Broken Glass

Station Eleven (2014), the gripping story by Emily St John Mandel set in the aftermath of a deadly pandemic, was one of the best novels I read last year. Mandel has such a creative way of building an interwoven story, with fascinating characters and beautiful settings. 

Her latest novel, The Glass Hotel (2020), likewise weaves together many disparate threads in a story of a different kind of collapse. A Ponzi scheme (a la Madoff) crumbles, shattering the lives of investors, employees and families. Told in a non-linear way, we learn about many of these characters before, during and after the decline of the 'Kingdom of Money'. 

Hotel Caiette, a glittering glass structure in a secluded outpost on Vancouver Island, is the anchor to this tale. Accessible only by water, its isolation in a natural wilderness attracts wealthy patrons seeking to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

Jonathan Alkaitis, CEO of an investment firm, is a regular.  On one of his visits, the hotel's glittering majesty is shaken by graffiti written on the window - why don't you swallow broken glass. This act of vandalism disturbs guest Leon Prevant, is missed by Alkaitis, and leads to the departure of sibling hotel staff members Paul and Vincent. Vincent lands on her feet, as Jonathan's trophy wife, spending her days shopping in Manhattan and nights by the pool in Alkaitis' Connecticut mansion. Then the Ponzi scheme fails and she must reinvent herself again.

Like Station Eleven, part of the appeal of this novel for me is the familiarity of many of the places. When Paul goes clubbing in Toronto in the 1990s, I was immediately transported to my hometown, to a place and time I have such fondness for. The scenes in Vancouver and Vancouver Island, New York and beyond, utterly transported me to a past life and strong memories of places I love and long to see again. 

I really enjoyed The Glass Hotel. There were so many moments where Mandel's brilliance shone through - Jonathan's imagining of his 'counter-life', the eerie emptiness of the hotel without guests, the final days of Alkaitis' firm - and in reading there was a sense of putting pieces together in a large puzzle. As a reader, there is so much joy in immersing yourself in the story, finding clues to storylines that pull you back and push you forward. It was delightful to be reacquainted with characters Leon and Miranda from Station Eleven, but you do not need to read that novel to enjoy this one. Ultimately, I preferred Station Eleven, perhaps because it felt more urgent and timely.  I can't wait to see what Emily St John Mandel comes up with next.

The Glass Hotel was shortlisted for the 2020 Giller Prize.