What can I say about this book that hasn’t already been said about it by our community? It’s awesome? It took me too long to pick it up?
The one advantage to waiting as long as I did, was that the spiritual sequel, Sea of Tranquility, was out by then and I could take in more of the characters from Mandel’s world as soon as I finished this one.
Like all things St. John Mandel writes, The Glass Hotel is an intricately woven tale of several characters spread across time and geography. Vincent, a young woman with a tragic past, is taken in by Jonathan Alkaitis, a rich financer whose not what he seems. We travel through her history and her brother’s, learning about their family past and their somewhat tragic futures. For those who have lived in Toronto and Vancouver, especially in the late nineties, there are some wonderful callbacks to the music and rave culture of the times.
It was compelling, it was a page turner, it was satisfying and it was well-written. What more can I say? Oh, yeah: go read it.
