World of Restaurants (Best Foreign Novel of the 21st Century)

Author: Ali Smith
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2002-12-01
Features: Hotel World is a selected work of British literature in the "Annual Best Foreign Novel of the 21st Century" awards. The book begins with a woman falling from the fourth floor, and the main part unfolds in reverse order, divided into six sections: "The Past," "The History of the Past," "The Future Conditions," "The Perfect Tense," "The Future in the Past," and "The Present." Each section has a different narrator, as if "I" unintentionally shifts to another person. The entire book consists of a series of events centered around the "Global Hotel," with a comprehensive external environment: streets, supermarkets, bookstores, record stores, parking lots, swimming pools, department stores, and more. Additionally, numbers such as time, phone numbers, and room numbers are deliberately used as narrative elements by the author. The narration is quiet and gentle, with concise and lifelike dialogue. This book is a great read for lovers of contemporary foreign literature and reflects the mainstream of Western literary creation at the end of the last century.