Not A Review: Thoughts on “The Glass Hotel”

The novel — the latest from the incomparable Emily St. John Mandel (Station Eleven) — is brilliant. Like broken glass, it is refracted, jagged, illuminating, haunting and brilliant. Through the shards, a clear vision is seen. It is a book that I desperately wish I’d written. In fact, it’s a book not dissimilar from my most recent novel. My novel also plays with time and has a tendency to obsess over light and rain. Mandel’s prose is effortless. Her characters are full people, like-able and enviable in one moment and reprehensible and face-punchable the next. I love every single one of them. Walter, especially. I could absolutely read an entire book about Walter and his beloved solitary.

The more I write, the more joy I find in reading great work. And Mandel’s work is always great. I cannot recommend the books highly enough. Swing by your favorite local independent bookseller and grab a copy.