Summary of Hotel Savoy
After spending several years as a war prisoner in Siberia, Gabriel returns home in the summer of 1919. The country he served as a soldier, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, has vanished along with its multicultural ideals. He books a cheap room in the Hotel Savoy, a hotel in the Polish city of Łódź. The poor guests stay on the upper floors, worrying about how to pay the bill, while the rich guests enjoy themselves on the lower floors. Chaos reigns in the hotel and revolution hangs in the air, but Gabriel continues with his life. He looks for a job and falls in love with Stasia, a variety dancer.
Reasons to read Hotel Savoy
“Hotel Savoy” is a beautiful metaphor of Europe after the end of the First World War, with vivid descriptions of the hotel, its interior, staff, and guests. It captures the financial worries, nostalgia, and homelessness of the guests, who come from various regions of Europe in search of temporary shelter. Joseph Roth was an Austrian-Jewish novelist and journalist and is primarily known for his novel “The Radetsky March”, which depicts the decline of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. Other notable works by Joseph Roth include “The Emperor’s Tomb”, “The Hundred Days“, and “The Spider’s Web“.
Setting: Łódź (Poland)
The real Hotel Savoy is located at Ul. Traugutta 6, Lodz.
Original title: Hotel Savoy
Year of publication: 1924
Nr of pages: 123
