Spring/Summer Reading: The Bird Hotel by Joyce Maynard

What is going on between the covers

Hiding from a past she doesn’t understand, and trying to escape the pain from a tragedy, Irene finds herself at the beautiful but decaying hotel La Llorona. A place where a person can start off fresh, or anyone who wants to escape their life will find no better hotel than this one to check into. She develops a connection with the friendly woman who runs the place and sees her need to find a way to survive her pain.

“You may not find what you’re looking for when you come to this lake,” she’d told me. “But you’ll probably find what you need.”

The story spans four decades, and along the way, we meet a rich assortment of characters who live in the village or come to stay at the hotel, searching for something or a place to escape.

Themes include loss/grief, reinventing yourself, self-discovery, searching for the truth, finding peace for the past, having the courage to heal and love again while making sense of the present, and seeing where the future is going.

What makes The Bird Hotel a great summer read

The Bird Hotel makes for a great Summer Read, as one of the story’s strengths is how Joyce Maynard creates a vivid sense of place for a charming exotic setting that allows us to travel there ourselves and share the character’s experiences. The story is set at a lakefront hotel in a fictional area in Central America near La Esperanza. Joyce Maynard draws from her knowledge and experience from her own property in paradise in a similar location. The story’s description of the lake, flowers, birds, volcano, and area creates an atmosphere, tone, and mood, and it’s hard not to fall in love with the hotel and the memorable characters who live there or come and go.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley