"Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star glass and cedar palace on an island in British Columbia. Jonathan Alkaitis works in finance and owns the hotel. When he passes Vincent his card with a tip, it's the beginning of their life together. That same day, Vincent's half-brother Paul scrawls a note on the windowed wall of the hotel: 'Why don't you swallow broken glass?' Leon Prevant, a shipping executive for a company called Neptune-Avramidis, sees the note from the hotel bar and is shaken to his core. ...
Read More
"Vincent is a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star glass and cedar palace on an island in British Columbia. Jonathan Alkaitis works in finance and owns the hotel. When he passes Vincent his card with a tip, it's the beginning of their life together. That same day, Vincent's half-brother Paul scrawls a note on the windowed wall of the hotel: 'Why don't you swallow broken glass?' Leon Prevant, a shipping executive for a company called Neptune-Avramidis, sees the note from the hotel bar and is shaken to his core. Thirteen years later Vincent mysteriously disappears from the deck of a Neptune-Avramidis ship"--
Read Less
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel to cart. $16.05, good condition, Sold by GreatBookPricesUK5 rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Castle Donington, DERBYSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 400 p. May show signs of wear, highlighting, writing, and previous use. This item may be a former library book with typical markings. No guarantee on products that contain supplements Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Twenty-five year bookseller with shipments to over fifty million happy customers.
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel: a Novel to cart. $9.26, good condition, Sold by More Than Words rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Waltham, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. . All orders guaranteed and ship within 24 hours. Your purchase supports More Than Words, a nonprofit job training program for youth, empowering youth to take charge of their lives by taking charge of a business.
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel to cart. $9.50, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel to cart. $9.50, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel to cart. $9.50, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Reno rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Reno, NV, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel: a Novel to cart. $11.00, very good condition, Sold by HPB-Movies rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority!
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel: a Novel to cart. $13.40, good condition, Sold by SurplusTextSeller rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Columbia, MO, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Ships in a BOX from Central Missouri! May not include working access code. Will not include dust jacket. Has used sticker(s) and some writing or highlighting. UPS shipping for most packages, (Priority Mail for AK/HI/APO/PO Boxes).
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel: a Novel to cart. $13.49, very good condition, Sold by Magers and Quinn Booksellers rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Minneapolis, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel: a Novel to cart. $13.99, new condition, Sold by Read&Dream rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from SAINT LOUIS, MO, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
Add this copy of The Glass Hotel to cart. $9.50, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2020 by Random House Large Print Publishing.
I was excited to get the ARC of The Glass Hotel after really enjoying Emily St John. Mandel's previous book 'Station Eleven'. The Glass Hotel is an odd story and not one that sadly I think works. The plot centres around a man that gets sentenced to a life in prison for a Ponzi scheme and the impact of that on his family and colleagues. It takes about 60% of the book to get to that point though and I was honestly confused about the plot up until that point which isn't a great start to a novel!
I think the main problem is the way Mandel chooses to tell the story. We start by getting to know Paul - a drug addict who has made a lot of mistakes in his life. We are with him for quite a few chapters, getting to know him and his history and then we never really see him again until the end - it felt a bit of a waste. We then move on to a man owning a random hotel, then Paul's sister, her husband Jonathan, a random man in shipping, an old painter, some colleagues, a man who works at sea... It just felt too much without really going anywhere. I understand that they are all linked to the scheme and to each other which is quite a clever device - side characters in one story then become more integral in others but to be honest I didn't really feel anything for any of them. The constant leaps of perspective happened too often for us to actually understand why we had been given an insight into that perspective in the first place. We only get to know each character after they've invested and it's all gone wrong - which doesn't really give us an insight into their personality or make us empathise with them before the scheme ruined their life. If we had perhaps gotten to know Jonathan before he started the scheme for example, or the reasons why some of them chose to invest to start with, we would have perhaps felt empathy with at least some of the characters. I think the fact this is actually inspired by true events makes me even sadder as the book could have been a really interesting look at the real events and psychology of the people involved and yet just ended up as a mess.
As well as having confusion of the main plot there was also a kind of side plot about ghosts which didn't really make much sense. I guess it was to portray certain character's guilt but at times characters saw ghosts of people that they didn't even know had died. For a plot that's supposed to be based on a real-life scheme the break into a paranormal seemed a bizarre choice. I also really didn't understand the hotel storyline and the importance of the graffiti on the window either.
Overall, I was really disappointed with The Glass Hotel - it's a mess of a plot and too many characters that the reader cares nothing for. Thank you to NetGalley & Pan Macmillan - Picador for the chance to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
