The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater {Review}

June had long ago discovered that most people were bad listeners; they thought listening was synonymous with hearing. But the spoken was only half a conversation. True needs, wants, fears, and hopes hid not in the words that were said, but in the ones that weren’t, and all these formed the core of luxury. June had become a good listener.
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In a nutshell

Set in the Appalachian mountains, The Avallon is a luxurious hotel which features healing sweetwater. When war comes knocking in 1942, the state department overtakes the hotel as a holding “cell” for three hundred enemy diplomats and Nazi sympathisers and general manager June Hoss must play a welcoming host. As dark alliances form and secrets lurk, the sweetwater’s secret nature starts bubbling to the surface.

Book Club Notes

I found this book utterly weird and failed to connect to any element of it. Although the writing was imaginative and evocative and produced interesting characters, nothing stuck. The storyline fell flat, my reaction to the twists was a combination of “so what” and “meh” and I wasn’t invested in any character endings. It may be a well written book, but that doesn’t equate to a good read.