The Hotel New Hampshire - Definition and Overview

The Hotel New Hampshire is a novel by John Irving. Published in 1981 it was made into a film directed by Tony Richardson and starring Jodie Foster, Rob Lowe, and Beau Bridges.

Among the plentiful colourful characters is Susie the Bear, played by model Nastassja Kinski, a girl who essentially lives her life in a bear mascot costume. Rob Lowe broke his nose while filming a fight scene with Susie.

One of the most prominent themes of this novel is that of the conventional brother-sister relationship. In this book, John (Rob Lowe in the movie) falls in love with his sister-and even states that after Franny (his sister) no other woman could truly satisfy him. This relationship is accepted by his siblings; his older brother, after all, is gay, and his younger sister is a dwarf. Franny and John cure their lust and passion for each other in that particularly useful method of doing or taking something in excess up till the point that you never want to experience that something anymore. For them, that is the turning point of their lives, and their relationship-they move on, and their relationship becomes strictly brother-sister.