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A review by samkaciejones
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
3.0
How does one go about describing a book in which the plot isn't actually the plot? The back cover might say something about a girl disappearing from a boat and a graffitied window and a Ponzi scheme, but it's really only about a Ponzi scheme and the Ponzi sheme is really only reached in the second half of the story.
I've heard from trusted friends who have also read Station Eleven, that Emily St. John Mandel tends to create superfluous characters, failing to fully develop their stories and leaving characters in who should and could have been edited out entirely. Such is also the case with The Glass Hotel.
Readers will begin by thinking this book is about a man named Paul, a troubled yet self-righteous young man reminiscent of a Michael Chabon character, who leaves destruction (and death) in his wake. Paul is an incredibly compelling character, which forced me to read chapter after chapter until way past my bedtime (ahem, 9pm). But, unfortunately, this story isn't about him.
It's possible Paul was set up as a character to introduce us to his sister Vincent, who we meet briefly after one of Paul's rampages. We meet her again at the infamous Glass Hotel, actually called Hotel Caiette. As a bartender, she witnesses a guest's witnessing of the words "Why don't you swallow broken glass" written on graffiti on a window facing into the hotel lobby. For some reason that was not properly explained to me, either an unfeeling drone or a clueless dolt of a reader, seeing such a thing brings Vincent to tears and greatly upsets the few guests who are still awake and drinking cocktails at a hotel bar in the middle of no where at 2am. We follow Vincent a little further, several years later, when we find out who she scores for a spouse, but she ends up being central to the story of another story that's just not this story, try as the author might.
Who this story is truly about is a man named Jonathan Alkaitis, a New York City Slicker who heads up a financial consulting firm, or whatever, that turns out to have been a Ponzi scheme all along. Who's surprised? Are you surprised? I actually was surprised that this was where the first half of the book was taking me. I was intrigued by the ride, but disappointed with the rest. An opulent hotel on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest with a mysterious message written on the window by a lurking washed up hasbeen could have gone somewhere fantastical. But then it ended in a Ponzi Scheme. People are arrested, papers are shredded (for what felt like 4 chapters too many by 3 characters too many), suicides were committed, and lives were generally tossed in the shitter.
But I guess that's life. You want it to be this magical, mysterious, interesting, unique, wonderous life with colorful characters on a pleasurable journey somewhere. And then someone steals your life savings. Of course they should swallow broken glass.
I've heard from trusted friends who have also read Station Eleven, that Emily St. John Mandel tends to create superfluous characters, failing to fully develop their stories and leaving characters in who should and could have been edited out entirely. Such is also the case with The Glass Hotel.
Readers will begin by thinking this book is about a man named Paul, a troubled yet self-righteous young man reminiscent of a Michael Chabon character, who leaves destruction (and death) in his wake. Paul is an incredibly compelling character, which forced me to read chapter after chapter until way past my bedtime (ahem, 9pm). But, unfortunately, this story isn't about him.
It's possible Paul was set up as a character to introduce us to his sister Vincent, who we meet briefly after one of Paul's rampages. We meet her again at the infamous Glass Hotel, actually called Hotel Caiette. As a bartender, she witnesses a guest's witnessing of the words "Why don't you swallow broken glass" written on graffiti on a window facing into the hotel lobby. For some reason that was not properly explained to me, either an unfeeling drone or a clueless dolt of a reader, seeing such a thing brings Vincent to tears and greatly upsets the few guests who are still awake and drinking cocktails at a hotel bar in the middle of no where at 2am. We follow Vincent a little further, several years later, when we find out who she scores for a spouse, but she ends up being central to the story of another story that's just not this story, try as the author might.
Who this story is truly about is a man named Jonathan Alkaitis, a New York City Slicker who heads up a financial consulting firm, or whatever, that turns out to have been a Ponzi scheme all along. Who's surprised? Are you surprised? I actually was surprised that this was where the first half of the book was taking me. I was intrigued by the ride, but disappointed with the rest. An opulent hotel on a remote island in the Pacific Northwest with a mysterious message written on the window by a lurking washed up hasbeen could have gone somewhere fantastical. But then it ended in a Ponzi Scheme. People are arrested, papers are shredded (for what felt like 4 chapters too many by 3 characters too many), suicides were committed, and lives were generally tossed in the shitter.
But I guess that's life. You want it to be this magical, mysterious, interesting, unique, wonderous life with colorful characters on a pleasurable journey somewhere. And then someone steals your life savings. Of course they should swallow broken glass.