I enjoyed this book. I always find it fascinating how she can tie so many different stories together so beautifully.

I, like many readers, was drawn to "The Glass Hotel" because I loved "Station Eleven." Despite this book being in no way a post-apocalyptic book like "Station Eleven" this story is perhaps even more haunting (and less optimistic). A beautiful and very readable book, it follows seemingly unconnected characters whose lives wind up intersecting and overlapping in fascinating ways around the world. I loved reading an example of literary fiction that engages with the world of high finance (and crimes) and global supply chains. This book was deeply effecting and I would recommend to all literary fiction readers, particularly those who are just delving into the genre (but perhaps not to all post-apocalyptic fans).

I head Emily St. John Mandel speak about her previous book, Station Eleven at a book discussion for our local One City One Book program. So I was excited to get a chance to read her next book! I'm glad I jumped into this one, too, because even though it was a little slow at the beginning, it definitely pulled me in and became something I couldn't put down!

The idea of the book revolves around a Ponzi scheme which is a topic I usually would not pick up. But there was something about the writing style that catches your interest and keeps you hanging on until the very end. The story unravels from several points of view with m any flashbacks but the characters are all so authentically flawed that you become invested in their story.

This is one of those books that will make you take a minute at the end to think and reflect. I will definitely be reading more by this author in the future!!

I really liked the twists in this book and enjoyed how everything tied together. I think this would make a great book club discussion book. You could really delve into the character of everyone involved.

Emily St. John Mandel rose to prominence with the extraordinary Station Eleven (which, given the current state of the world, is enjoying a resurgence on the best-seller lists), but her latest novel, The Glass Hotel (2020), is a very different kind of book.

The story begins with a young woman named Vincent disappearing from a ship, the Neptune Cumberland. In what has become Mandel’s signature style, the story eschews chronology to skip backwards and forwards in time, piecing together the events of Vincent’s life that lead her to those final moments aboard the Neptune Cumberland.

Skip backwards a few years and Vincent is a bartender at the prestigious Hotel Caiette on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. One night graffiti is discovered on the glass walls that reads, “Why don’t you swallow broken glass.” In the bar are Leon Prevant (whom eagle-eyed readers will recognise from Station Eleven) and Jonathan Alkaitis, a wealthy New York financier and the owner of the hotel. Also at the hotel that night is Vincent’s brother Paul, a business school drop-out working for the hotel as a night porter. These characters will find their fates inextricably linked as the story goes on.

After meeting Alkaitis that night, it is not long before Vincent becomes his wife — or trophy wife, to be more specific, and thus we enter the shady world of the Ponzi scheme. Based on the 2008 financial crisis, Mandel’s novel explores the idea of counter-lives: what would happen if we were to make different choices? What would Alkaitis’ life be like were he on a tropical beach, rather than in a prison cell?

Ghosts crop up throughout the novel, partly through these imagined counter-life scenarios, but also through characters’ memories, regrets and ill-fated choices. The concept of the tale of the financial crisis populated by such ghosts is both eerie and ingenious, and readers will find themselves quietly drawn in.

Just as Mandel managed to find beauty in the ravaged world of Station Eleven, so too does she find a lyrical dreaminess in financial fraud. Her writing is beautifully wrought, and though muted in tone, the characteristic puzzle-piece plot, jumping backwards and forwards throughout time, will have readers turning pages as though this is a much louder novel.

Though Station Eleven may seem like the book that captures our current moment in history, The Glass Hotel also explores what happens when lives are irrevocably altered. It makes for a poignant read indeed.

It took me a while to get into this book but once I did I was hooked and amazed. The writing is gorgeous, the characters are fascinating, and the plot itself is almost irrelevant. Everything comes together in a surreal way and the ending is just right. Highly recommended.

I couldn't get into this book. It was not what I thought it would be, so that's more my problem than the book.

This was a very strange book, but nonetheless compelling. No main characters, just chapters focusing on certain individuals who are ever so slightly connected. As a reader you assume that all the storylines will come together for the big finale of the book, but they don't. The book ends with a few deaths, some supernatural activity and some characters simply disappear... All very strange but it was well-written and kept me reading until the end. 3 1./2 stars rounded up to 4.

This book is absolutely beautiful. I listened to the audiobook as well because I really enjoy her written word. The story, imagery, and characters are like art work and leave a solid imprint into the imagination.

Clearly Emily St. John Mandel's writing style is just not for me.. This has all of the lofty character meandering of Station Eleven and none of the exciting apocalyptic scenario. Pacing is too slow for me with very little payoff.

This was an enjoyable read and I'm glad that it was just as good as Station Eleven, albeit different. Highly recommend.

In the time before the 2008 financial crash, there is a hotel in Western Canada. Life at this hotel is disrupted one evening when the words ‘Why don’t you swallow broken glass?’ are scrawled on a window in acid. This one act brings together some of the people at the center of the financial crisis in America. Exploring themes of money, beauty, wealth and loss, The Glass Hotel is a story about the people at the center of it all. The ones that brought the whole system down.

This book just was not for me. I wanted to like it, but I could not get into the writing and ultimately got halfway through it before I found myself wanting to read something else. I ended up not finishing this one. However, I can see how people would enjoy this one. It just was not the story for me. Which is sad because I really enjoyed the author's apocalyptical novel, Station Eleven.

My starred review of the audiobook for Booklist is here: https://www.booklistonline.com/The-Glass-Hotel-/pid=9733687

The review was also cross-posted to Smithsonian BookDragon: http://smithsonianapa.org/bookdragon/the-glass-hotel-by-emily-st-john-mandel-in-booklist/

Interesting, unusual characters and setting. We find out at the beginning what happens to the main character, which I don't think was a good idea. I would have preferred to have more suspense about that. Great read overall, though. Lots of twists and turns.

I was absolutely loving it until the last 5% or so when things really took a nosedive. I subtracted a star and a half for the ending. I read it with my library's book club and most of the participants felt the same way about the ending. There are also some "loose ends" - things the author brings up on more than one occasion, presumably for a reason but nothing ever happens with these plot points.

A perfect novel with unique setting, characters, and catalyst: Ponzi scheme populated with ghosts. A mesmerizing story. Not to be missed.

I couldn't get past the first couple of chapters of this book. The first character introduced is insufferable. Suddenly, the book shifts to a hotel, jumping into a seemingly unrelated tale of people employed there. It meanders around a few unlikeable characters. I finally gave up because I couldn't understand the point of any of the story nor could I see any direction to the story.

Quarantine is an interesting reading time. I either want to read something so light and fluffy I can’t help but feel good, or, I want to read darkly human, philosophically compelling works that resonate deeply and make me think about how life can be better lived or more impactfully. THE GLASS HOTEL falls into the latter category. A brilliantly structured book, it's a bit quieter than STATION ELEVEN, but it's beautifully written, wonderfully realized, and a thoughtful work of art.

3.5
I really liked Station Eleven and was hoping for some more twists with this. It was good, but not really my typical genre.