hotel

Description

Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. During the breakdown of an unhappy marriage, writer Joanna Walsh got a job as a hotel reviewer, and began to gravitate towards places designed as alternatives to home. Luxury, sex, power, anonymity, privacy…hotels are where our desires go on holiday, but also places where our desires are shaped by the hard realities of the marketplace. Part memoir and part meditation, this book visits a series of rooms, suites, hallways, and lobbies—the spaces and things that make up these modern sites of gathering and alienation, hotels. Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Part 1 Hotel Haunting 1 Hotel haunting Part 2 Fragments from a Hysterical Suitcase 2 Hotel Freud I II III IV 3 Marriage postcards Postcard #1—Postcards Postcard #2—Writing Postcard #3—Silence Postcard #4—Dora time Postcard #5—Clock time Postcard #6—Anxiety time Postcard #7—Married time Postcard #8—Home times Postcard #9—Me-time Postcard #10—Bedtime Postcard #11—Home work Postcard #12—Part-time Postcard #–11—Away Postcard #–10—Pockets Postcard #–9—Drunk time Postcard #–8—Evening Postcard #–7—Married time II Postcard #–6—Angry time Postcard #–5—Leaving time Postcard #–4—Nameless Postcard #–3—Nameless II Postcard #–2—Ending Postcard #–1—Returning 4 Hometel I II III IV V VI VII VIII 5 Hotel diary The lobby The library (which is also the lobby) The switchboard The stairs (The elevator) The corridor The door (key) The bedroom Dreamwork The en-suite The restaurant I do not go into 6 In a German Pension I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX 7 Hotel Marx (Bros.) I II 8 The talking cure I II 9 Hotel Marx I II III IV 10 Postcards from 26 hotels Hotel A Hotel B Hotel C Hotel D Hotel E Hotel F Hotel G Hotel H Hotel I Hotel J Hotel K Hotel L Hotel M Hotel N Hotel O Hotel P Hotel Q Hotel R Hotel S Hotel T Hotel U Hotel V Hotel W Hotel X Hotel Y Hotel Z Notes Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 9 Acknowledgments Index 2 Hotel Freud I II III IV 3 Marriage postcards Postcard #1—Postcards Postcard #2—Writing Postcard #3—Silence Postcard #4—Dora time Postcard #5—Clock time Postcard #6—Anxiety time Postcard #7—Married time Postcard #8—Home times Postcard #9—Me-time Postcard #10—Bedtime Postcard #11—Home work Postcard #12—Part-time Postcard #–11—Away Postcard #–10—Pockets Postcard #–9—Drunk time Postcard #–8—Evening Postcard #–7—Married time II Postcard #–6—Angry time Postcard #–5—Leaving time Postcard #–4—Nameless Postcard #–3—Nameless II Postcard #–2—Ending Postcard #–1—Returning 4 Hometel I II III IV V VI VII VIII 5 Hotel diary The lobby The library (which is also the lobby) The switchboard The stairs (The elevator) The corridor The door (key) The bedroom Dreamwork The en-suite The restaurant I do not go into 6 In a German Pension I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX 7 Hotel Marx (Bros.) I II 8 The talking cure I II 9 Hotel Marx I II III IV 10 Postcards from 26 hotels Hotel A Hotel B Hotel C Hotel D Hotel E Hotel F Hotel G Hotel H Hotel I Hotel J Hotel K Hotel L Hotel M Hotel N Hotel O Hotel P Hotel Q Hotel R Hotel S Hotel T Hotel U Hotel V Hotel W Hotel X Hotel Y Hotel Z Notes Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 9 Acknowledgments Index