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Checking Out of the Hotel Euthanasia
Checking Out of the Hotel Euthanasia is an always funny, often farcical, sometimes scabrous take on a serious subject, assisted dying. Swiftian in style, approach, and content, it relentlessly assaults the hypocrisies and muddled arguments around both sides of the euthanasia debate with a challenging combination of dispassionate calm and outrageous humour. It will offend many, amuse even more, and leave no-one untouched. It is a major contribution to the political and ethical debate already underway about the best response to a growing clamour for the legal right to end one’s life on one’s own terms
211 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 20, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 18, 2018
The best way to describe Gerard Graham’s Checking Out of the Hotel Euthanasia is to call it a dark comedy. Yes, it’s definitely more humorous than anticipated, but there’s a lot of very serious and antagonizing material relating to timely (and obviously quite controversial) social issues.
The book’s action takes place some decades into the future, in the fictional Principality of Villadedino, where a central “grand” hotel has been turned into a holiday resort… for assisted death. Here, guests can create their own entirely private and customizable end of life experiences and “check out” (or expire) with (or without) dignity, exactly according to their fantasy.
The Hotel Euthanasia is supposed to be the ultimate refuge for those seeking an end to suffering. To participate in this free will experience, guests must pass a cognitive test… but that doesn’t mean that they may not have been duped into ending their life this way.
Obviously there are those who don’t like this. One of them is Rab, a Scottish man who wants revenge on the hotel for the assisted killing of his parents. He and a troupe of cohorts — assembled and financed by religious interests — plan their own hotel “check out.” Theirs involves explosives and destruction of the hotel. But while they are at it, a number of complications arise, and each of them is forced to consider their own views of death, loss, anger, choice and free will.
The issue of assisted dying and the ethical delimmas surrounding it are certainly not funny, but Swift manages to poke fun and criticize every viewpoint, identify hypocrisy on all sides, and still tell an undeniably interesting story. Readers will finish it without a clear view of how the author wanted you to feel about assisted death, but will hopefully have some deeper personal thoughts on their own views on the contentious subject.
While it has humor and heart in abundance, the book does have some rough patches. First, it is important to know that the author is Scottish, which may help to understand some of the rhythms of conversations. Also beware that there are a LOT of characters, and the reader is never sure which will intersect - or how - and many of their stories are quite complicated.
All in all, Checking Out of the Hotel Euthanasia is a thought-provoking and interesting comedy... 4 out of 5 stars
The book’s action takes place some decades into the future, in the fictional Principality of Villadedino, where a central “grand” hotel has been turned into a holiday resort… for assisted death. Here, guests can create their own entirely private and customizable end of life experiences and “check out” (or expire) with (or without) dignity, exactly according to their fantasy.
The Hotel Euthanasia is supposed to be the ultimate refuge for those seeking an end to suffering. To participate in this free will experience, guests must pass a cognitive test… but that doesn’t mean that they may not have been duped into ending their life this way.
Obviously there are those who don’t like this. One of them is Rab, a Scottish man who wants revenge on the hotel for the assisted killing of his parents. He and a troupe of cohorts — assembled and financed by religious interests — plan their own hotel “check out.” Theirs involves explosives and destruction of the hotel. But while they are at it, a number of complications arise, and each of them is forced to consider their own views of death, loss, anger, choice and free will.
The issue of assisted dying and the ethical delimmas surrounding it are certainly not funny, but Swift manages to poke fun and criticize every viewpoint, identify hypocrisy on all sides, and still tell an undeniably interesting story. Readers will finish it without a clear view of how the author wanted you to feel about assisted death, but will hopefully have some deeper personal thoughts on their own views on the contentious subject.
While it has humor and heart in abundance, the book does have some rough patches. First, it is important to know that the author is Scottish, which may help to understand some of the rhythms of conversations. Also beware that there are a LOT of characters, and the reader is never sure which will intersect - or how - and many of their stories are quite complicated.
All in all, Checking Out of the Hotel Euthanasia is a thought-provoking and interesting comedy... 4 out of 5 stars
August 5, 2018
Here is a very interesting read that reveals a lot about human nature in a very satirical format. Graham proves he is a wizard at subtlety and irony as he spins a tale about a fictitious hotel in the fictitious kingdom of Villadedino that had pretty much fallen to ruin when Zeca, a hotel manager, was appointed to the most prestigious hotel management spot in the world by King Eugene III. Because of Zeca’s capable management, the once decaying hotel, rose from the ashes to become a mecca for those seeking assisted dying.
On the other side of this coin is Rab and a small group of cohorts who are on a Pope-funded mission to destroy the hotel because of the Catholic anti-assisted death platform. Rab, who once supported assisted-suicide with a great passion, now has turned those passions against the Hotel Euthanasia and all that it represents and assumes his leadership role with great vigor.
Along the way, we are introduced to a group of people from various walks of like who are guests at the Hotel and are seeking release from their earthly bodies in one of the various ways offered by the Hotel. The back stories of these people could be novels in and of themselves but, bound together they comprise a very interesting read filled with different ways to look at euthanasia. And while some readers might find the whole concept exceptionally macabre, the idea behind it certainly carries merit for those facing a lifetime of pain (however long) and an eventual death.
On the other side of this coin is Rab and a small group of cohorts who are on a Pope-funded mission to destroy the hotel because of the Catholic anti-assisted death platform. Rab, who once supported assisted-suicide with a great passion, now has turned those passions against the Hotel Euthanasia and all that it represents and assumes his leadership role with great vigor.
Along the way, we are introduced to a group of people from various walks of like who are guests at the Hotel and are seeking release from their earthly bodies in one of the various ways offered by the Hotel. The back stories of these people could be novels in and of themselves but, bound together they comprise a very interesting read filled with different ways to look at euthanasia. And while some readers might find the whole concept exceptionally macabre, the idea behind it certainly carries merit for those facing a lifetime of pain (however long) and an eventual death.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews