Jan Book Club Discussion: The Glass Hotel

[ufcasey]

Today is January's Book Club Discussion for The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel. As always, feel free to answer the questions or just give your overall opinion or talk about anything you want to about the book!

If it's been a while since you read this book, check out this link for a quick reminder about who are the characters and the timeline of the story: www.marmaladeandmustardseed.com/bookguidesblog/the-glass-hotel and here's a quick overall summary of the book plot: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Glass_Hotel 


Optional Questions:
1. A message appears on the window of the hotel where Vincent is working. What were your thoughts on the message "Why don’t you swallow broken glass" written on the window?

2. Paul routinely reminds himself that he doesn’t hate Vincent, but rather the idea of her. What do you think this means? How did you feel about Vincent and Paul’s relationship? Do you feel that either of them received closure by the end?

3. 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?

4. Consider Vincent’s decision to live onboard a ship after Jonathan’s crimes come to light. What does she hope to experience there? Is she ever fully able to leave her previous life behind? Does she find true happiness as Vincent Smith?

[ufcasey]

Tagging people who might have read the book:

aurora, minzy, expectantsteelerfan, rainbowchip, charlatti, meowmaps, Vespasia, travella, rootbeerfloat, toepick, rupertpenny

[dontlook]

I’m still waiting for my copy from the library. I can’t wait to read this one!

[meowmaps]

I read this about a year ago so I’m a little foggy on the details but I did skim the refresher link ufcasey provided.

I loved the book. It was my first by the author. When I was reading it I must’ve forgotten what the book was about because I was surprised when the Ponzi scheme was revealed. That said, I was impressed by how engaged I was in a story with that at its center. I think the fact that it was so character-driven was compelling and really, it was more about the network of people impacted vs. the scheme itself.

Speaking specifically to the question of money and how my relationship to it impacted my reading experience - I agree that having wealth is its own country. I grew up middle class and by today’s standards, as an adult, I’m lower to middle middle class. My sibling grew up the same way but has accumulated wealth through hard work. I admire hard work and don’t begrudge anyone their success but he’s completely out of touch. He only associates with people of the same status/social class so when he deigns to visit his original family he has little to no understanding or patience for people who have to budget. In his mind we’re boring, our city lacks culture, etc. It’s obnoxious and at least one of the reasons we’re estranged.

Overall, loved the book and would read more by the author. Not quite in the mood for dystopian themes at the moment so will put off Station Eleven for another time.

ETA: As a quick addendum, I loved the atmosphere of the book and the detailed descriptions of the environs. I could easily picture The Glass Hotel in my mind and even now I can conjure the same, clear image.

[rainbowchip]

I did not enjoy this book at all. It wasn't as well executed as Station Eleven. I'm not a huge fan of character driven books in the first place so the subject matter really needs to grab me and it did not.

But also, why were people just able to see ghosts all of a sudden? It seemed like a lazy way to get the characters their "closure".

[rootbeerfloat]

I don't mind character-driven books if there are some you can root for. I pretty much disliked all the characters and kind of wished they all fell off a boat. I can appreciate how they were all connected, though.

I'd read Station Eleven awhile back and enjoyed that one more (but might have a different opinion having experienced an actual pandemic).

[mrspez07]

I did not like this book. Maybe I just need to avoid the character study type books, because I kept waiting for something to happen. I enjoyed some of the storylines here and there and could vividly picture the hotel, but was disappointed in the overall pace and telling of the story.
I did appreciate the “money is it’s own country” thing.
I agree with the PP, none of the characters were like able, except maybe the old artist.

[aurora]

I liked it. I generally like multi-POV books, so that helped. The characters were flawed but many had likeable traits. The disjointed timeline also made it more intriguing.

The "between" theme really stood out to me. Ghosts were an obvious example, but also people between rich and poor, altered due to drugs, Vincent about to drown at both the start and end of the book, Olivia feeling like she's invisible when she's standing in the street, Jonathan's employees waiting for the FBI to come calling...there were so many transitional states. It made the story feel a bit unsettled.

I'm trying to figure out how the namesake girl did into that theme. Maybe because the people inside are living in human-made opulence, but just outside so of those windows is the wild.

[aurora]

I will say that I didn't quite like the closure (or lack thereof) on Vincent's drowning. She saw a ghost and fell?

And then her mom was just waiting for her?

[ufcasey]

It's been a year since I read this book, but I really enjoyed it. But I love character driven novels in general. I thought Vincent was an interesting character and her strained relationship with her brother felt realistic. The only thing I noted that I didn't care for was the ending - it just felt different than the rest of the book.

[travella]

I had to go back to my review of the book because I couldn't remember anything about the book. I ended up giving it 3.5*. While I was able to finish the story, it never fully grabbed my attention. In character driven stories I like to connect with at least one character and I couldn't with this book. I wrote in my review that it is a book that I will probably completely forget halfway through my next book. That was pretty accurate.

I just finished Station Eleven and I had the same problems with that book. The only reason I got into that book at all was because of Covid. I don't think I would have finished it otherwise.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I usually enjoy character-driven books, and I really liked Station Eleven, but this one missed the mark for me. It took me a long time to get into it enough to have an idea of what was going on, or who even was important. There were several times I stopped at a section end and then picked the book up later that day or the next day, and I had no idea what I was reading and had to go back and remind myself. And starting with Paul and his complicated feelings for Vincent, along with Vincent being seen as a bit of a delinquent from his point of view definitely biased me against her. But towards the end, she was one of the only characters I liked or cared about at all. I would have liked more closure for her than her as a ghost haunting her brother and Jonathan. She was more than that at the end I think leaving her as they would have seen her.

[Nonny]

I also really enjoy character driven books, and I love Emily St. John Mandel's writing style in general, so I enjoyed this book a lot.

But I do think the opening was weak and super confusing. I had no idea WTF was going on in that first chapter with Vincent, and until the one guy started investigating her death later on, I actually thought somehow it was Paul (? is that right, her brother?) who was drowning - I had completely missed/forgotten the name mentioned.

I didn't might the ghosts when it was just the people visiting/tormenting/confusing the leader of the Ponzi scheme in jail, but it seemed a little overdone when it was all the ghosts at the end. Like, his ghost visits could be explained by the tumor and him kind of losing his mind, but the rest seemed unnecessary.