Book Review Of The Glass Hotel

 

I just finished reading this novel in anticipation of attending the Whistler Writers' Festival  and I can honestly say, it is one of the best books I have ever read! 

Author Emily St. John Mandel delivers an intriguing story that grips you right from the beginning, motivating you to read on. The narrative starts at the end:

     

"Begin at the end: plummeting down the side of the ship in the storm's wild darkness, breath gone with the shock of falling, my camera flying away through the rain - " 

The novel has several narrators with intertwining stories. There is Vincent, the beautiful bartender who seizes her chance to escape from an isolated town in Vancouver Island to live a better life. Jonathan Altaitis, the high rolling investor Vincent takes up with in NewYork city, is involved in a Ponzi scheme. Vincent's half brother, Paul, is a drug addicted composer running from his demons. Interwoven between these stories of the main characters are the others that Jonathan's Ponzi scheme involved and devastated. You already know how the story ends, you are just reading, riveted, to find out how and why.

I especially loved the symbolism of the glass hotel on the cover. Glass representing an image of impermanence that can easily be shattered, mirroring the instability and fragility of the lives of the characters in the novel. 

"Sweep me up. Words scrawled on a window when I was thirteen years old. I stepped back and let the marker drop from my hand and still remember the exuberance of that moment, that feeling in my chest like light glinting on crushed glass - "

You will like this book if:

• You like fast-paced thrillers that keep you reading well into the night
• Intertwined stories from different character perspectives
• You have an affinity for Canadian settings
• Flawless writing

Best Quote: 

                

"Why don't you just swallow broken glass"