Our third and final book club of the year has arrived, and I’m excited to see what everyone has to think about Emily St. John Mandel’s latest The Glass Hotel.
For those of you who might be joining in for #CannonBookClub for the first time (hello new friends!) all are welcome, and you don’t need to be registered* for this year’s Read to speak your mind.
For the boilerplate: ground rules remain the same as they always have. The topics are numbered, and we ask that you refer to them below by that number to help people find the conversation topics they are looking for. Please try to have only one or two topics per comment – it helps build conversation. If you are responding to someone else’s thoughts, please try to respond directly to them and also tell us about your own ponderings on the book. While we’ve never once had to do this and don’t expect to now, comments that are not germane to our discussion will be removed.
We will also be talking on our social media platforms over the course of the next two days, and in our Facebook group, Cannonball Read Book Chat, so feel free to wander over there throughout the course of today and tomorrow.
Without further ado…
Discussion Topics
- Mandel has stated in interviews that The Glass Hotel is a ghost story at the intersection of two events.What parts of the story struck you as a “ghost story”?
- In what ways was the theme of suffering used in the book? Who suffered and what did it tell us about them?
- The dynamics of estrangement are on display in the book, but what do they add to the story?
- There are several characters that defy expectations. What do these expectations say about the characters, what does it say about us?
- Wealth disparity is a big part of the book, people who grew up with money move through the world in a different way than those who didn’t.How did your own relationship with money effect your reading?
- One of Mandel’s signatures is transitions between characters for perspective. Does she succeed in giving a three dimensional look at the story?
- Antagonist vs. Villain. There are plenty of “bad” people in the book but are any of them villains? Are they antagonists? Are they both?
- I’ve got thoughts that don’t fit into the above categories, meet me in the comments.
We had a great discussion during our oddly specifically-timed reread of Mandel’s Station Eleven in March, and I look forward to your thoughts on this one. Comment away!
(*if you’re interested, you can still register for this year, just drop MsWas a line. Or watch out for CBR13 registration, coming in early December.)
