Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - The Glass Hotel

I love Emily St. John Mandel. She's amazing, and I can't believe it took me so long to read another one of her books, since I thoroughly enjoyed Station Eleven. The Glass Hotel, like her other books, has a haunting yet emotional plot–which for me felt like watching little trainwrecks happen, then realizing they were a consequence of a huge, devastating trainwreck that only gets revealed halfway through the book and informs everything on the pages following. She steps seamlessly through the minds and lives of the various characters, and manages to portray even the worst of them in an empathetic light. I also loved the themes of loneliness, wealth, guilt, and morality that were explored in this book, as well as her insightful commentary about the "country of money", and how that can apply to the events and characters in the book. This was so well done!

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adventurouspotato's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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itsheyfay's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I had no idea this was connected to Sea of Tranquility, which I listened to last year, so it was neat to return to Vincent’s story.

Like her other works, Emily St John Mandel’s writing is lyrical and hypnotic, but unfortunately this could have used some editing, especially when dealing with the players involved in the Ponzi scheme.

I don’t regret reading it, but it could have been better.

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chalkletters's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The Glass Hotel was a gift from Rebecca (I’d previously given her Station Eleven, also by Emily St. John Mandel, so I must’ve done something right). She promised an atmosphere I would ‘just sink into’ and I read it solely on the strength of her recommendation, because otherwise the interwoven stories of a bartender, financier and shipping executive didn’t sound like a thrilling read. To be fair, the blurb on the paper copy I have is a lot more intriguing, which goes to show I shouldn’t rely on The StoryGraph for everything.

For readers going in without reading the blurb, The Glass Hotel takes a little while to get underway. Paul and Vincent are interesting enough characters, with interesting enough things going on in their lives, but it all feels a bit scattershot until it becomes clear that Jonathan Alkaitis’s story is going to give the plot its driving force. Once that clicks into place, The Glass Hoteljust keeps getting better and better, leading to an ending that both wraps things up and leaves a lot of open questions.

Emily St. John Mandel handles the mysteries of The Glass Hotel with an extremely deft hand. In particular, the question of the graffiti — who painted it? why? why those words? — is paid off in stages which each build on the last until they form a complete and completely satisfying picture. There are also element in the endings of Jonathan, Vincent and Paul’s stories which echo things from the very beginning, which suggests The Glass Hotel would be a satisfying reread!

The Glass Hotel certainly delivers on atmosphere. The tension, once you’ve worked out what’s going to happen, carries you along so well that it’s a shame the beginning doesn’t quite feel connected.

Overall, an extremely good book!

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alyssagirardi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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northernzephyr's review against another edition

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mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

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talislibrary's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Emily St. John Mandel is just a fabulous writer. I cannot think of another author who can world build quite like she can, which is thoroughly impressive as she writes in a non-linear, multi-perspective way. I feel her books are better experienced with no knowledge beforehand, so just pick this up and give it a try.

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emmaslibrary's review against another edition

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dark reflective slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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