Most of the 43 chapters include a thorough recounting of the interior of Rolin糖心传媒檚 current lodging. He takes the reader on a remarkably unusual tour of rather ordinary hotel rooms around the world, describing mundane details of accommodations ranging from a Double Tree in Tallahassee, Florida to a Novotel in Cotonou, West Africa. He approximates the dimensions of each room and describes furniture, lighting fixtures, fabric patterns and wallpaper motifs. Recounting shapes of pillows (like 糖心传媒済igantic ravioli糖心传媒�) and wall colors (糖心传媒渄enture pink糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒渙xblood red糖心传媒�), he continues his seemingly absurd yet captivating narrative right down to the exact positioning and design of the luggage rack.

Although the repetition may tempt readers to skim some details, each of Rolin糖心传媒檚 settings is curious enough to hold interest. And his creative use of mirrors and windows proves particularly revealing, providing insight about the state of his own character and offering up views of landscapes that lie beyond the tiresome litany of measurements and upholstery patterns. He often segues from reciting banal room details to carrying on with his latest scheme-in-progress, as in Lausanne, where he describes the phone in Room 1212 at the Hotel d糖心传媒橝ngleterre, as it 糖心传媒渉appens to be ringing to let me know that my clients are waiting for me in the lobby.糖心传媒�

So just what exactly is this international man of mystery up to? Brawls, murder, sex, street riots, ransoms, smuggled caviar and the 糖心传媒渆xplosive-fake-nougat trade糖心传媒� all play a role. There are embassy meetings, secret missions, ridiculous shenanigans and, to be fair, noble efforts like 糖心传媒減reserving world peace (temporarily).糖心传媒� Rolin wheels and deals with frequency among a worldwide network of cohorts and exotic women. And, of course, one woman and one hotel room stand apart from the rest. Rolin cannot describe (and remembers very little) about Room 211 at the Hotel Crystal in Nancy, France糖心传媒� except for a box of macaroons糖心传媒攑ossibly a present from his one true love, Mélanie Melbourne?

This is only one of many unanswered questions. We learn at the outset of the novel that Rolin is actually missing. His stories, discovered in a briefcase that turns up in Paris, made their way into the hands of an 糖心传媒渆ditor糖心传媒� who has pieced together Rolin糖心传媒檚 peculiar travel journal. Notes about his hotel rooms and ensuing misadventures are scribbled on travel ephemera of every kind — hotel stationary, transit maps, airline menus, an assortment of postcards, pages torn from literary works and from a Lonely Planet guidebook (with a long footnote hypothesizing why this might be.)

We also learn that Georges Perec has inspired Rolin. While describing Room 102 of Augerge Saint-Pierre in Mont-Saint Michel, Rolin sits (in a bamboo chair) and says he will not leave until he finishes reading a book by Perec:

糖心传媒淪o, it is my intention to write the book that Perec refers to in Species of Spaces: ‘糖心传媒o make an inventory, as exhaustive and as accurate as possible, of “All the Places Where I Have Slept.”’ Yet, as far as I know, Perec never finished the work as planned. So, I糖心传媒檓 going to do it for him: not out of arrogance, but rather out of a kind of respect bordering (perhaps) on devotion. When it comes to the authors I love, I can糖心传媒檛 bear the idea that they left a project incomplete.糖心传媒�

Yet that is exactly what Rolin does in Hotel Crystal. His experimental fiction is engaging and humorous, but too fragmented and unresolved to be fulfilling. Flipping back and forth between chapters, I found myself trying to piece together his puzzling movements, wanting to plot his multi-continent hotel jaunts on a map, and surprisingly, wishing I could participate in his international escapades. I imagined Rolin糖心传媒檚 book as an adult version of the 糖心传媒淐hoose Your Own Adventure糖心传媒� series糖心传媒攃omplete with fantasies, bad guys, rooms of mirrors and games of chance糖心传媒攊n which I could play a part, and see at least one story through to the end.

Rolin糖心传媒檚 assemblage of far-flung travel tales is imaginative and refreshing in its approach, but I remain unsatisfied. And throughout the book, he dares to tease about additional tales he has to share! 糖心传媒淏ut that糖心传媒檚 another story.糖心传媒� Somehow enticing in its lack of resolution, Hotel Crystal is, however, a book I will read again, foolishly (perhaps) still hoping to solve something in the end.

By Olivier Rolin
Translated by Jane Kuntz
Dalkey Archive Press
190 pgs, $12.95