Review: Travelers Rest by Keith Lee Morris

A chilling fable about a family marooned in a snowbound town whose grievous history intrudes on the dreamlike present.

The Addisons-Julia and Tonio, ten-year-old Dewey, and ne'er-do-well Uncle Robbie-are driving home, cross-country, after collecting Robbie from detox. When a blizzard strikes outside the eerie town of Good Night, Idaho, they seek refuge at the Travelers Rest, a once-opulent but now crumbling hotel where, they soon discover, the laws of the universe are bent.

Once inside the hotel, the family is separated. Something mysterious, tied to a tragic event more than a century past, prevents them, day after day, from reuniting, until Julia is faced with an impossible choice. Can she save her family from the fate of becoming Souvenirs-those citizens trapped forever in magnetic Good Night-or disappearing entirely? What her choice entails is revealed in prose as dizzyingly beautiful as the mystical world Morris creates.

Hardcover, 384 pages

Expected publication: January 5th 2016 by Little, Brown and Company 

Kristine's Thoughts:

** I received an advanced readers copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.**

I did not find this book creepy or mysterious or clever and mystical. The word that best describes my feelings on this book is bored. Unfortunately is was so dull that I had a really hard time getting through it.

When the Addisons find themselves at Travelers Rest, an old hotel in the town of Good Night, strange things begin happening. They find themselves separated with no way to get back to each other. In theory this sounds exciting or at the very least interesting right? Well, it wasn't. The story went back and forth between each character where nothing happened and they kept talking and going in circles. After a while of the same thing happening or not happening it became a little painful.

The characters were also quite lifeless and dull which made it hard for me care about the outcome of the story. I wasn't drawn to any of them and therefore I wasn't routing for an outcome of any kind. They were just kind of blah with no personalities to speak of.

This book obviously wasn't for me so I will keep my thoughts brief. The premise of the story was good and there was nothing wrong with the writing, it was the actual story that had me yawning and struggling to finish. Reviews are all over the map so I encourage you to form your own opinion.

About the Author

Keith Lee Morris is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Clemson University. His previous book, THE DART LEAGUE KING, was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection. His writing has appeared in many publications including Tin House, the Southern Review and the New England Review..