The White Hotel is full of surprises. Each section of the novel stands (somewhat) on its own, but the whole is much greater than the sum of its parts. Thomas travels from the borders of erotica to the depths of psychoanalysis to the horrors of the holocaust. I don't know if this novel has any lasting value, but it sure was interesting. It's funny that three of the last six books I've read have used the phrase "cross the Rubicon" (which refers to an irrevocable step and comes from Caesar's crossing of the Rubicon river into Gaul, thereby declaring war); I hadn't come across that reference previously, but it's one I'll use now.