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isajervis's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
mikeiswhere's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
This book feels like an unfocused but beautiful walk through the woods, with no particular place that you are walking to.
I loved the journey, and I felt deeply for the characters and events. I don't know that I understand the purpose of the story, or what it was ultimately "about", but I still loved reading it. A very interesting experience, all told.
I loved the journey, and I felt deeply for the characters and events. I don't know that I understand the purpose of the story, or what it was ultimately "about", but I still loved reading it. A very interesting experience, all told.
eelitorr's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
4.0
Very different from what I was expecting having read her other books, but this one is a solid story with beautiful characters.
mhtracy's review against another edition
4.0
Part 1 you will have no idea what you're reading and want to give up. Part 2 is where things start to fall in place so stick with it until then. Every single part will eventually have a payoff.
al_davies_jones's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
ejessicac's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Minor: Drug abuse, Cancer, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, and Drug use
eiridium's review against another edition
5.0
The marketing bumph for this novel is honest and factual and captures the very bare plot outline. In that, it does this novel a severe disservice. The Glass Hotel is experiential. As she did her previous novel Station Eleven, St. John Mandel captures the reader’s consciousness. She draws you into a deep, rich and thoughtful journey. It is almost ethereal. There’s an extra layer of reflection and realisation in which the reader is submerged and privileged. You are not a participant in the ordinary sense, but at the same time, one feels like much more than a mere observer.
The author has a unique ability to engage with and bring you into intimate contact with her characters. You get to know them not simply well, but in a way that creates this special experience. St John Mandel teases out facets, at the precise moment that she should, weaving a tapestry of intentions, flaws, negotiated agreements and understanding that paints very human and absolutely believable characters. This novel, like Station Eleven, is about connections. However, in The Glass Hotel, the connections are far more fluid and far more revealing of character in themselves. There’s a slightly slow and possibly confusing start, but you realise her intention afterwards – and it is elegant.
Frequently you wonder who the main protagonist might be, and this makes for a playful engagement in its own right. She shifts narrative repeatedly and in doing so, creates a very full and holistic tale that ultimately exposes a fascinating liminal space. There are a few clues in the previously mentioned standard plot summary and its themes. Still, I wouldn’t want to highlight them too much as I think there is a very personal engagement and experience in allowing them to spin out as you read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My own perspective of it changed on several occasions throughout. These were not necessarily through plot twists as much as through thought triggers that establish a dialogue with the reader that I suspect will be both personal and subjective.
This a far more complex tale than Station Eleven. The author clearly challenged herself to tie together a few extra threads. She is demonstrably quite able to rise to this challenge in so doing creates a stunning reminder of just how small our world truly is.
Treat yourself.
The author has a unique ability to engage with and bring you into intimate contact with her characters. You get to know them not simply well, but in a way that creates this special experience. St John Mandel teases out facets, at the precise moment that she should, weaving a tapestry of intentions, flaws, negotiated agreements and understanding that paints very human and absolutely believable characters. This novel, like Station Eleven, is about connections. However, in The Glass Hotel, the connections are far more fluid and far more revealing of character in themselves. There’s a slightly slow and possibly confusing start, but you realise her intention afterwards – and it is elegant.
Frequently you wonder who the main protagonist might be, and this makes for a playful engagement in its own right. She shifts narrative repeatedly and in doing so, creates a very full and holistic tale that ultimately exposes a fascinating liminal space. There are a few clues in the previously mentioned standard plot summary and its themes. Still, I wouldn’t want to highlight them too much as I think there is a very personal engagement and experience in allowing them to spin out as you read.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. My own perspective of it changed on several occasions throughout. These were not necessarily through plot twists as much as through thought triggers that establish a dialogue with the reader that I suspect will be both personal and subjective.
This a far more complex tale than Station Eleven. The author clearly challenged herself to tie together a few extra threads. She is demonstrably quite able to rise to this challenge in so doing creates a stunning reminder of just how small our world truly is.
Treat yourself.
devlavaca's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
ledimirnunez's review against another edition
5.0
I don't remember the occasion, but on this particular morning, my mother took me as a 9-year-old down to the park by the riverside. As a kid, I wouldn't go anywhere without my basketball, and so I brought it with me. At this time of day, the park was empty. The tragedy of New York City basketball courts was that if you weren't good, you would hardly get a chance to practice. The courts would get so crowded. So when it was empty, I started taking shots. I don't know how many I took, but I remember that I worked up the nerve to attempt taking a three-point shot and for the first time in my life, I had one go in. My mother seemed lost in thought, and she didn't see. I looked around to see if anyone had witnessed this moment, and no one was there to see.
Now if you fast forward years later, I am better at basketball. I make threes more often than I did, and at an impressive rate nevertheless. But I live in the memory of that day when mom took me to the park. We didn't share many moments like this, so this meant everything to me - and I feel that these are the things that make life worth living. Those moments that we savor and cherish and bring to mind over and over again. I've never even shared this story, but it has meant everything to me.
Now, some days when I go jogging, I experience another feeling. I cannot call this one a memory, though it has the origins of one. But on these jogs, I can see myself - almost as if I lived in a vision outside of myself - sitting on one of the park benches lost in a moment of sadness, where it feels like the world has taken every bit of hope from me. I remember being on the park bench and crying, it's true. But this time I see it as if it didn't happen to me at all, but to someone like me, exactly as I was. It's not real. I don't think so, but I return and remove my running shoes and I sit and I can't escape the vision now.
So The Glass Hotel brings up the subject of ghosts, and I can't tell you if ghosts are real or not, but sometimes we are served a platter of experiences that are beyond belief and explanation lest you risk sounding crazy or delusional. For this reason, I enjoy the fiction and the escape into the non-realities in which I ponder what happens to the kid who dwells in a moment of sadness and vulnerability all alone.
Then there are the stories of how sometimes good people do terrible things to others. The people who begin to sell drugs because they cannot get hired elsewhere and need to provide for their family, but in doing so destroy another family. I don't know, and yet I know that these things cannot be both good and bad. Somewhere and sometimes, you will have to provide answers for your decisions and no one is as incorruptible as they would like to believe. The sad end of the story will never justify the explanation.
If you enjoy ghosts, questionable characters, and parallel lives, give this book a read.
Now if you fast forward years later, I am better at basketball. I make threes more often than I did, and at an impressive rate nevertheless. But I live in the memory of that day when mom took me to the park. We didn't share many moments like this, so this meant everything to me - and I feel that these are the things that make life worth living. Those moments that we savor and cherish and bring to mind over and over again. I've never even shared this story, but it has meant everything to me.
Now, some days when I go jogging, I experience another feeling. I cannot call this one a memory, though it has the origins of one. But on these jogs, I can see myself - almost as if I lived in a vision outside of myself - sitting on one of the park benches lost in a moment of sadness, where it feels like the world has taken every bit of hope from me. I remember being on the park bench and crying, it's true. But this time I see it as if it didn't happen to me at all, but to someone like me, exactly as I was. It's not real. I don't think so, but I return and remove my running shoes and I sit and I can't escape the vision now.
So The Glass Hotel brings up the subject of ghosts, and I can't tell you if ghosts are real or not, but sometimes we are served a platter of experiences that are beyond belief and explanation lest you risk sounding crazy or delusional. For this reason, I enjoy the fiction and the escape into the non-realities in which I ponder what happens to the kid who dwells in a moment of sadness and vulnerability all alone.
Then there are the stories of how sometimes good people do terrible things to others. The people who begin to sell drugs because they cannot get hired elsewhere and need to provide for their family, but in doing so destroy another family. I don't know, and yet I know that these things cannot be both good and bad. Somewhere and sometimes, you will have to provide answers for your decisions and no one is as incorruptible as they would like to believe. The sad end of the story will never justify the explanation.
If you enjoy ghosts, questionable characters, and parallel lives, give this book a read.
nadiandr's review against another edition
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.25