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Mangowak Trilogy #3
The Grand Hotel
Strange things are happening at the Grand Hotel...
A hotel as a work of art in little ol' Mangowak? It was about as unlikely as an indoor creek.'
Robbed of his zest for life by the absurd innovations of his local council, including knocking down the only pub in his beloved home town and roofing over a section of the creek to protect swimmers from the rain, artist Noel Lea exiles himself in the hills above Mangowak, on the southwest Victorian coast. He returns to find an unexpected destiny awaits. At a turning point in the town's history it seems he has a crucial role to play, as the unlikely publican of an even unlikelier hotel.
This is a novel about an Australian pub twenty-first-century style, where the toilets play automated Dadaist recordings, Happy Hour comes with a blessing from the Pope and the patrons' libidos are as voracious as their thirst for the local ale. As events in the hotel take a twist that not even its inventive publican could have imagined, a long-held local mystery begins finally to unravel. Noel and his friends find themselves in uncharted territory, and, to make matters worse, the local authorities are hell-bent on closing them down.
From the award-winning author of THE PATRON SAINT OF EELS and RON MCCOY’S SEA OF DIAMONDS, Gregory Day's third novel is a witty, earthy and lyrical tour de force that takes some well-aimed swipes at the aspirations and absurdities of contemporary life.
A hotel as a work of art in little ol' Mangowak? It was about as unlikely as an indoor creek.'
Robbed of his zest for life by the absurd innovations of his local council, including knocking down the only pub in his beloved home town and roofing over a section of the creek to protect swimmers from the rain, artist Noel Lea exiles himself in the hills above Mangowak, on the southwest Victorian coast. He returns to find an unexpected destiny awaits. At a turning point in the town's history it seems he has a crucial role to play, as the unlikely publican of an even unlikelier hotel.
This is a novel about an Australian pub twenty-first-century style, where the toilets play automated Dadaist recordings, Happy Hour comes with a blessing from the Pope and the patrons' libidos are as voracious as their thirst for the local ale. As events in the hotel take a twist that not even its inventive publican could have imagined, a long-held local mystery begins finally to unravel. Noel and his friends find themselves in uncharted territory, and, to make matters worse, the local authorities are hell-bent on closing them down.
From the award-winning author of THE PATRON SAINT OF EELS and RON MCCOY’S SEA OF DIAMONDS, Gregory Day's third novel is a witty, earthy and lyrical tour de force that takes some well-aimed swipes at the aspirations and absurdities of contemporary life.
468 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2010
2 people are currently reading
53 people want to read
About the author
Gregory Day
18 books17 followersGregory Day is an Australian novelist, poet and musician who is best known for his Mangowak novels,
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 25, 2013
This started off with a hiss and a roar, detailing a young man's disillusion with modern society, and it's ridiculous notions. I was really prepared for something quite spectacular with the satirizing of modern concil initiatives (a roof over the creek to stop bathers getting wet by the rain, temporary art installations that have to be silenced from dusk til dawn, closing the local pub to build an eco-community) and the decision to open a pub in his house, which stands on the site of the original Grand Hotel.
However, once the pub opens the narrative descends into a chaotic set of sexual interludes between the married bar tender who's desperately in love with the singer, who in turn is also sleeping with The Lazy Tenor; desperate to force him to make something of himself. All the while the narrator (the young man) is floundering around putting off actually acting on anything, and getting hopelessly drunk while ignoring everyone who depends on him. At this point, the old town history collector starts having dreams that channel the past through an old transistor radio.....
... yes, a bit too much of a stretch to accept, and a senseless and distracting plot twist to unfold the mysterious history of the destruction of the original Grand Hotel. It was at this point I went "oh for crying out loud, COME ON!!" and gave it up as a bad job, as I could no longer summon any enthusiasm to finish the story. What a disapointment from a promising beginning.
However, once the pub opens the narrative descends into a chaotic set of sexual interludes between the married bar tender who's desperately in love with the singer, who in turn is also sleeping with The Lazy Tenor; desperate to force him to make something of himself. All the while the narrator (the young man) is floundering around putting off actually acting on anything, and getting hopelessly drunk while ignoring everyone who depends on him. At this point, the old town history collector starts having dreams that channel the past through an old transistor radio.....
... yes, a bit too much of a stretch to accept, and a senseless and distracting plot twist to unfold the mysterious history of the destruction of the original Grand Hotel. It was at this point I went "oh for crying out loud, COME ON!!" and gave it up as a bad job, as I could no longer summon any enthusiasm to finish the story. What a disapointment from a promising beginning.
August 14, 2012
My family has had a holiday house in a coastal settlement about two hours south east of Melbourne for over 50 years. It used to be called ‘the shack’ but when it was extended in the 70s, it outgrew this term. Next door is what I think of as a Lorne beachhouse – all glass and look-at-me-ness. The local ratepayers association now calls the settlement a “village”; a term that makes me want to throw up. I am hoping that we can resist the waves of cappuccino-makers and Audis, that I can continue to wear old clothes and wash seldom and walk on the beach with the dog off the leash (if I had one). Already much has changed; the fires on the beach which we loved as teenagers are illegal and elements of the ratepayers group have agitated for a concrete path in front of our house.
The Grand Hotel reminded me of these battles – of the conflict between locals and their history and newcomers to a place. What Day does best is this sense of place; he is deeply in touch with the seasons and with the landscape in which this novel is set. It is in the imaginary settlement of Mangowak – which is probably about two hours or more from Melbourne on the western coast. The plot may well have been inspired by the demolition of the Lady Bay Hotel in Warrnambool (though Mangowak seems like a much smaller settlement) about ten years ago and the subsequent erection of a pastel-coloured holiday resort. The Lady Bay had been the drinking haven for local fishermen; who, on its demise, created their own illegal drinking space elsewhere in Warrnambool. In Day’s novel, the local hotel meets a similar fate so locals Noel and Kooka set up their own hotel.
It’s a book with an old-fashioned feel; the language is at times a little self-conscious and formal. It came as no surprise to read this in an interview with the author:
“Peter Mares: They start to be fascinated by what they're hearing. Your writing, as you say, is distinctly Australian, it is very much located...it couldn't come from any other place, it's not just Australian but it's regional as well. And I know that one of your influences is that great rambling Australian novel Such As Life by Joseph Furphy, or Tom Collins.
Gregory Day: It is my favourite book.
Peter Mares: It has the best opening line of any book in literary history: 'Unemployed at last.'…
Peter Mares: And you share with Joseph Furphy that delight in the digression and a kind of slow reading, if you like.
Gregory Day: Yes, I do, I think it's important not to be completely tied to the plot. I pay a lot of attention to plot, so it's not like I am eschewing momentum. People don't say to me there is no momentum in your book...
Peter Mares: No, there is a clear...
Gregory Day: But definitely the time where you...it is like sitting out in the morning sun, a digression in a book, you should take the time to do it.” (http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/p...)
There is definitely a flavour of Henry Lawson, and at times, of the Billy Borker tales (Frank Hardy). Day has also said, in interview “In the part of the world where I live, because my family has been there a long time … you just have to touch a thing, rub it a bit, for the stories to pour out. Now, that’s just a fact for everyone. And that sense of what we as humans are in that place is particularly rich now, I think, because we feel the places that we live in, the natural places, are in jeopardy.” (http://www.readings.com.au/interview/...)
The natural places are in jeopardy. The book also has a comic overlay – Day has a lot of fun with the pretensions of the local council who wish to turn his town into a tourist precinct – they have installed a roof over a section of the local creek and built a sculpture of bells (the noise of the bells drives the locals crazy and has necessitated the employment of a worker to ensure that the bells do not ring at night). And one of the little side bars I liked was the making of a home movie about the siphoning off of water tanks in holiday houses by a couple of enterprising locals who were running out (the politics of water – a universal plotline).
Day says he “is fascinated by the combination of dream, practicality and self-delusion in everyday life, saying: ‘The Grand Hotel as a concept actually enshrines a theme where juxtapositions are born. It is a self-generating site, where people come from different places and meet. Across Australia, in the bush, are all these Grand Hotels, which are far from grand. That amuses me, going into towns and seeing those attempts at grandeur – like the explorer, Major Mitchell, making his self-aggrandising mimetic maps, the people were living in their imagination as they built those hotels, just as Noel and Kooka are living in their imagination when they create this Grand Hotel in Mangowak.’” (http://www.readings.com.au/interview/...)
I gave it three stars – which is the same rating that I gave Peter Carey’s latest book. It shows how blunt the star rating system is – Carey’s book is much more ambitious and a more interesting read but the comparison is unfair – they are different kinds of beasts. Day’s book reminded me of the issues alive in rural Australia along with the playfulness and confidence that you get from living a long time in a community.
The Grand Hotel reminded me of these battles – of the conflict between locals and their history and newcomers to a place. What Day does best is this sense of place; he is deeply in touch with the seasons and with the landscape in which this novel is set. It is in the imaginary settlement of Mangowak – which is probably about two hours or more from Melbourne on the western coast. The plot may well have been inspired by the demolition of the Lady Bay Hotel in Warrnambool (though Mangowak seems like a much smaller settlement) about ten years ago and the subsequent erection of a pastel-coloured holiday resort. The Lady Bay had been the drinking haven for local fishermen; who, on its demise, created their own illegal drinking space elsewhere in Warrnambool. In Day’s novel, the local hotel meets a similar fate so locals Noel and Kooka set up their own hotel.
It’s a book with an old-fashioned feel; the language is at times a little self-conscious and formal. It came as no surprise to read this in an interview with the author:
“Peter Mares: They start to be fascinated by what they're hearing. Your writing, as you say, is distinctly Australian, it is very much located...it couldn't come from any other place, it's not just Australian but it's regional as well. And I know that one of your influences is that great rambling Australian novel Such As Life by Joseph Furphy, or Tom Collins.
Gregory Day: It is my favourite book.
Peter Mares: It has the best opening line of any book in literary history: 'Unemployed at last.'…
Peter Mares: And you share with Joseph Furphy that delight in the digression and a kind of slow reading, if you like.
Gregory Day: Yes, I do, I think it's important not to be completely tied to the plot. I pay a lot of attention to plot, so it's not like I am eschewing momentum. People don't say to me there is no momentum in your book...
Peter Mares: No, there is a clear...
Gregory Day: But definitely the time where you...it is like sitting out in the morning sun, a digression in a book, you should take the time to do it.” (http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/p...)
There is definitely a flavour of Henry Lawson, and at times, of the Billy Borker tales (Frank Hardy). Day has also said, in interview “In the part of the world where I live, because my family has been there a long time … you just have to touch a thing, rub it a bit, for the stories to pour out. Now, that’s just a fact for everyone. And that sense of what we as humans are in that place is particularly rich now, I think, because we feel the places that we live in, the natural places, are in jeopardy.” (http://www.readings.com.au/interview/...)
The natural places are in jeopardy. The book also has a comic overlay – Day has a lot of fun with the pretensions of the local council who wish to turn his town into a tourist precinct – they have installed a roof over a section of the local creek and built a sculpture of bells (the noise of the bells drives the locals crazy and has necessitated the employment of a worker to ensure that the bells do not ring at night). And one of the little side bars I liked was the making of a home movie about the siphoning off of water tanks in holiday houses by a couple of enterprising locals who were running out (the politics of water – a universal plotline).
Day says he “is fascinated by the combination of dream, practicality and self-delusion in everyday life, saying: ‘The Grand Hotel as a concept actually enshrines a theme where juxtapositions are born. It is a self-generating site, where people come from different places and meet. Across Australia, in the bush, are all these Grand Hotels, which are far from grand. That amuses me, going into towns and seeing those attempts at grandeur – like the explorer, Major Mitchell, making his self-aggrandising mimetic maps, the people were living in their imagination as they built those hotels, just as Noel and Kooka are living in their imagination when they create this Grand Hotel in Mangowak.’” (http://www.readings.com.au/interview/...)
I gave it three stars – which is the same rating that I gave Peter Carey’s latest book. It shows how blunt the star rating system is – Carey’s book is much more ambitious and a more interesting read but the comparison is unfair – they are different kinds of beasts. Day’s book reminded me of the issues alive in rural Australia along with the playfulness and confidence that you get from living a long time in a community.
November 20, 2025
I really enjoyed this.
Like many other reviewers, I found it did slow a little in the middle, form such an engaging start.
However I just went along for the ride, and it was fun.
A unique essence of the Great Ocean Road runs through the book.
Like many other reviewers, I found it did slow a little in the middle, form such an engaging start.
However I just went along for the ride, and it was fun.
A unique essence of the Great Ocean Road runs through the book.
May 1, 2021
I was keen at first, but then the book just seemed to drag along. I got about half way and then decided to put it down for a while. I just didn't get back to it.
May 18, 2023
The author lives somewhere around Airey's Inlet, I think. This book was recommended to me by Jenny Harvey. It was good - maybe 8/10. Just a story about a pub and its people.
September 15, 2012
Unfinished ... put aside till another day.
A rare thing that I put a book aside but after reading a quarter of this book I still hadn’t engaged in any way.
This read like a yarn (a bit of an Aussie Keillor Garrison ... but without the witty sharp observations). So it yarned away without any depth to the characters. I know that there is a “series” of his books set in Mangowak so maybe I needed to start at the first (though I thought that this was) because there was an inference about things that had already happened and characters who had a past. But in the long run ... who cares? Maybe I will go back to it again.
A rare thing that I put a book aside but after reading a quarter of this book I still hadn’t engaged in any way.
This read like a yarn (a bit of an Aussie Keillor Garrison ... but without the witty sharp observations). So it yarned away without any depth to the characters. I know that there is a “series” of his books set in Mangowak so maybe I needed to start at the first (though I thought that this was) because there was an inference about things that had already happened and characters who had a past. But in the long run ... who cares? Maybe I will go back to it again.
March 14, 2013
I thought it was hysterical, I loved all the digs at the ridiculous nature of modern society, was suitably drawn into the trannie business but was incredibly disappointed with the ending. So I'm just pretending I didn't finish it and focusing on the bits I loved.
July 30, 2012
Good read
November 12, 2013
Meh! Some beautiful bits, but mostly hum drum. I liked the swimming and the leaves he found as a boy.
July 8, 2014
Probably a 2.5, in fairness. Some good elements but I didn't feel connected to the characters.
March 23, 2016
One of the best books I have read in years
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews