Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993 TAG: 9311210211
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by LYNN ECKMAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roll out the red carpet to greet Peter Mayle's wonderful, rollicking romp of a novel. Balloons, fireworks and cheers should be added, even a parade, to go directly to the nearest bookstore.
"Hotel Pastis," set in the South of France Mayle loves and knows so well scores ten out of ten on any scale.
Bored with the wheeling and dealing of big time advertising in London and the demands of his grasping former wife, Simon Shaw sets out for a weekend's drive near Avignon, an escapade that changes his life. Several months later, the owner of a soon-to-be hotel, Simon is happily ensconced in the region, wooing the seductive but sensible Nicole and succeeding in the challenge of opening the place.
All is not roses for long, however. Simon soon finds himself coping with the resident Mafia, an impecunious uncle, his dastardly American business associate and finally kidnappers. Life in the Luberon, he learns, does not mean life without stress.
Parallel to Simon's story is that of the General, a local ex-convict who tempts seven of his cohorts into a "fool proof" bank robbery. The plotting, execution and results provide great entertainment. Here, as in Simon's saga, Mayle's knowledge of the language and residents of the region is exact, and his descriptions of food, wine and landscapes glow with the pleasure they provide the author, as well as the French. Readers will savor every word, every nuance.
A sure cure for malaise or depression, "Hotel Pastis" evokes more laughs than the slickest sit-com and ends just as it should, with everyone's living happily ever after.
- Lynn Eckman teaches at Roanoke College.
by CNB