Like everyone else in the world, I wasn't sure how Emily St. John Mandel could ever top Station Eleven. After reading The Glass Hotel, I don't think she's topped Station Eleven. I think she's written an entirely different book with entirely different goals that packed such an emotional and storytelling punch, I'm a bit in shock.

The Glass Hotel is about a lot of stuff: a hotel in British Columbia, a brother and sister relationship, financial collapse and its effect on human beings, Ponzi schemes and enormous greed, the shipping industry, memory, death, love. I could go on. But please, don't be scared away by Ponzi schemes or the shipping industry. This book is so hard to describe without making it sound incredibly boring. But it's truly a page turner! I couldn't put it down.

Like Station Eleven, it jumps around in time, in location, in character. And like Station Eleven, you figure out how it all fits as you make your way through the book. Mandel's ability to tell a story is almost preternatural. All of the characters have individual voices, motivations that are relatable, and experiences that are moving. She also knows exactly how to describe feelings and emotions for a reader to truly understand and feel themselves.

Recommended for people who like literary fiction that is actually exciting and moving!

This novel is marvellous, and an equal of "Station Eleven." It's not a dystopian book in the sense that it looks to a bleak future--"The Glass Hotel" is set in several time periods but primarily around the time of the 2008 economic meltdown. It imagines a Bernie Madoff-like character, Jonathan Alkiades, and how his Ponzi scheme will impact those around him. We see him in prison, we see how a two artistic half-siblings will be influenced by him, how a beautiful hotel on a British Columbian island will become a player in the story and how it will shape lives. There's so much to this novel that you have to read it to appreciate its many dimensions. It's a gorgeous work.

While not quite up to the extraordinary story exhibited in Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel still showcases the art of storytelling that Emily St. John Mandel has mastered. Dealing closely with the economic recession of 2008, the story weaves together the impact of a deceitful ponzu scheme as seen through the eyes of a number of characters. The book focuses mainly on a young woman named Vincent, who is intriguing to the reader and the other characters within the story alike.

I was truly captivated by the story and how it is laid out but I still felt a lack of connection that I got from Station Eleven and I ended up craving it. The majority of the characters The Glass Hotel focuses on are either not very likable or do not have enough depth to make a judgement in either direction. If I had been more emotionally invested in the story, I believe this could have easily been a 5 star read. Instead, I see it as an extremely well written tale with the bones of what could be a magnificent piece of literary fiction if some fat of the story was culled and more attention was paid to certain characters and circumstances that occur in the novel.

I am a fan of the author and will continue reading her work for even a taste of the magic of Station Eleven. While this book at times had a scent of its predecessor, I wish it had developed into more.