The Bird Hotel

  ~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

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Synopsis (from Amazon):  Enter the magical world of La Llorona with New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard.
 
After a childhood filled with heartbreak, Irene, a talented artist, finds herself in a small Central American village where she checks into a beautiful but decaying lakefront hotel called La Llorona at the base of a volcano. 
 
The Bird Hotel tells the story of this young American who, after suffering tragedy, restores and runs La Llorona. Along the way we meet a rich assortment of characters who live in the village or come to stay at the hotel. With a mystery at its center and filled with warmth, drama, romance, humor, pop culture, and a little magical realism, The Bird Hotel has all the hallmarks of a Joyce Maynard novel that have made her a leading voice of her generation.
 
The Bird Hotel is a big, sweeping story spanning four decades, offering lyricism as well as whimsy. While the world New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard brings to life on the page is rendered from her imagination, it’s one informed by the more than twenty years of which she has spent a significant amount of her time in a small Mayan indigenous village in Guatemala. 
 
As the New York Times said, "[Maynard] has an unswerving eye, a sharply perked ear, and the ability to keep her readers hanging on her words." People Magazine said of her: "Maynard’s spare prose packs a rich emotional punch.” 

One (or more) Sentence Summary: Wow!  This was my first Joyce Maynard book (thanks to my sister who recommended it) and it will not be my last.  The Bird Hotel is such an unusual book and I couldn't put it down. It is like Forest Gump (the movie) -  was one story woven into another, into another, into another, throughout Irene's life.  Oh the things Irene has seen and been through made her a super strong female. So much growth in a character in one book - just amazing!

Irene goes through so many phases in her life with all sorts of people.  It isn't until she settles at the Bird Hotel that she feels at home.  However, not everyone can be trusted, just because you have found your place. The Bird Hotel has it all: amazing characters, strong leading lady(s), exploring different cultures, growth in a character, tears, laughter, friendship, betrayal, forgiveness, and a quick read (even for 457 pages - because you can't put it down).

The Bird Hotel must be in your beach bag this summer. 

A native of New Hampshire, Joyce Maynard began publishing her stories in magazines when she was thirteen years old. She first came to national attention with the publication of her New York Times cover story, “An Eighteen Year Old Looks Back on Life”, in 1972, when she was a freshman at Yale. 

Since then, she has been a reporter and columnist for The New York Times, a syndicated newspaper columnist whose “Domestic Affairs” column appeared in over fifty papers nationwide, a regular contributor to NPR and national magazines including Vogue, The New York Times Magazine, and many more, and a longtime performer with The Moth. 

Maynard is the author of seventeen books, including the novel To Die For and the best-selling memoir, At Home in the World—translated into sixteen languages. Her novel, To Die For was adapted for the screen by Buck Henry for a film directed by Gus Van Sant , in which Joyce can be seen in the role of Nicole Kidman’s lawyer.. Her novel Labor Day was adapted and directed by Jason Reitman for a film starring Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, to whom Joyce offered instruction for making the pie that appeared in a crucial scene in the film. 

The mother of three grown children, Maynard runs workshops in memoir at her home in Lafayette California. In 2002 she founded The Lake Atitlan Writing Workshop in San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala, where she hosts a weeklong workshop in personal storytelling every winter. 

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