Like many other things, it falls into the camp of, "I'd rather not know."
Two of the dogs had their annual check-ups a few days ago. En route to the vet, NPR had a story about an upcoming book The Voyeur's Motel by Gay Talese. I got to the vet a few minutes before they opened, so I was able to listen to the end of the story. A quick search on my phone revealed a pre-article under the same title in The New Yorker. I printed the article to a PDF and emailed it to myself for future reading. Interestingly, The New Yorker cartoon images did not render in the PDF, while the captions for the cartoons did, making the cartoons just as enjoyable had they been displayed correctly.
The article was disturbing - as I assume the book is. The basics: a man in Colorado bought a motel and created viewing ports in the attic to watch guests ... doing what guests do in motels. With a few weeks on the road every year, I stay in lots of hotels. I'm not terribly picky about the hotel, other than it be relatively clean and relatively inexpensive. I'm well aware it is very possible to make a room look clean, with actual cleanliness somewhat suspect. Sometimes clean and cheap compete. And apparently there are sometimes viewing ports in the rooms.
In one of my most conspicuous examples of cheap and clean competing, I was vacationing through South Texas well over 10 years ago. There was a very nice chain hotel that was more expensive than we wanted to pay, with a slightly rundown place (LCI) across the street, "Cheapest Rates on the Beach!" The hotel was cheap, but there was a $5 deposit on the room key - seriously. The room was tolerably clean, but the large front window didn't lock very well. After settling in, I was unable to find the remote to turn on the TV. Walking back to the lobby, I was informed that remotes are given out only after a $10 deposit. This was probably the only time I have stayed in a place where other denizens feel compelled to steal TV remotes. The restaurant next door that night was great and after several margaritas I slept just fine in the hotel room, even if it wasn't the best room I've ever stayed in. The broken window lock didn't even bother me (much). I still have the receipt for that hotel as a memento. For all the now forgotten hotels and motels I've stayed in, LCI was quite memorable, even if it wasn't for the best reasons.
Looking at Google Streetview, the hotel still exists, and the exterior looks better than I remember from my stay. Reviews for the establishment are largely wretched. No mention in the reviews of deposits for room keys or TV remotes. I can only hope.
There have been other cheap hotels which have ranged from exquisite to funky-smelling to pretty awful. I've been given the keys to rooms which were already rented, and had people try to enter in the middle of the night when my room was rerented, "I'm mad about this, I could have gotten shot!" Perhaps my penchant for travelling armed proceeds me. Road trips mean never staying in one place very long. If I do stay in the same place for multiple days, I generally try to get, at least, a more interesting place to stay.
I've always thought that there was some voyeuristic behavior in hotels, either by the staff and management, or by other guests. With housekeeping walking in and out every day, it is hard to imagine some snooping NOT happening. Even I, on occasion, have spent a few minutes peeking out of a hotel door peep hole. This may be due to safety more than anything nefarious as I can be a bit paranoid. One night in Illinois, I was sure I was going to be on an episode of Cops, as a woman screamed "RYAN," while pounding on the doors around my room. But hearing of the flagrant example of criminal peeping tomery in The New Yorker article was a little hard to stomach. While I expect this was, and is, the very rare exception rather than the rule, it is none the less disturbing.
I would actually think peering in on people going about mundane events would get quite dull very quickly, which makes the subject in the upcoming book all the more frightening since it went on for many years. Perhaps the mundanity is interspersed with enough novel events to continue. More likely, one must be the right kind of person to do this in the first place.
The comparison of the subject of Mr. Talese's book to the Norman Bates of Hitchcock fame is almost impossible not to make. In an early scene of the first Bates movie, Norman peeks through a small hole in the wall at a female guest in the shower, which begins to set off the unfortunate fictional events.
In this new book, the events are believed to be largely non-fiction. However, there are discrepancies noted and Mr. Talese is of the New Journalism school, which has at times split the hair between fiction and non-fiction. Hopefully this doesn't happen obliquely. After reading the article, I'm not sure if I'll read the book. I think I've learned enough at this point. Tell-all books are better when the alls that are being told are voyeuristically about something that affects other people.
The vet visit concluded that the dogs are getting older and are healthy with no new issues uncovered. They received annual vaccinations, including for bordetella - meaning they can be kenneled for a future road trip ... which will include motel stays.
No comments:
Post a Comment