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Preview — The Voyeur's Motel
by Gay Talese
On January 7, 1980, in the run-up to the publication of his landmark bestseller Thy Neighbor’s Wife , Gay Talese received an anonymous letter from a man in Colorado. “Since learning of your long awaited study of coast-to-coast sex in America,” the letter began, “I feel I have important information that I could contribute to its contents or to contents of a future book.” The
On January 7, 1980, in the run-up to the publication of his landmark bestseller Thy Neighbor’s Wife , Gay Talese received an anonymous letter from a man in Colorado. “Since learning of your long awaited study of coast-to-coast sex in America,” the letter began, “I feel I have important information that I could contribute to its contents or to contents of a future book.” The man went on to tell Talese an astonishing secret, that he had bought a motel to satisfy his voyeuristic desires. He had built an attic “observation platform,” fitted with vents, through which he could peer down on his unwitting guests. Unsure what to make of this confession, Talese traveled to Colorado where he met the man—Gerald Foos—verified his story in person, and read some of his extensive journals, a secret record of America’s changing social and sexual mores. But because Foos insisted on remaining anonymous, Talese filed his reporting away, assuming the story would remain untold. Now, after thirty-five years, he’s ready to go public and Talese can finally tell his story. The Voyeur’s Motel is an extraordinary work of narrative journalism, and one of the most talked about books of the year.
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Published
July 12th 2016
by Grove Press
0802125816
(ISBN13: 9780802125811 )
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Tim
I hope not. The book was creepy and disgusting. I'm equally disturbed by the actions of Gerald Foos and the writing of Gay Talese. Foos is an interest …more I hope not. The book was creepy and disgusting. I'm equally disturbed by the actions of Gerald Foos and the writing of Gay Talese. Foos is an interesting, albeit disturbed individual, but what he did doesn't warrant publishing. He should have gone to jail. Maybe Talese should have, too. (less)
Susan Abenilla-brown
there is no simple answer - I have not finished the book yet, but this is both the story of the voyeur and how he started and ran his business and als …more there is no simple answer - I have not finished the book yet, but this is both the story of the voyeur and how he started and ran his business and also of the author both coming to terms with his decision to not say anything about it when it first came to his attention and also his reporting of the motel owner's reports of guests. (less)
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Shelves:
journalism ,
prurient-interest
“I know a married man with two children who bought a twenty-one-room motel near Denver many years ago in order to become its resident voyeur. With his wife nearby to assist, he cut rectangular-shaped holes in the ceilings of a dozen rooms, each hole measuring six by fourteen inches. Then he covered the openings with louvered aluminum screens that simulated ventilation grilles, but were in fact, observation vents that allowed him, while he knelt or stood on the thickly carpeted floor of the attic
“I know a married man with two children who bought a twenty-one-room motel near Denver many years ago in order to become its resident voyeur. With his wife nearby to assist, he cut rectangular-shaped holes in the ceilings of a dozen rooms, each hole measuring six by fourteen inches. Then he covered the openings with louvered aluminum screens that simulated ventilation grilles, but were in fact, observation vents that allowed him, while he knelt or stood on the thickly carpeted floor of the attic, under the motel’s pitched roof, to see his guests in the rooms below. He continued to watch them for decades, while keeping an almost daily written record of what he saw and heard – and never once, during all those years, was he caught…” - Gay Talese, The Voyeur’s Hotel What am I doing? I asked myself, as I purchased Gay Talese’s The Voyeur’s Motel . What am I doing? I asked myself, as I cracked the front cover. What in the literal hell am I doing? I asked myself, as I began reading the “true” story of a man who bought a motel, installed peep-vents in the ceiling, and then spied on his customers for years, while obsessively recording his observations in a journal. This book is garbage. I knew that long before I read it. Hence, the questioning of myself. Why did I do it? Oh, come on! We all know why. I’m attracted to trash like a raccoon is attracted to…well, also trash. You might have heard about the concept of The Voyeur’s Motel . If not, I hate to be the one to tell you – but I’m going to, anyway. This is your last chance to leave. Still here? Okay. Later on, when you’re trying to scrub the memory from your brain, don’t say I didn't warn you. As mentioned above, The Voyeur’s Motel is about an innkeeper who spies on his guests. The owner, a high-functioning degenerate named Gerald Foos, purchased the motel to satiate his pathological urge to snoop. He built a walkway above the rooms of his motel, and installed vents through which he could observe his customers going about their quotidian chores: watching television, going to the bathroom, engaging in marital spats. Oh, and having sex. That’s what this is really about. Foos watching people having sex. And writing about it. In a field journal in which he kept meticulous notes filled with his utterly banal descriptions (“a beautiful body, slightly plump, but sexually attractive anyway”) and ridiculously unsupported conclusions (“[t]hey are not a happy couple…He is very ignorant of sexual procedure and foreplay despite his college education”). Allegedly, this is a true story, which ratchets up the ick-factor to eleven. In the 1980s, when Talese was close to publishing Thy Neighbor’s Wife , his classic account of the sexual revolution, he received an anonymous letter from a man who turned out to be Foos. This man claimed to have important contributions to Talese’s survey of sex in America, specifically his ability to out-peep any Peeping Tom in history. Talese engaged Foos over the years, but refused to do anything with Foos’ material until Talese could use his real name. Talese declares that his hesitance had to do with his high journalistic standards against nameless sources. This should no longer be an issue, because I don’t believe – in light of this book’s publication – that Talese has any standards left. The Voyeur’s Motel courted controversy from the start. This controversy is twofold. First, there is a moral component at play in this book’s very existence. Specifically, Talese is writing about an uncharged criminal who unlawfully violated the privacy of his guests for years, and years, and years. (The Denver DA has said that the statute of limitations has run out for any potential charges). Should such a book even be published? And if published, read? Second, there are issues about Talese’s journalistic integrity, calling into question many of the basic factual underpinnings. As I'll discuss in a moment, many of the things Foos says he witnessed occurred at times when he did not own his motel. Let us explore these controversies in turn. As to the moral question, I’m not really in the position to cast judgment. After all, I knew what I was getting into. I can’t pick up a book about a perverted motel owner and then get the vapors because the book is, in fact, all about a perverted motel owner. No one tricked me into reading this; no one forced me. No, I was compelled by my own prurient interest, making me, in a way, as complicit as Foos (a notion a more intelligent book might have taken time to explore). Even if I had grounds for self-righteousness, I’d give The Voyeur’s Motel a pass. I don’t condone Foos’ actions, but bookshelves the world over groan beneath the weight of titles concerning terrible people doing terrible deeds. It’s a little too late to only start publishing books about good people doing helpful and amazing things. (For example, I hate Adolf Hitler, as any sane person does. Yet I have an entire bookcase – not shelf, book case – devoted to the Nazis). My thinking would be different if I thought there was a serious risk that innocent people would be harmed by this, but I don’t think there is. Foos never mentions anyone by name; he didn't take pictures or videos or post anything to the internet; and his descriptions are so dreadfully stupid and juvenile (usually centered on bust size) that you’d never be able to identify an actual person from his words (if, in fact, much of this actually happened; which I’ll discuss below). Of course, anyone reading this who has spent time in Aurora’s “Manor House Motel” might be emotionally affected; this risk, though, is mitigated by the fact that decades have passed since Foos’ project ended. Thus, we get to the second controversy regarding Talese’s journalism. Publication was delayed after Foos’ credibility was called into question. Foos’ journal, you see, begins describing his voyeuristic journey in 1966. The problem is that records show he didn't purchase the place until 1969. Other events are recorded as happening in the 80s, again, during a period in which Foos did not own the motel. Talese mentions this offhandedly in the manuscript, and shrugs it off as the result of Foos being an “unreliable narrator.” According to the Washington Post , however, Talese did not know about the extent of Foos’ fabrications until presented with the information by its journalists. In other words, Talese’s research falls a bit short of meticulous. (When the Washington Post first presented Talese with these oopsies, Talese disavowed his book. A half second later, he said he stood by it. I can only assume there was a financial aspect to this decision). Talese also relates the story of a murder that took place in the motel, one that Foos claimed to have witnessed. You will not be surprised, dear reader, to learn that there is no evidence that this ever occurred. Is the book entirely false? Well, according to Talese, he actually visited the motel and watched a couple engaging in sexual activity. Not only that, but his tie slipped through the vent, and they almost got caught. If that story – with that too-cute detail about his tie – convinces you of anything…Well, I’ll leave it at that. I will add, as an aside, that this might have made a fascinating novel. I can see a better, more imaginative author building on Foos’ petty megalomania, his inflated ego, his radically unjustified sense of his own powers of observation, and used that to construct a dark and kinky piece of fiction. That’s not what happens here, though. Instead, we get bad fiction dressed up as worse nonfiction. Let’s leave the controversy aside. Does the book have merit as entertainment? No. This is an empty collection of excerpts from Foos’ journal, large parts of it (based on property records, and the clearly-invented dialogue) simply false. Talese doesn’t try to find a larger meaning to all this. He just plods along, relating dirty stories jotted down by a narcissistic hack. There is no titillation, because these jottings have all the artistry of the masturbatory daydreams of a thirteen year-old boy. In Thy Neighbors Wife , Talese used a masterful structure of segueing chapters to survey contemporary sex in America. Here, he just gives an entry, briefly comments on it, and then repeats. I am frankly a bit shocked that Talese couldn’t derive anything more out of Foos’ tale. We live in the age of the voyeur and the exhibitionist. We live in the age of the security state. We are all prying into the lives of others, and allowing our lives to be surveilled in turn. These are obvious connections, but Talese is so busy mailing this in, he can’t be bothered to draw any of them. Talese has had a remarkable career. Tom Wolfe once dubbed him the founder of New Journalism. This is not worthy of him or his talent. Most of you know I’m not a literary snob. I like a good gutter-wallow as much as the next chap. I find a lot of value in the cheap and tawdry. But this goes beyond cheap and tawdry. It is cheap and tawdry and lazy and false and skeevy and also, just as damning, entirely unentertaining. To paraphrase Nietzsche, when I peer too long into the abyss, I see myself, holding this book, staring back.
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Jul 14, 2016
Elyse Walters
rated it
it was amazing
Freaky .... Freaky .... Creepy!!!!! Gerald Foos is the former owner of the Manor House ....a twenty-one room motel near Denver. (Aurora, Colorado). He later owned the Riviera motel, about a 10 minute drive from the Manor House. It was a two-story building with seventy-two rooms. Foos was married with two children. His first wife, Donna assisted Gerald with cutting rectangular-shaped holes in the ceilings of a dozen rooms, each hole measuring six by fourteen inches at the Manor House. His second w
Freaky .... Freaky .... Creepy!!!!! Gerald Foos is the former owner of the Manor House ....a twenty-one room motel near Denver. (Aurora, Colorado). He later owned the Riviera motel, about a 10 minute drive from the Manor House. It was a two-story building with seventy-two rooms. Foos was married with two children. His first wife, Donna assisted Gerald with cutting rectangular-shaped holes in the ceilings of a dozen rooms, each hole measuring six by fourteen inches at the Manor House. His second wife Anita ( after Donna died), also 'helped' with Foos hobby. Then he covered the openings with louvered aluminum screens that stimulated ventilation grilles, but were, in fact, observation vents that allowed him, while he knelt or stood on the thickly carpeted floor of the attic, under the motel pitched roof, to see his guests in the rooms below. He continued to watch for DECADES, while keeping an almost daily written record of what he saw and heard. NEVER ONCE ....in all those years ....DID HE GET CAUGHT! CRAZY!!!! He admitted to author -Gay Talese, "to constant fear of being found out, but he was unwilling to concede that his activities in his motel's attic brought harm to anyone. First of all, he pointed out, he was indulging his curiosity within the boundaries of his own property, and since his guests where unaware of his voyeurism, they were not affected by it". "Voyeurs are cripples.....whom God has not blessed " he wrote. God said to us, "You get to observe at your own risk". Everything about this story....( one I couldn't put down)...is definitely...ABNORMAL... TABOO...ILLEGAL...STRANGE....ODD....FREAKY/CREEPY.....FREAKY/CREEPY!!!!!... The 'fascination' I had was .... ( I must have been living under a rock because I didn't know this story)...was.... DID HE EVER GET CAUGHT? Did he die? The connection--( story behind), the AUTHOR 'writing' this book and Gerald Foos is thought provoking -and truthfully interesting in the way strange news is. Film rights have been purchased by Sam Mendes, with Steven Spielberg slated to direct. The reason 'I' bought and read this book yesterday...( the physical book includes photos and a hand written letter)...is that I learned Grove Atlantic was the book's publisher. I haven't been shy about saying I have a 'crush' with the staff at Grove Atlantic. I've much respect for the type of books they stand behind...the genuine support they offer to people, and the difference they make in our world. I trust their integrity while being open to look at alternate material. They are a special publishing company and I LIKE THEM!!! Back to "The Voyeur's Motel", by Gay Talese: I wonder if 'any' of the guests have recently figure out if they may have been victims between the years of 1969 ....on ....until Foos sold his motel in 1995? I can't imagine how these people would feel now. I wonder if anyone will step forward. So many questions enter the readers mind. Not knowing a damn thing about Gerald Foos kept me turning pages...non-stop. Wives..(PLURAL), participated. Foos was witness to a murder. My god...a person couldn't write a fiction book with more disturbing drama...danger, creepy, illegal behavior....than this true story. He spent hours in his locked attic watching hundreds of people having sex, listening to their conversations about money, jobs, eating and wiping their hands on his bed covers....making 'conclusions' about which couples were happy - which were not... judging bodies and sexual styles. His wife would 'deliver' him a sandwich. The voyeur still had to eat! lol. Oh my...YIKES ALMIGHTY!!! The BIG question I had was, why didn't the author ever contact the authorities and turn Foos in? It's sure something to think about...but by reading this book...I picked up hints - of understanding- of why he didn't. I imagine ratings for this book might be all over the place. I'm going with 5 stars because even with the controversy ---We've all heard crazy true stories - injustice -and otherwise. This story just takes the cake for being insane! It's hard to believe the guy not only got away with it for decades .. but is still a free man today!!! Bizarre Bizarre!!!!!
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A guy I have a crush on recommended this book to me. Warning sign?
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Jul 28, 2016
Susan
rated it
did not like it
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
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I think of this book as 2 creepers for the price of 1. I get it that a defining element of New Journalism is the author inserting him/herself into the story. And I am fascinated by the dark and the weird. However, what Gay Talese does -- and doesn't do -- here infuriates. These guys (Gay and his subject, Gerald) surely have little empathy for their catalog of unsuspecting victims, and as a reader I'd love for either one to have a little taste of that same medicine. There's a big differen
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