INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: THE NEW YORKER • NPR • TIME • THE WASHINGTON POST • ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY • AND MORE!“The perfect novel … Freshly mysterious.” —The Washington PostFrom the award-winning author of Station Eleven, an exhilarating novel set at the glittering intersection of two seemingly disparate events—the exposure of a massive criminal enterprise and … exhilarating novel set at the glittering intersection of two seemingly disparate events—the exposure of a massive criminal enterprise and the mysterious disappearance of a woman from a ship at sea.
Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star lodging on the northernmost tip of Vancouver Island. On the night she meets Jonathan Alkaitis, a hooded figure scrawls a message on the lobby’s glass wall: Why don’t you swallow broken glass. High above Manhattan, a greater crime is committed: Alkaitis’s billion-dollar business is really nothing more than a game of smoke and mirrors. When his scheme collapses, it obliterates countless fortunes and devastates lives. Vincent, who had been posing as Jonathan’s wife, walks away into the night. Years later, a victim of the fraud is hired to investigate a strange occurrence: a woman has seemingly vanished from the deck of a container ship between ports of call.
In this captivating story of crisis and survival, Emily St. John Mandel takes readers through often hidden landscapes: campgrounds for the near-homeless, underground electronica clubs, service in luxury hotels, and life in a federal prison. Rife with unexpected beauty, The Glass Hotel is a captivating portrait of greed and guilt, love and delusion, ghosts and unintended consequences, and the infinite ways we search for meaning in our lives.
Look for Emily St. John Mandel’s new novel, Sea of Tranquility, coming in April 2022!
more
A little mystery that gets solved in the most touching way amidst all of the characters swirling tragically around a fraud scheme. I enjoyed this book more than Station Eleven and that was an excellent book.
This is the type of book that surprises you with where it ends up. The characters are terrific and the weaving of their experiences is deft. The main character, Vincent, is a whip-smart, beautiful, wounded soul. I especially enjoyed reading about her time living in New York in “the kingdom of money.” Besides NYC, this book takes you so many places: Vancouver and islands to the north, trailer parks in the southwest, as well as out to sea. A sub-plot involves a hotel-owning financier and a Ponzi scheme and the detritus he leaves in his wake. Emily St John Mandel combines her stream of characters so fluidly and moves through time in such a fashion, that this book, to me became a lesson in structure. I recommend this book to anyone hoping for themes of identity, loss, morality, and reclamation. A wonderful novel!!
As always, Emily St. John Mandel has spun an entrancing tale in her characteristic style that is both succinct and picturesque. Bouncing from person to person, the haunting story of siblings Vincent and Paul unfolds ever so slowly. The main conflict of the story was like watching a slow-motion trainwreck, inevitable and awe-inspiring in its humanness. It’s been a while since I’ve read a novel where I couldn’t sympathize with any of the characters but found myself devastated at the ending. Definitely a must-read if you like slow-boil, character-driven reads.
The plot was interesting but the glass hotel was inconsequential in the flow of the story.
Richly written characters that feel sympathetic, even when they do bad things, and thought-provoking scenarios. I really enjoyed the lyrical writing as well.
I truly enjoyed the author’s fourth book, Station Eleven, a story about people surviving and continuing after civilization collapses. Just like that book, there is a beauty to the author’s use of language in Glass Hotel that I find enthralling, drawing me forward through the book.
The story begins with a woman named Vincent falling off a ship at sea. Scenes from Vincent’s memory, and possibly more, play out in quick succession. She is a young teen girl, as she scrawls a phrase on a school window using an acid pen, “Sweep me up.” Time moves about uncertainly in this first chapter. “…it seems I can move between memories like walking from one room to the next—”
With subsequent chapters we move forward and backward in time, based on connections born of meaning rather than a straightforward linear progression and we see things from the perspective of different people.
After the acid pen incident, we get quite a jump in time forward and move into the perspective of Paul, Vincent’s half-brother. I would venture to say he is an unreliable narrator.
Then we hear from Walter, the night manager at the Hotel Caiette. Someone scrawls “Why don’t you swallow broken glass” on a window at the hotel, where both Vincent and Paul are working. Walter decides Paul did it, and Paul takes the blame but I can’t help wondering. Vincent was the one who wrote on a window in acid pen earlier in the story, but the words seem much more in keeping with Paul’s character. Who really did it?
There are fascinating observations of human nature, luminous descriptions of settings and charged descriptions of choices and actions.
I love how the author immerses us in the perspective of each character so that we believe what we are hearing but then when we hear about a situation later from another character, we can find that things are not so black and white.
“But does a person have to be either admirable or awful? Does life have to be so binary? Two things can be true at the same time, he told himself.” Is it just Paul justifying himself or is it true? Can it be both?
I love the subtle suspense that draws me through the book, from the beginning when we wonder if Vincent is dead or not, and whether Paul is unstable and murderous, to when we read of Jonathan Alkaitis – a successful businessman but then comes the line “Nothing about him, in other words, suggested that he would die in prison.”
It turns out Jonathan has created a Ponzi scheme. He takes people in, right and left, including Vincent. Even in their relationship there is a strange layer of illusion. They are not married but he insists she wear a ring and introduces her as his wife. Ghosts and hallucinations swirl in the peripheral vision as the story progresses.
As with Station Eleven, the author gives the reader beautiful pieces of a puzzle, drawing the reader on with tantalizing glimpses of foreshadowing, that eventually come together to form a complex portrait of people who are neither evil nor innocent.
I highly recommend this book.
I read all the hype about this book, therefore I started reading with high expectations and was quite underwhelmed. I have stopped reading about one third of the way through and honestly do not know whether I will ever pick it up or not.
A remarkable novel that is insightful and compelling. The author presented an interesting Ponzi scheme in The Glass Hotel, and the participating characters are interesting, complex and memorable — qualities that I love. Although the action is minimal in this story, the conclusion is nothing short of amazing.
Although you know where the book is going from the first chapter, it delves into the psyche of many characters and tells the tale of how financial ruin due to a Ponzi scheme can affect so many lives. Based loosely on the story of Bernie Madoff, The Glass Hotel is a haunting book about a step brother and sister on the fringes of the scheme and the highs and lows in their lives.
A wonderful, disturbing, enlightening read.
Good. A few twists and turns. Doesn’t really resolve at the end but still worth a read.
Gorgeously written, and poignant to this day and age. Emily Mandel’s use of simple language to paint with her words never ceases to draw me in, and this story, with no easy answers or conclusions, is one of her finest. Absolutely recommended.
(2020) (Fiction)
4 Stars ****
Characters appear in concentric circles like planets revolving around the sun, as the author reveals, from what seems like left-field, the story of twenty-four-year-old lost, but always searching, Vincent, a young woman named for the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Her alcoholic, druggie, sometimes productive half-brother Paul, and the owner of the hotel, handsome, wealthy, manipulating Jonathan Alkaitis, various friends and acquaintances, revolve around Vincent as the author reveals a little bit more of what’s really going on. Anyone who believes in fate, will recognize the whirlwind that sucks up victims and players throughout lifetimes, only to deposit them in some future path, either to assist or rescue, or to create havoc, but insuring lives will never be the same. This is one of those books that makes it hard to trust. What you see is most often not what you get. If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.
Vincent is working as a bartender in a 5 Star hotel in a remote area of Canada. Her dysfunctional childhood leads to frequent job changes, but Vincent is happy in her current position. Wanting to offer Paul a helping hand, Vincent secures a low level job for her half-brother at the hotel. About a week later, there is an angry message written on the huge glass wall of the hotel, “Why don’t you swallow broken glass?” The hotel staff and guests are deeply disturbed by the implied anger, but only one person knows for whom the message is intended. Circumstances lead to Paul’s abrupt firing and departure, creating a rift between Vincent and Paul.
Jonathan Alkaitis arrives at his hotel on the heels of the drama. Seemingly unaware of her haunting beauty, Vincent is surprised when the hotel owner shows interest in her and presents her with a life changing proposition. Vincent learns that money is its own country and a select few have the keys to the kingdom.
Vincent lives a fairy tale until one fateful day…. Having always been adaptable and pragmatic, Vincent foresees an alternate future: acts on it, revels in it until …
Readers learn about shadow worlds where people live the lives they wish to present to their audience—a life where you can finagle facts and appearances, let your mind wander to lift you from the reality of your existence, so that your misdeeds are the result of other people’s stupidity and lack of action, and not at all a product of your hustle.
Slow and seemingly aimless at the beginning, the planets move in closer to exert their influence and knowledge. The story is complicated but slowly revealed. Stick with it. It’s worth the time investment. I would love to see a movie made of Vincent’s story. Also, this is an excellent choice for a college women’s studies class.
At times this book was hard to follow. while I know something like this can happen, it is hard to read because it does happen. The attitudes of the different characters, their life stories make it hard to find out who are victims and who are not.
The book is less a story of a young woman married to a man who is convicted of running a ponzi scheme then a serious of intersecting stories regarding the 2008 financial collapse. The blurb describing the book is misleading. The writing is atmospheric and haunting but it’s not a a literal telling of a story. There are numerous characters that can be hard to remember and the timeline jumps around a lot.
interesting about the author blending it with a well known crime.. After a slow start, it held my attention.
I found the characters a bit confusing at first but once the story took hold I found it to be very entertaining and quite informative, particularly on the subject of Ponzi schemes and the characters who run them.
No likable characters. Not as good as Station Eleven.
This was an interesting book for me. ‘Station Eleven’ is one of my favorite books. I loved it so, so much that I couldn’t wait to read whatever came next from Mrs. Mandel. Then this finally came out and I was too afraid to read it. I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to my expectations, or that I would spend the whole time comparing it to ‘Station Eleven’.
Well, both of those things happened…but I got over them.
This is one of those books that while you’re reading it, you don’t want to put it down. The story isn’t fast-paced, nor does it keep you on the edge of your seat, but you just feel this compulsion to keep going…to see where the author is going to take you next.
At the same time, once I did put the book down, I was never in a rush to pick it back up. It took me about a week to read this book, mainly because I was only reading it at night before I went to sleep, but when I WAS reading it, I was staying up until my eyes were crossing and I could no longer read straight.
This is a creeper of a story. The first third of the book I was silently throwing a tantrum that it wasn’t ‘Station Eleven’. The second third of the book I was begrudgingly starting to get interested in what was happening, and the last third I could barely put down.
The stories of Vincent, Paul, Jonathan, Leon, Walter and the rest of the characters slowly wash over you until you find yourself at the end of the book mourning the loss of these characters that you didn’t realize you felt so strongly for.
THAT is the magic of Emily St. John Mandel. She has the ability to quietly wow and stun you. She doesn’t need shock and high drama. Her style of writing is one of the most beautiful narratives I have ever read. I couldn’t care less about Ponzi Schemes and the world of finance and investment, but she tells the story in a way that doesn’t get bogged down by unnecessary ‘filler’. She never over-explains or wastes time. Everything she tells you is exactly all you need to know. It’s amazing.
When I finished the book last night, I gave it four stars. Reviewing it tonight, however, I changed it to five. I’ve been thinking about this book off-and-on all day, and I miss it. When a book does that to you, it deserves five stars, so five it shall be.
Read this. And if you haven’t read ‘Station Eleven’, read that too.
Again, I look forward to whatever comes next from Mrs. Mandel, though next time, I won’t hesitate at all.
Similar to Station Eleven, this novel skillfully balances multiple story lines and point-of-view characters, along with shifts backwards and forwards in time. All the stories and characters intersect and weave in and out, often in surprising and unexpected ways. An enjoyable and well-drawn ensemble of characters, with the somewhat “main” character of Vincent dominating more than others, which was fine as I quite liked her. It’s a story of a broken family, the imprint of our childhoods and parents whether we will admit it or not, and the struggle to find happiness and freedom in our modern world.
The story is set in different timelines and told from multiple points of view. A large portion of the book is about the collapse and aftermath of a Ponzi Scheme and the greed and guilt that goes along with it. The characters are complex and compelling, their paths cross and chance meetings and decisions are made that will affect all their futures.
This was a well written book and much thought and research went into it but I felt that it did drag somewhat.