The Glass Hotel
Ratings297
Average rating3.8
One of our signature flaws as a species: we will risk almost anything to avoid looking stupid
With Station Eleven, Emily St John Mandel wrote a story about the end of the world and made it something beautiful and uplifting. With The Glass Hotel, she does something similar with investment fraud, exploring the ripple effect caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme.
Although it didn't move me as much as Station Eleven, I really enjoyed it and found the non linier telling of the story, and the way everything linked together hugely satisfying.
Summing up. Somewhere between a 4 and a 5. But, because I just ate a Tunnock's Teacake, which was so awesome it transported me to another plane of existence, it's a 5.
3.75 ⭐️
I have a habit of avoiding synopses so that I don't spoil the plot, but about 60% through I realized I had no idea what the plot even was, which feels pretty indicative of how meandering this book is. As any other Emily St. John Mandel book, we follow different characters along their intersecting paths through time, so “meandering” is expected to some degree. There were so many paths, though, that it was difficult to parse the actual through line. Eventually, the thread of each character's moral ambiguity becomes more clear: they make choices and use each other out of desperation and survival, rarely with the intention of causing harm. Though there's so much truth to it, the themes felt a bit thin, but also I think it all just made me feel sad. Did I enjoy it? Sure, Emily St. John Mandel is always enjoyable, but I'm not sure if I liked any of the characters, and I probably wouldn't recommend it.
Emily St. John Mandel has a gift for writing about liminal spaces. The spaces between countries, time period, social classes, families, strangers. She creates such a web of deep, complicated, flawed characters and takes you on a time-bending journey through their lives. I hadn't read this before I listened to Sea of Tranquility which is really a continuation and honing of the skills (and several characters) she already had nearly mastered in this novel. While there are elements of magical realism and ghost stories, it's not one of her truly speculative works like SoT or Station Eleven, but it is absolutely worth the read if you enjoyed her writing in those books.
Same calm quiet writing. About midway through it really started to drag. There is just so much I really care about the internal turmoil of the obscenely wealthy and the greedy, but the last bit just wrapped up so well. Like Station Eleven, there is a lovely weaving of lives drifting apart and coming together. On to Sea of Tranquility which was the one that was actually recommended to me!
This book and I are at war in my brain right now, but I'm pretty sure the 3-star rating is going to stick. After reading, and absolutely adoring, Station Eleven I wanted to give Emily St. John Mandel's work another shot. This seemed promising. A ponzi scheme, a disappearance. A bit thriller, a bit contemporary. The Glass Hotel should have been a bullseye for me.
I mean I'll be honest, I still love Mandel's writing. It ebbs and flows like the sea, and her characters are always fascinating. Vincent's life, despite being one enmeshed in bad choices, was fascinating. I loved the look into the ways that people will lie to themselves to make obviously poor choices seem like something valid. There's a lot of discussion about the evils of money here, and how they can unmake a person. Truly. But this book isn't all about that either. It's just about humans being... well... human.
The biggest disconnect for me was the last third of the book. Which I can't really explain too well without spoiling anything. It felt disjointed, and almost like an afterthought. By the end I wasn't even truly invested in finding out what really happened to Vincent anymore. Although I can't deny the ending was rather okay. So? 3-stars. That's the rating.
Phenomenal book, I truly loved it. The story shifts and goes a bunch of different directions with a wide cast of characters, but everything (as I can recall) buttons up before the end and collects into a satisfying whole. Highly recommended work of literature.
As slick as the writing was, I was desperately trying to maintain interest. Unfortunately, it's just a matter of differing likes.
TWs: drug abuse/overdose3.5 rounded down; for now! I really enjoyed [b:Sea of Tranquility 58446227 Sea of Tranquility Emily St. John Mandel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1626710416l/58446227.SX50.jpg 92408226] and [b:Station Eleven 20170404 Station Eleven Emily St. John Mandel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1680459872l/20170404.SX50.jpg 28098716], but the concept for [b:The Glass Hotel 45754981 The Glass Hotel Emily St. John Mandel https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564199892l/45754981.SX50.jpg 57817644] is quite different so it was a little difficult. I liked and continued to read the first half, but I started losing interest (probably not the best time when everything is being pieced together lol) I still enjoy Mandel's writing and prose! But I think this financial situation/plot wasn't as enjoyable. Still, I liked the concept of the counterlife and Mandel's way of rotating through timelines like a puzzle. I think I'll revisit at a later time
this was so meandering; i can understand how it wouldn't work for some, but i had a great time following the threads of connections Mandel wove between her characters. i found this surprisingly gripping, on paper this isn't a book i'd ordinarily be interested in. i'm glad that the high praise delivered by many of my friends led me to finally pick this up. i'm very excited to give Sea of Tranquility a shot next!
Mandel has this ability to tell connected stories without seeming to be connecting them deliberately that provides an insight into what we all know about the inter-connectedness of lives and how a life can change in an instant with a decision or an event or an accident. I was enthralled from start to finish and want to read more of her books. Magical.
3.5:
This is only the second book by Emily St. John I have read, and yet it's twice now that she's made my favorite character kick the bucket :( you stop that, Emily >:c
Perhaps, because of the deep fondness I have for Station Eleven, I had incredibly high expectations for this one, and although the storyline was fascinating, it fell a little flat for me.
For one, I thought the whole “why don't you swallow broken glass?” graffiti shtick was blown ridiculously out of proportion. I mean, I can sort of see what the intention was but, seriously? Vincent cried over it? The whole outrage around it? I don't get it, the drama. Be for fucking real, it sounds like a 13 year-old's idea of a witty comeback, at best. I just don't see anyone in real life reacting in the way everyone did, and I couldn't keep from being annoyed every time it came up.
Then there's the fact that Emily can be INCREDIBLE when it comes to handling a large roster of characters, but that quality didn't shine as bright in here as it did in Station Eleven. There were a few characters that popped in, then were mentioned again later on and I'd be like, who's this again?
I was quite amused, however, by the fact that I didn't actually like any of the characters. They were all terrible, selfish, greedy, shitty people. I particularly hated Johnathan, for obvious reasons, but I felt repulsed every time Paul made an appearance. Snivelly little prick. it's funny because I'd accidentally started reading Sea of Tranquility before this, read the first scene he was in, and it was on sight. Disgusting. See? I'm already irritated.
Now for the good, I was tense and on edge at so many points in the story, and I kept pondering over the very real life worry I get sometimes of suddenly losing the very little I own, and what I'd do in that situation. Lose my mind, most likely. I did not need that! I'm shocked that a book about Ponzi schemes could be so entertaining.
I also liked the bits of magical realism. I wonder if those were ghosts, or maybe visitors from somewhere else. Either way I found it oddly charming, and the ending scene was beautiful and moving.
The book was good, I was just expecting something different. I'd still recommend it on the basis that this is Emily St. John Mandel and I want to eat her writing like a dog eats homework. I'm gonna finish reading Song of Achilles, and then finally get to the last installment of this trilogy of sorts. Can't wait!
I'd been enjoying this read in its initial half, the writing was beautiful and the story quite intriguing. But as much as the first half raised my expectations, the latter half didn't live up to it for me personally as I found myself losing focus and interest. Maybe it's just me and maybe, I wasn't in the right mood to fully enjoy this book.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R3M00K7LZ3N015?ref=pf_ov_at_pdctrvw_srp
This is a hard book to evaluate. It is even harder to decide whether it is a book I would recommend to anyone. The first thing pertinent to thinking about this book is that literature - as opposed to genre fiction - is about characters. Literature doesn't put plot, action, or conflict into the driver's seat. Instead, it allows characters to marinate, sometimes, it seems, pointlessly. This book pretends to be literature, which is initially confusing. Coming to this book after reading Station Eleven, I wanted to put this book into the science fiction genre with all its tropes and expectations.
But it isn't science fiction or any genre. It almost makes a nod at science fiction as a kind of alternate universe story, specifically, one where the Georgian Flu never happened. One character muses on that other world where the Georgian Flu was not stopped. Also, we meet two characters from Station Eleven - Miranda (the comic book writer) and Leon (her logistics boss) - who don't survive the outbreak of the Flu but have a bit but inconclusive role in this book.
It is “literature.” So, we have to pay attention to the characters.
I was forty percent of the way into this book when I tried to recap and realized that I didn't know what it was supposed to be about. We start with Paul, who is recovering heroin addict, failing at school, and wanting to get into music. Paul seems a little sleazy and aimless. There is a bit where he buys drugs, gives them away to a member of the band, who dies of a heart attack.
So, the reader notes all that. That's pretty interesting. Maybe the story is going to be about Paul and this bit about bad drugs? File it away.
But that is a waste of time and a distraction because after it happens, it is never mentioned again. It's just a moment, an interlude, in Paul's life that has absolutely no significance.
Next, we snap into a situation where Paul is working at a swanky hotel in the middle of the forest near his hometown. He's working there - the “Glass Hotel” presumably - with his half-sister Vincent, named for the author Edna St. Vincent Millay....and we wonder about the similarity to the author of the subject book, Emily St. John Mandel, whom perhaps we should call “John.”
Well, we are at the “Glass Hotel,” but understand that the Glass Hotel has little to do with the story. It's a location for a few chapters, and we learn that the former manager lives there alone as the custodian for a bankruptcy trustee, none of which advances the story. It's like the deadly drugs - an interlude or filling.
At the Glass Hotel, Paul apparently etches the words “You should eat glass” on a window. None of this is explained as to motivation, until about 80% of the way in the book. It's not very important, but I guess this kind of thing could happen. Paul is fired and we don't interact with Paul again, except a brief glimpse of him twenty years later as a successful avant-garde composer.
Cut to Vincent. Paul is not the glue that holds the story together. Maybe Vincent is? She has a relationship with Jonathan, the owner of the Glass Hotel and a titan of Wall Street. Jonathan's core business is a Ponzi scheme that collapses. This is sad because Vincent like being wealthy - wealth is a different country - so she goes back to being a bartender and gets snubbed by her former friend.
The Ponzi scheme story was an interesting part of the story. The reader gets acquainted with the fraudsters who seem to be cowardly, small people, and their victims, who lose everything when they are on the verge of retirement.
This book is not about the Ponzi scheme, although that might be the most interesting part of the book since it has inklings of conventional conflict and tension. But it doesn't go anywhere.
Jonathan's story concludes with him in jail where he starts having paranormal experiences. He starts being visited by people after they've died, but before he would know that fact. In one case, he is visited by Vincent, which turns into the last part of the book, which re-introduces us to Miranda and Leon from Station Eleven.
But the paranormal experiences of Jonathan go nowhere either.
No one in this book evolves, grows or learns from their experiences. In some way they feel like programmed non-player characters who don't react to their experiences except in a limited patterned way. You gave deadly drugs that killed someone? Never mind; doesn't matter.
When I think about this book as a book, I feel short-changed.
On the other hand, I liked the book. I liked the game of trying to figure out what was going on. I felt engaged by the book. It wasn't a book that I finished like a bag of chips to move on to another nearly identical book.
The writing is well done. The format involves a lot of time hops and perspective changes that make it difficult to follow.
I suspect that this would have been a better book with editing, but my love-hate relationship with this book gives it an odd value.
I kept waiting for some amazing twist, but I could've literally just read the summary and had the same experience in less time.
This is a beautiful book with a several complex characters that are easy to empathize with. The author's prose is very smooth and, IMHO one of the most promising writers out there.
Loved the multilayered twisting storylines, the characters of Jonathan and Vincent especially, the slightly super natural feel to the story. 4.5 stars
I really liked Station Eleven. This one, I found interesting, but I'm not sure I got it. I feel like I might be too dumb to understand the subtext or the ... point? of the story. Or even why it's named The Glass Hotel.
I really loved this author's previous book, Station Eleven, so I had pretty high expectations of this. And it's good, I just didn't love it.
I really enjoy her writing style though, similar to Station Eleven, we study in and out of several different character POVs without any regard for a chronological order. The prose to me is very soothing and understated for some reason, even when bad things are happening. I just like reading it.
However the story and characters here are just fine. There is a decent sense of time and place, but I was never super attached to anyone or waiting to see any particular plot points develop.
Still I did like this and I'll certainly read more by Emily St. John Mandel in the future.
Goddamnit. The ending just destroyed me. ESJM's work is my favorite discovery in a long time.
“Money is a game he knew how to play. No, money is a country and he had the keys to the kingdom.”[a:Emily St. John Mandel 2786093 Emily St. John Mandel https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1576606299p2/2786093.jpg] is an amazing writer. She knows how to perfectly execute a plot and create an immersive environment. You can tell she puts a lot of thought and research into her books. The characters were detailed and well thought about, which isn't something I see in many books.Meaning, a lot of book characters are just named and have a certain role in the story but don't really have enough of a personality or backstory to fully like or resonate with them. This was the kind of book that is short and fast, but also incredibly slow. I don't know if it's just because of me, but it took so long to read. I think there was just a lot of information thrown at me about topics I either don't care about or know nothing about. But when the Ponzi scheme was discovered, I was entertained. Characters are the best part of books in my opinion. So when they are detailed and actually have personality, the story is 100x better. Getting the different views of each character was a bit confusing, but I found that most of it played out in the end. The timeline was also something that confused me but I think it was just the switching between views. I loved the use of the phrase “kingdom of money”, because it describes the world perfectly. Emily gave us characters that have been in the kingdom of money for a long time while also giving us characters like Vincent and Mirella who were added later on, who didn't fully understand that side of the world. “What kept her in the kingdom was the previously unimaginable condition of not having to think about money, because that's what money gives you: the freedom to stop thinking about money. If you've never been without, then you won't understand the profundity of this, how absolutely this changes your life.”“...that's when I realized that money was its own country.”One of my favorite parts of this novel wasThe Counterlife.It shows Jonathan struggling with incarceration, so much to the point where his reality seems to deflate around him, and he starts seeing his dead friends or clients. But not only was it Jonathan in this situation but Paul and Vincent as well. “But he sees them gazing into the distance and wonders where they are.”“It isn't his fault that his days are so similar that he keeps sliding into memories, or into the counterlife, although it is troubling that his memories and the counterlife have started blurring together.”There was also the portrayal of the Afterlife when Jonathan and Vincent visited each other in their “hallucinations.” Perhaps that's all it was for Jonathan, but for Vincent...The words “why not” were mentioned many times in this novel. Those two simple words show so much of society. How everyone is willing to do anything because “why not?” as long as it benefits them.I love how the whole plot played out in the end.
Really enjoyed the twists and turns and character development. I was very drawn into everyone's story and how they needed up involved, and would have given a 5 star, but at one point I did start to get a little lost and bored, and thought things were winding down, and was ok with that, as it started to feel like things were just getting drawn out. The author brought it back around and I was glad to see they were able to bring it to an ending I could appreciate, but the lull was a little tough to get through. In the end, glad I did, and the author pulled it all together nicely. Looking forward to more from Emily St. John Mandel.