Hotel Savoy.

"Like the ceiling of the hotel room, the narration is transparent, revealing a hallucinatory loneliness, a presence out of time, a soul floating in Middle and Eastern Europe. None of this is mere cafe surrealism or angst; one of Roth's achievements is to give a sense of strict accuracy; his story is a laconic scenario, with characters offered like facts." Gold continued: "Roth's swift style makes things happen naturally; we see, hear, smell and believe. A joyous storyteller's gift remains precariously alive within the pessimism of decay and loss. Although the teller of the tale says 'there is no end there, no break - always continuity and connection,' his art is kind and draws us to a satisfying conclusion after the luridness of events" (The New York Times).