The Voyeur's Motel
by Gay Talese, 2016.
I requested this book from the library because I heard an interview with Talese on the radio (NPR, of course) and because I recognized his name from shelving books in the Bon Air Library years ago. The premise sounded interesting, and controversial: a man (and his wife) owned a motel which had a place in the attic from which to view the goings-on of the residents of several rooms. He would assign the interesting ones to those rooms, then spy on them--in part for his arousal, and in part for a "study" which he journaled.
The conclusions of the voyeur were often mundane, and he seemed to think he was more sophisticated and intelligent than he actually is. What made the publication itself controversial were multiple: 1) the voyeur's activities were immoral (although he claims innocence because the people didn't realize they were being spied upon); 2) Talese himself claims to have partaken in the activity on at least one occasion; 3) the voyeur claims to have witnessed a murder (he says he couldn't have prevented it, and only realized she was dead the next day); 4) the "facts" of the case are iffy, and the "journal" of the voyeur may have been fiction.
I have to agree that I question why this book was published. Although some of the stories were certainly arousing (in more ways than one), I didn't feel guilty reading them, because I (and many others) have serious doubts as to their veracity. The murder cannot be confirmed; there is no record of it. The dates of the man's supposed viewing are questionable, because public records show that he didn't even own the motel during some of the dates he recorded. I also have to question the man's motives: he sent the journals to Talese unbidden; Talese himself didn't publish them for years. Was it all a product of the voyeur's imagination? Why is Talese publishing them now? He is getting up in years--maybe his memory is slipping, and he's starting to believe the truth of something he himself once seriously doubted.
I requested this book from the library because I heard an interview with Talese on the radio (NPR, of course) and because I recognized his name from shelving books in the Bon Air Library years ago. The premise sounded interesting, and controversial: a man (and his wife) owned a motel which had a place in the attic from which to view the goings-on of the residents of several rooms. He would assign the interesting ones to those rooms, then spy on them--in part for his arousal, and in part for a "study" which he journaled.
The conclusions of the voyeur were often mundane, and he seemed to think he was more sophisticated and intelligent than he actually is. What made the publication itself controversial were multiple: 1) the voyeur's activities were immoral (although he claims innocence because the people didn't realize they were being spied upon); 2) Talese himself claims to have partaken in the activity on at least one occasion; 3) the voyeur claims to have witnessed a murder (he says he couldn't have prevented it, and only realized she was dead the next day); 4) the "facts" of the case are iffy, and the "journal" of the voyeur may have been fiction.
I have to agree that I question why this book was published. Although some of the stories were certainly arousing (in more ways than one), I didn't feel guilty reading them, because I (and many others) have serious doubts as to their veracity. The murder cannot be confirmed; there is no record of it. The dates of the man's supposed viewing are questionable, because public records show that he didn't even own the motel during some of the dates he recorded. I also have to question the man's motives: he sent the journals to Talese unbidden; Talese himself didn't publish them for years. Was it all a product of the voyeur's imagination? Why is Talese publishing them now? He is getting up in years--maybe his memory is slipping, and he's starting to believe the truth of something he himself once seriously doubted.