Hotel Pastis: A Novel of Provence

by Peter Mayle

Simon Shaw is 42, freshly divorced and tired. As he surveys the desolation of his former home in the wake of his ex-wife, he yearns for a life free of complications. But somehow a short break in the warm seductive air of Provence quickly turns into something more.

Genres: Fiction, Travel, France, Mystery, Food, Humor, Book Club

400 pages, Paperback

First published May 27, 1993

About the author

Peter Mayle was a British author famous for his series of books detailing life in Provence, France. He spent fifteen years in advertising before leaving the business in 1975 to write educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people. In 1989, A Year in Provence was published and became an international bestseller. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages, and he was a contributing writer to magazines and newspapers. Indeed, his seventh book, A Year in Provence, chronicles a year in the life of a British expatriate who settled in the village of Ménerbes. His book A Good Year was the basis for the eponymous 2006 film directed by Ridley Scott and starring actor Russell Crowe. Peter Mayle died in Provence, France.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was Mayle's first novel from which he draws much from his own life as an advertising executive, a love for good food & wine and spending time in Provence. The description of the countryside bursts through the pages and makes anyone interested in traveling put the place on their bucket list. Of course, having money helps. Much of the story involves transformation as we watch a couple of the characters transform their lives as well as a major remodeling project. I loved the character of Ernest, who took care of Simon's life in England and blossomed with the change of country and working on the building of a hotel from the ruins of an old police station & jail with a fabulous view.
There were a couple of subplots that seemed unnecessary but certainly were a window into future writing themes. Overall nice escape reading.

This could be read much quicker than the nearly a month that I had it. I just read it in drips and drabs.

[Razvan Banciu · Rating 5 out of 5]

RIP Peter Mayle!

Perhaps his books, including Hotel Pastis, are not necessary masterpieces, but all of them are soft and smooth like a spring breeze. His heroes are warm and gentle, even the so called-villains are benign ones, it's less important that the bank robbery is surrealistic, as is Boone's kidnapping and the big escape from France. What counts is that you never want any of Mayle's books to go to an end...

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up for a $1 and read it on the plane - quick and fun. You can tell the author was an ad man (like the main character) as he provides a little too much detail about the main character and not enough about some of the other major characters - such as the girlfriend and the butler - (yes, there's a butler). The crime mystery takes up all of about 35 pages of the 380+ total - but its a fun addition (not the main story) and I have to admit that I did not guess the ending. I do have to warn you - this book will move you to take long lesiurely, multi-course lunches and consider quitting your job. Not the best option for a vacation book - way too tempting. I may be doomed - my mother-in-law saw me reading this and gave me three more Mayle books to read! Oh well, bon appetit!

[Sarah Shields · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't love this book. I didn't hate it either. I was a bit indifferent overall. I liked the story, but it wasn't a very deep story at all. Some of the characters and tiny little side stories just seemed like they were added after the fact, and had nothing to do with the story as a whole. I did like Ernest though, he was pretty fun. Overall, an ok book, just not much of a thought provoker.

[Barbara Rice · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite of Mayle's novels. The main character is clearly based on Mayle's old life in advertising. The descriptions of food, the sun, the lavender all make me start speaking with a French accent and pretending this is only a temporary setback in my real life, and soon I will be back again in The South of France as a gorgeous blonde drinking wine at a cafe.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another Mayle hit! Maybe I'm a little biased being French, with family in Provence, but Mayle's work always puts a smile on my face. I've seen his characters, and enjoyed the same quirks in the dialect and attitude of Provence. I wish Hotel Pastis was a real place, and that I could go there right now!

[R.S. Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not my normal read. It was okay, but not much of a plot. Just a whole bunch of my being jealous at the extravagant lifestyles of the rich and famous. Oh those poor dears. What horrific lives those poor, mistreated Madison Ave ad execs lead in the hills of Provence upon semiretirement. It's just brutal, I tell you. Here, let me chuck this tiny violin in your direction.

[Sarah Pascarella · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like cliched travel writing? Women described only by their breast sizes, short skirts, and other sexualized prose? Embarrassingly rich protagonists, struggling with the "problems" of how best to spend their millions? If these topics appeal, then this book is for you.

[Doris Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it, clever and entertaining. The book had an interesting tempo. It started slowly, and during the first twenty pages I kept thinking to myself: "This book isn't too good, maybe I won't bother reading it". But because I had really liked the previous books I had read which were authored by Peter Mayle, I persisted and I am happy to say that the book gradually accelerated and got better and better and toward the last half I never wanted to put it down. When it ended I was sorry because I wanted more to read. I wanted to hear more after the conclusions wrapped it up.

The characters were well developed and entertaining. We had our hero, Simon who is a rich and successful ad man (yes, just like the TV series "Mad Men" although this 1993 book pre-dated "Mad Men" which played 2007 – 2016). His ladies are his malicious spendthrift ex-wife Caroline and then he meets blonde Nicole in her mid-thirties. Nicole is now struggling financially because her ex has a new girlfriend who has convinced him to cut off Nicole's alimony. Nicole suggests an empty building to Simon which is perfect for a hotel, and Simon decides to open the Hotel Pastis.

The book is salted throughout with titillating descriptions of Nicole which may please many readers: "...her coat swinging away from her legs, her face lit up by a smile he felt in his stomach.", "...sensual rhythm of a confident cook...elegant in her apron tied tightly...accentuated her slim waist.", "...scented skin of her cheek..." "...kissed...her scent, fresh and spicy...", "...she touched his hand...felt a brief twinge of lust.", "...hint of perfectly tanned cleavage...her silk shirt...", "..high boots and a micro-skirt bent over the bonnet of the car...her bottom presented to the oncoming traffic...".

Other characters were Ernest, Simon's trusty aide, cook, butler, manager, you-name-it; Mrs. Gibbons the dog, a bull terrier who looks like a Japanese wrestler with jaws capable of cracking rocks; an advertising client, the Condom Marketing Board (The Rubber Barons); Madame Pons the chef. She says eating is too important to spoil with talk of work, the table is for pleasure. Enrico is the hit man who likes his rabbit with the correct sauce, a sauce properly thickened with blood. There is a gang of eight bank robbers/kidnappers headed by The General helped by Jojo. Uncle William is a social embarrassment to Simon, he is an artist who is always continually on the run, usually from some rich widow he has promised to marry, and he turns up every couple of years to borrow money from Simon. There were many more equally entertaining or amusing characters.

I looked up "pastis" and it means "mash-up" and is a kind of French bootleg which started when absinthe was outlawed. People started fermenting and distilling their own imitation with various seeds and herbs of combos such as pernod, fennel, licorice, anise. When one adds ice water it turns milky and is especially popular as a summer morning or noon drink.

I loved the small details about the hotel. They transplanted an olive tree and were to be sure to paint the bark on the south side so that the tree would face the same way after the re-plant so it would have the same orientation and settle into its new home at once, otherwise it would need two or three years to orient. Mrs. Pons would only allow flowers on the dining tables for the eyes only, not the nose. She said their odors fight with the scent of the food. Nicole led Simon to a replica of the Mannequin Pis (in Brussels, a tumescent cherub micturating through copper piping into a stone basin and he buys it to decorate Hotel Pastis.

The plot was great. As I said, it chugged along slowly, then gradually gathered speed, and then the ending was racing. The plot had a natural flow even though it was lightly tinted with hints of fantasy. All the loose ends were neatly tied together at the end with some great unexpected twists. But I was left wanting to hear more about the characters.

You may enjoy this book if you speak French or are a Francophile because it is also salted throughout with French phrases, idioms, culture, and of course – French FOOD! For phrases, how about "Il pète plus haut que son cul!" for one who has an exaggerated idea of his own importance? For a menu: "...tapenade souffle, terrine of aubergine, roast turbot with a sauce of butter and fines herbes, les fromages maison, hot crêpes wrapped around a filling of chilled whipped cream and vodka" ?

I did not like page 229 when "the three of them arrived at Les Halles". Les Halles was the famous "belly of Paris", an ancient underground marketplace mentioned in writings over eleven hundred years ago. I shopped there in 1964. Les Halles was demolished and destroyed in 1971. The markets dispersed and some were moved outside Paris, and many others were moved into a group of new buildings in a shopping mall called the "Forum des Halles". This book is dated 1993 so Les Halles was gone. So I wish the author had named his meeting place more authentically.

I was captivated and entertained with this clever book which was sophisticated, witty, and happy.
"The Management Welcomes Dogs.
They Do Not Clean Their Shoes on the Curtains.
They do Not Make Pipi in the Bidet.
We Ask Our Amiable Clientele to Follow Their Example."

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hotel Pastis is a Peter Mayle novel, nothing more, nothing less. You're in for a bounder of a tale about Provence involving some English executive (who, in this case, is named Simon) who has had enough of the business world and falls in love with the south of France. Usually for the author, the most colorful characters are the French villagers the main character encounters, but Mayle turns this on his head, introducing us to a hardnosed American ad exec named Zielger (who, in my mind's eye, was Mr. Hart from the film 9 to 5), the somewhat flamboyant and lovable Ernest, Simon's valet (played in full camp by John Michael Higgins ala his character of Scott Donlan from Best in Show), and a crotchety interlocutor with the delightfully Dickensian name of Ambrose Crouch. In between buying a dilapidated gendarmerie and turning it into a hotel, Simon falls in love, rubs elbows with the Mafia, criminal masons, and gets involved in a kidnapping.

This is a delightful, quick read that has all the hallmarks of Mayle's clean, yet florid writing, highlighting his ability to spin a wonderful yarn full of memorable characters that makes the reader want to visit Provence, if only to get a glimpse of the region that so inspires the author.

[Christi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love ,love Peter Mayles' writing! Yes, it's light and fun, that's the whole point of his books. He doesn't take him self that seriously and neither should the reader. What's so wonderful is that most light books aren't well written and his are. You don't feel guilty for reading them!
Tey are aslo quite useful for planning a trip to Provence!

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Remember when people used to sit sipping afternoon champagnes and watch the sun gently recline upon the mountains in the afternoons? Soft simple pleasures with just enough quirky characters to keep the story in motion. This was 1993 when no one sat checking their teeth on their selfie images. Sweet to the end! Loved the butler the most.

[Stina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book #6 for 2019
15 Books: A book you meant to read in 2018 but didn't get to
Alphabet Soup: H
Commas and Ampersands: NO animals/people on the cover
Book Bingo: Free Space
The Legendary Book Club of Habitica's Ultimate Reading Challenge: A book with no pictures on the cover
Linz the Bookworm: A book you got for free
The Modern Mrs. Darcy: A book you've been meaning to read
Mt. TBR #3
PopSugar: A book with a two-word title
Ragdoll Reads (Regular & Serious Bookwyrm editions): A 'free' book
My Personal Reading Challenge: A book set in a hotel
While I Was Reading: A book set in a country you'd like to visit

Well, it's set almost as much in England as in France (countries I have already visited, but I wouldn't mind visiting them again), with surprisingly little of the story actually set in the eponymous hotel. But I'm counting it, dammit. And I'm just now reading Mayle's bio, which insists he was British. Interesting. I could've sworn he was a spoiled anglophile American asshole. And he's been dead for only a little over a year, which I also found surprising even though my father is older and still kicking. Anyway, I'm about to speak ill (more) of the relatively recently dead, so leave now if that offends your delicate sensibilities.

Our painfully obvious authorial insertion wish fulfillment fantasy protagonist is the fabulously wealthy British ad exec Simon Shaw. Simon is dreadfully unhappy with his life, particularly now that his trophy wife has divorced him. Cue: mid-life crisis. In France. With a French woman he has named in his head "the perfectly tanned cleavage." Though honestly, he seems more interested in food and fashion than in women, talking about them with that vocabulary of objectification that suggests that he's been told how he as a late 20th-century macho man is supposed to feel about women but has never actually interacted with one in any meaningful way. Sort of like how Donald Trump talks about wealth. And women, come to think of it.

I don't think Simon (or Mayle or Trump, for that matter) is a repressed homosexual, but I do wonder if that would have been a better story. Because while Simon starts off the book as a self-absorbed prick with a penchant for dropping brand names the way birds drop birdshit, it seems for a while like his role in the story is to Experience Personal Growth. So hey, he could figure out he's gay, magically become a decent person, and run off with Ernest (who is never actually outed in the book, but if I were a gay man, I would totally court him) for a happily ever after. But no, the actual moral of the story is this: Simon, you're still a self-absorbed prick with more money than sense, and you will never be happy with anything or anybody. Somehow, I don't think that was the message Mayle intended to convey. But there it is.

Oh, and there's a bank heist subplot. It's cartoonish and farcical, as are most of the supporting cast throughout the novel, but it makes for a mildly entertaining diversion from Simon's string of existential crises. Combined with Ernest (also a cartoon and more than a little problematic but delightful nonetheless) and some intriguing culinary side notes, it bumps this up to a two-star review from me.

YMMV, because obviously lots of readers adore Mayle's stuff. I actually remember liking Anything Considered myself (though I tend to look askance at Past Stina's tastes in many things), and at some point I have acquired Chasing Cezanne and A Year in Provence. So who knows, maybe I'll give him another shot someday. But this is not that day.

[Andria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining. Lots and lots of eating fine French food and drinking fine French wine (I was pregnant while reading this book and missing wine...). A rich British advertising executive gets fed up with his job and decides to restore an old ruined building and open a hotel in the south of France. He is aided in his project by his personal assistant Ernest and an attractive French woman named Nicole, whom he meets at an auto shop the first time he is down by his new property. Meanwhile, a gang of crooks plans an elaborate bank robbery, which ends up giving the British exec the happy ending he is looking for!

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful light, fun read. If you are ready to take a break from the 700 page epics and you want a warm, lighthearted story, then this is the book to read. Peter Mayle is a magician with his words and story line. He doesn't get bogged down with the minutia of unimportant details but takes the reader on an almost whimsical escape from dreary London to sunny France. I plan on ready his first book "A Year in Provence".

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, easy read - but nothing really bad happened.

[Navdeep Kaur]

2.5/5

It was okay. I enjoyed the idea of escaping from a loud, quick-paced capitalist life to a lazy, easy-going one. I really wanna go to the French countryside now. I liked Ernest’s character and everyone else was okay. Not much to think about here though and that’s okay.

[Nd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only thing better would be a real trip to Provence. Every Peter Mayle book makes me feel as if I've been traveling and getting to see the French countryside. In this one, it's through British advertising mogul Simon Shaw, who has built his business until it's international in size. As the novel begins, the work that he has thrown himself into and excelled at is losing its luster and he is freshly divorced from a spendthrift he likely shouldn't have married to begin with. Ernest, butler/driver/cook/aide who assists in most aspects of Simon's life, reminds him that everyone in the company except Simon himself has taken vacation during the last year and suggests he take a few days, and Liz in the office seconds the suggestion. As Simon heads through France to Saint-Tropez, a suggestion from Phillipe Murat over drinks in Paris and a tractor on the roadway alters his destination and makes in infinitely more interesting.

In the meanwhile, in the town of Isle-sur-Sorgue, two old friends who had spent time together as petty criminals in the Marseille jail, met for the first time in two years. Jojo imparts to The General that he had been working on a roof and overheard the laughter of the installers of the bank's new extravagant security system. It seems that they moved the strong room to the back of the bank for extra security never realizing that it was exactly over the old river drain. Eventually, this plot encroaches on Simon's revamped lifestyle and it's a great little journey.

[Alison · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was ok, but the narrative never really grabbed me. It's the story of a dissatisfied, wealthy advertising executive who gets divorced and winds up buying a broken down building in Provence and turning it into a luxury hotel. The characters were pretty stock I thought - his assistant, who is clearly gay and described in some very stereotypical ways; his new lover, who is of course gorgeous and amazing; etc etc. There's a side plot about a bank robbery that eventually ties into the main story, though only vaguely. There were some lovely descriptions of food and scenery, but other than that I can't say this is worth seeking out unless you're a big fan of Mayle's already.

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Look - this is 5 stars because the plot is 'disgruntled ad exec moves to Provence to open a boutique hotel' meets 'odd gang of French hustlers create inventive plan to rob a bank' and, eventually, the two story lines will intersect. This is really just speaking to my two of my favorite fantasies about who I will be when I grow up (I'm 37). This is my first book review and hardly a review of the book because I don't actually want to get into all that. I feel the need to clarify why the 5 stars for a book that probably doesn't deserve the high accolades on 'literary' terms but deserves it because it hits all the right points for me. Mazel!

[Paula Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this over the first few days after moving into my new home. What a treat! It was perfect as my TV wasn't yet hooked up, I had no internet and yet my craving for entertainment was high. Mayle created a fun romp through the south of France, much different from his other stories. He did make me hungry (and thirsty) on every other page with wonderful descriptions of food and wine. I highly recommend this book for anyone wanting a good summer read.

[Carla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun read - good beach book!

[Wendy Hollister · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading as a book on tape and I felt that I was in Provence while the story was being read. Loved this.

[Mariah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this, but the two plot lines felt disjointed and random even when they tied it all together at the end.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

The main character was such a sexist ass and in a non-funny way.

[Ryder Ferris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love peter mayle and he did not let me down! Very fun charming and escapism. Not totally politically correct at times but besides that really fantastic. These books almost feel closer to sci-fi than actual sci-fi, it feels like an alien world. life seems so simple and fun. I love this world here creates!

[Miriam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good summer beach read, optimally in the south of France. An advertising exec gets bored with his life and decides to open a hotel in Provence. All is not smooth sailing and he gets mixed up with some bad dudes. Fun, easy, fast with Provencal and French slang along with a penchant for the good life. What's not to like?

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

My idea of the perfect beach read. A little wealth, some fun-in-the sun, a bit of how does one find the perfect career, mixed in with a plot to pull off the perfect bank robbery.



Picked this book up at a Library book sale.

[Darla · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoyed "A Year in Provence" so much..I thought this novel from Mr. Mayle would be another gem. For me...no! The setting, the food wonderful but the characters and plot were flat. Do not waste your time with this one.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely adored this book! I was legitimately sad when I finished it. Mayle created a warm, wonderful world of characters and painted such a loving portrait of Provence that it was hard to let go at the end. One of the best books I've read in a while.