Hotel Bemelmans

By Aussiegirl

Sometimes a book comes along that just gives you the most unexpected and delightful pleasure. I can say this after reading Hotel Bemelmans, by Ludwig Bemelmans, the creator of the Madeline children's books. I confess I have never read a Madeline book, as my childhood tastes ran more to the books of Enid Blyton, whose books were popular in Britain and also Australia.

So I had absolutely no idea of the treat that awaited me as I opened this book, a collection of fictionalized autobiographical stories of a boy who, like Bemelmans himself, grows up in Germany and is sent to America after a series of mishaps and failures, to learn the hotel trade in the "Hotel Splendide", a thinly disguised Ritz-Carlton, in New York.

His unerring eye for detail, and his delightfully vivid descriptions of characters that include everything from inept and fussy waiters, to the intimidating maitre d'hotel, to the wild cast of characters, rogues, millionaires, actresses, con men, business tycoons and sundry types that traipse through a hotel, especially in the golden, glamorous years that he worked there, make the scenes come alive with a wit and humor that bubbles like an expensive bottle of champagne.
From the lowest classes to the richest tycoons, all their foibles and habits are laid out like a perfectly filleted fish, complete with sauce, garnish and tasty accompaniments.

After all the recent nastiness of politics, it was a complete delight, deliciously written, and charmingly illustrated in the inimitable Bemelmans style. Try it -- you'll like it. Once you start -- you won't be able to put it down.