The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel Published by Knopf on March 24 2020
Genres: Adult, Literary fiction
Pages: 320
Format: Finished hardcover
Source: Purchased
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The nitty-gritty: Beautifully written and carefully plotted, The Glass Hotel was an unusual and emotional read.
Like many other readers, I loved Station Eleven and have been curious to see what Emily St. John Mandel would do next. Even though I didn’t have a review copy of The Glass Hotel, I was determined to read it, and I’m happy to say I did just that. This is a very different beast than Station Eleven, and I have to admit I struggled with it in a few places. The subject matter is one I have absolutely NO interest in—finance, Ponzi schemes, and the economic crash of 2008—and yet I wanted to give this book a chance. And ultimately, I’m so glad I did. Despite a couple of slow sections and a lot of jumping around in time, not to mention a huge cast of characters, The Glass Hotel turned out to be a gorgeously written, emotional and extremely sad (at times) story that revolves around a core group of characters who are connected to a remote hotel in Canada.
The story jumps around quite a bit and spans the years 1994 – 2018, so if you are one of those readers who needs a linear timeline, you’ll most likely struggle with this book. The story begins on the small island of Caiette, off the coast of Vancouver. We meet Vincent and her half-brother Paul when Vincent is thirteen. After telling her daughter she was off for a quick ride in her canoe, Vincent’s mother has been missing for two weeks, but she’s presumed dead since her boat was recovered but no body was found. This shattering event colors the rest of Vincent’s life. Later, the Hotel Caiette has been rebuilt from the ground up to be an escape for the wealthy, a modern marvel of a building with floor to ceiling windows, tucked away in the woods and accessible only by boat. Both Paul and Vincent have jobs at the hotel when the land’s owner, a wealthy investor named Jonathan Alkaitis, strikes up a conversation with Vincent. This encounter changes Vincent’s life. She later leaves with Alkaitis and becomes his “trophy wife,” living in the “kingdom of money” as she calls it, from 2005 – 2008. Unbeknownst to her, Alkaitis has been running a Ponzi scheme for years and is about to be caught.
We also follow Paul as he moves through his life with little ambition. In 1999 he meets a musician named Annika and her band, and one irresponsible act will have repercussions for years to come. Later in prison, Alkaitis is starting to have dreams about the people in his life he’s hurt, mostly because of the Ponzi scheme, although this “counterlife” as he calls it—what his life could have been like if only he’d made different decisions—is bleeding into his real life, and it’s getting hard to tell the difference.
All these timelines, which seem random and unconnected at first, eventually come together and make sense. Mandel is a wonderful writer, in both her prose and her story construction. The Glass Hotel is crafted, if you know what I mean. This isn’t a slapped together story, but rather a well thought out construction that revolves around a group of interconnected characters. Yes, this story requires some work on the part of the reader. Most of the mysteries aren’t solved until the very end, but trust me when I say the work is worth the effort.
And one of my favorite things about this story is the way all the characters are connected. Paul meets Annika, then years later hears one of her songs on the radio. We later find out that one of Alkaitis’ investors was briefly involved with Annika and her music career. Alkaitis’ brother Lucas is an artist who meets another artist named Olivia. Olivia later becomes another investor and is reminded of her encounter with Lucas’s brother years earlier. These connections happen throughout the story, and each one was a revelation. Characters come together briefly, then part, then meet again years later under different circumstances. I love stories where the characters’ lives are tangled together in unexpected ways, and Mandel pulls it off brilliantly.
The economic crash of 2008—a real life event that many of us remember—is the focus of the story, although I was happy to see it didn’t overpower everything else. The slowest parts for me revolved around Alkaitis and his firm, and it’s during these sections that Mandel introduces a bunch of new characters. It’s no surprise that Alkaitis is going to get caught, but that doesn’t take away from the suspense building up to the arrests. Mandel modeled Jonathan Alkaitis after real-life Ponzi scheme investor Bernie Madoff (who is still in prison today) and although it wasn’t the most exciting of plots, I have to admit that by the end of the story I could see what the author was trying to do.
There is a subtle supernatural aspect to the story that I loved, and although I won’t spoil things by telling you what it is, I thought it added a wonderful layer and made the story even better.
A lot of the emotion in this story didn’t hit me until the end. I’ll confess that I burst into tears while reading the last paragraph. It wasn’t that the moment itself was so earth shattering, but the build up of emotions throughout the story finally got to me. When I say everything comes together by the end, that’s exactly what I mean. This is one of those stories that you’ll want to immediately read again, just so you can see all the clues along the way that you might have missed. If you love literary fiction with a touch of mystery and the supernatural, I highly recommend this book.
This was an amazing review! And I am a shallow person, but the cover is eye-catching!
Thank you Susy! I love the cover too, you definitely aren’t shallow:-)
Great review! This sounds like an amazing book and also very unique too.
Thanks Stephanie! It’s really unique:-)
Great review, Tammy! 🙂 Like you, finance is not my thing, and I do struggle with books that don’t have a linear progression of time. As such, I don’t think I can appreciate it. Thanks for the recommendation.
Debjani recently posted…Emma’s New Life by Paul G. Wilson
Yeah, this is a tough one if you’re more of a linear reader. Thanks Debjani!
This is a new one to me and it sounds like it is such a great read. Lovely review.
Thanks Jenea:-)
This sounds really good and one to look out for. I enjoyed Station Eleven too
You’ll probably like this too:-)
I like books that challenge readers to pay attention and take note – and then deliver on that trust, with interests.
And your mention of the huge emotional moment at the end of the story is another reason to keep this title on my radar…
Thank you so much for sharing this! 🙂
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…PICARD: THE LAST BEST HOPE, by Una McCormack
It was surprisingly emotional! I don’t know if you’ve read Station Eleven, but it’s a very similar feeling, even though the subject matter is completely different.
Great review! The bits and pieces I’ve heard about the plot (Ponzi schemes, etc) don’t interest me, but clearly there’s something there that makes it worthwhile. Your review has convinced me to give it a try.
I think I’ll always read her books, because she does such interesting things with plot and characters.
Now I am even more excited to read this book, thank you for this amazing review
Thanks Mia, enjoy!
I’ve got this one on request through Overdrive and am glad I do. I do think I might have to concentrate more when reading it because for a while, I was confused by your review (it was completely me – attention issues here). I’m glad you enjoyed it so much and I’m so curious about the supernatural element. Great review,
It’s really hard to describe the story because there isn’t really a clear plot. So it was probably my fault!
Yay, glad you loved it! I’m hoping to get to it this month. I also have ZERO interest in those subjects, but I love Emily’s prose and her way of writing characters, so I was hoping it’d still work out. Now your review just sold me the rest of the way! 😀
Kathy @ Pages Below the Vaulted Sky recently posted…Review: Dragon Age Tevinter Nights – Burn, Thedas, Burn
Her prose is amazing! It’s almost odd how beautiful she makes all those boring subjects seem, lol. I didn’t even talk about the container ship, which was sort of boring too, lol.
Just made sure this was in my TBR. And I agree with Susy, the cover is fantastic. I love the review. Being interested in financial topics and history, as well as speculative fiction, I think this book might really work for me. And I don’t mind sometimes having to work with a book, especially if it has an amazing payoff. Great review, Tammy!
Thanks Todd! If you love finance, then you’ll probably enjoy this. I really didn’t know about Ponzi schemes so the book ended up forcing me to google them and I actually learned a lot:-)
The format and premise of this one really intrigues me, and I love that there’s something supernatural within, too. Fantastic review, Tammy. I definitely need to read this one.
Thanks Jenni!
Such a great review, Tammy! I better try this author.
Laura Thomas recently posted…Alien Minds by Christina Bauer ~ Spotlight and Giveaway
You should, she’s really good:-) Thanks Laura!
I got an audio copy to review, and I’ve been hearing from others too that it is very different from Station Eleven (which I sadly missed out on). Thanks for the warning about the non=linear timeline though, I typically struggle with that but I’d be much better going in prepared!
I’m wondering how the audio will work with all the time jumps…
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Station Eleven, I don’t know why but I couldn’t connect with it. Because of that, I’m a bit apprehensive with this author’s works, the synopsis and your review make the book sounds really good (I am very interested by finance) so I might pick it up one day!
Maryam recently posted…Book Review: The Light Years by R.W.W Greene
You may enjoy this, especially with the finance plot. It’s a little challenging, but I’m so glad I read it.
This is probably the second review I’ve read where the reader said they cried at the end. I hate crying but am still looking forward to this to sample her great writing again.
Zezee @ Zezee with Books recently posted…Top 5 Tuesday #34: My Sanity Savers
I’m glad I’m not the only cry baby, lol.
Fabulous review, Tammy! I’m glad you found this such a profoundly affecting read.
Thank you Sarah, it definitely had the emotional punch I love:-)
So glad you loved this one, Tammy! I keep meaning to read Station Eleven, looks like I’ll have to add this one to my list as well. Thanks for the review!
I would recommend reading Station Eleven first, it’s still my fave:-)
I only skimmed your review because I’m hoping to pick this one up soon so it’s good that this is so positive, I’ve been really looking forward to it, but then I loved Station Eleven – and I realise these are nothing alike – but, we usually share very similar taste in books.
Lynn 😀
It’s really different, but her writing is just as wonderful, and the way she weaves all the parts together is amazing.
Great review of The Glass Hotel! I love how you highlighted the book’s themes of illusion and moral complexity. Your insights into the characters and their interconnected stories have made me even more excited to pick this one up. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this intriguing novel!