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A review by azrah786
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
3.5
**I was provided with a copy of the book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review**
CW: death, death of a parent, cancer, suicide (off page), substance abuse, addiction, grief
Picking up this book came down to how much I enjoyed Station Eleven and I’d say there are two things that The Glass Hotel has in common with that book - Mandel’s storytelling and captivating writing style and a story about people that will have you thinking about it many days after you’ve finished it. Otherwise the two books are nothing alike.
I feel like I remember upon first reading the synopsis of this book that I couldn’t make much sense of it and let me tell you after reading it I couldn’t tell you what exactly it is about either.
It has a winding non-chronological narrative that leaps between a handful of complex characters and various timelines in their intersecting lives, each of them connected by two things – a hotel located in British Colombia and the man who owns it, Jonathan Alkaitis. Vincent, a young woman whose life we see snippets of from adolescence through adulthood, feels very much like the lead but every character has a very individual storyline and Mandel’s way with words just draws you into them all.
At its core it is a story about people and human connection through which Mandel scrutinises the themes of wealth and class, morality and culpability in a skilful and clever way.
I don’t want to be much more specific because it’s a strange one that’ll have you confused on what the hell is actually happening throughout, but the spiralling and atmospheric way that all the information is uncovered will have you hooked. It’s written like a mystery story but isn’t exactly one...? Definitely one of those books best experienced without too much prior knowledge of the details.
Final Rating - 3.5/5 Stars
CW: death, death of a parent, cancer, suicide (off page), substance abuse, addiction, grief
Picking up this book came down to how much I enjoyed Station Eleven and I’d say there are two things that The Glass Hotel has in common with that book - Mandel’s storytelling and captivating writing style and a story about people that will have you thinking about it many days after you’ve finished it. Otherwise the two books are nothing alike.
I feel like I remember upon first reading the synopsis of this book that I couldn’t make much sense of it and let me tell you after reading it I couldn’t tell you what exactly it is about either.
It has a winding non-chronological narrative that leaps between a handful of complex characters and various timelines in their intersecting lives, each of them connected by two things – a hotel located in British Colombia and the man who owns it, Jonathan Alkaitis. Vincent, a young woman whose life we see snippets of from adolescence through adulthood, feels very much like the lead but every character has a very individual storyline and Mandel’s way with words just draws you into them all.
At its core it is a story about people and human connection through which Mandel scrutinises the themes of wealth and class, morality and culpability in a skilful and clever way.
I don’t want to be much more specific because it’s a strange one that’ll have you confused on what the hell is actually happening throughout, but the spiralling and atmospheric way that all the information is uncovered will have you hooked. It’s written like a mystery story but isn’t exactly one...? Definitely one of those books best experienced without too much prior knowledge of the details.
Final Rating - 3.5/5 Stars
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Grief, and Suicide