This book has a unique structure and lyrical prose, which always appeal to me. On the other hand, I read somewhere that Garcia's work is on par with Isabel Allende's, which I did not find to be the case. A good read, nonetheless. ( )

García has the ability to be both lyrical and frank in her writing. The story deals with a group of people whose lives have intersected at a luxury hotel in an unnamed Central-American city. Readers get deeply inside the thoughts of each of the six characters (three men and three women) and experience their fears, their desires and even their cruel indifference. This is a great book that not only looks at life in Central America, but at the human condition in general.

http://tinyurl.com/nk9taf7 ( )

The Lady Matador’s Hotel takes place in an upscale hotel in an unnamed Central American capital. It tells the stories of six individuals whose lives intersect in significant and not so significant ways. The varied characters of the novel include a Mexican-American-Japanese matadora who is competing in a high profile bullfighting competition, a Korean businessman who is under scrutiny for labor rights violations at his factory, a Cuban poet who is in town to adopt a child with his American wife, an ex-guerilla who is a waitress at the hotel, a lawyer who handles international adoptions, and an army colonel who has committed many human rights violations in the country’s recent civil war. It takes place against a backdrop of political turmoil and upcoming controversial elections.

The book was well written and engaging. It was interesting to see the ways the lives of the characters intersected. Each section of the book focuses on a different character. Sometimes the characters appear in the sections of others, often as nothing more than a passing in the hallway, but as the reader you know what each of them is doing there, despite the fact that they barely notice each other. There wasn’t much of an overarching story to the novel, but the individual stories really kept me interested.
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This is a bizarre novel following a handful of characters in a hotel on a Caribbean Island. There is the revolutionary working as a waitress and the military leader she would like to see dead, the Asian businessman who is failing miserably and is consumed by love for a teenage girl, Americans adopting babies from a corrupt female lawyer... and, of course, the lady matador. It has the magical realism one finds in the Latin American tradition, peppered with politics. ( )

Quick and entertaining read! ( )