Reviews with content warning for Addiction - The Glass Hotel

The vibes of this book didn't match my vibes at all. The narration in both the novel and the audiobook feels distant and resigned. It feels very aloof, and for at least the beginning of the book, the events feel inconsequential and frankly, uninteresting. At first it's difficult to know whether the events are connected somehow. I didn't care for any of the characters and it was hard to sympathise with them. When I picked it up, I thought the genres were going to be suspense and thriller, but there are none of those elements.

Writing is good, and there are a few interesting, even picturesque moments, but this book is not what I thought it would be. It was aloof, resigned and meandering. The best thing that I could say about this book was that it was a bit haunting and made me feel adrift.

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innerweststreetlibrarian's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.75

I enjoyed Sea of Tranquility more but I’m still glad I read this one. It was interesting to get more of the back story for some of the characters in SoT, even though I didn’t particularly like any of them very much.

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kcarney86's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-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

4.75

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passionfriuts's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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mishaps's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
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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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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