the tropes stated above in this story that accompanies Adam Brewster from his birth, in 1941, to an unknown father and a young skier mother, until the first election of Donald Trump, in 2016. Meanwhile, Adam’s destiny will change. They have been an opportunity to evoke entire stretches of American history: the Vietnam War, the fight for the rights of women and gender minorities, the Reagan era, the ravages of AIDS…
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