Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

81 reviews

sarahb919's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

When the summary said that Vincent disappeared off a cargo shipped I had assumed she survived and had simply pulled a Houdini. I’m kind of disappointed that she just fell off during a storm. I liked the ghosts though. I wish there had been more of that. Overall I enjoyed the story, even if it started out a bit slow and Paul was SUPER irritating. I hated his character. The book and the characters were very well-written. Very believable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Colonisation

abicaro17's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. Generally, this book follows Vincent, a bartender with a drug addict brother and a fondness for filmmaking. After the disappearance of her mother when she was 12, Vincent looks for solid ground and finds it in Jonathan. Jonathan is a rich investment broker who proposes a deal in which Vincent acts as his wife and she gets to spend her time (and his money) as she likes. This book flips between childhood, her time with Jonathan, and her time after. The issues I had with this book mainly center on the multiple povs. This book contained at least 6 full chapters from other characters povs. Sometimes it was relevant like with Jonathan or her brother Paul but even so it was confusing. Also Emily tends to have strong sci-fi(ish) themes in her books and this one was weird but there wasn't much fantasy in this book. I just feel like this could have been stronger but it also could be because I adored Sea of Tranquility and this DOES NOT measure up. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Blood, Dementia, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Classism

maryconney's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity, Alcohol, and Classism

kvothe's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

It was beautifully written but the story didn't really pull me in. I liked the approach of all these different people related to the events of the book in sometimes only tangential ways, and the way we meet the person who's kind of the main character, if there is one, from the eyes of someone else first. But for my taste, the shifting perspectives revealed too little that was new on each shift - the story was mostly told way before the book was over and what the new perspectives were adding was marginal in maybe the last third or quarter of the book? It might have felt especially stark since I recently read a better version of a similar mold, with a multi perspective story in the world of high finance, but with each perspective unfolding a genuinely new dimension of the story, rather some marginal extra experience and unrelated events.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Death of parent

arayo's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Drug use, Terminal illness, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Infidelity, Suicide, Dementia, and Classism

audelidou's review against another edition

mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

D'entrée de jeu, le livre avait un gros avantage et un gros désavantage. J'aime beaucoup le style de St. John Mandel, sa narration déconstruite, les multiples histoires qui se croisent et s'éloignent. Ce travail de reconstruction de la trame temporelle et de création de liens entre les histoires et entre les personnages est amusant. Le lectorat n'est pas agacé par cette narration unique, mais plutôt charmé et piqué dans son intérêt. 

Toutefois, le sujet m'intéressait beaucoup moins. L'histoire tourne autour de personnages qui ont investi dans le fonds de Jonathan Alkaitis. Le problème, c'est que je déteste tout ce qui a un lien avec la finance. Je trouve le sujet d'un ennui épouvantable ! Donc je n'étais pas vraiment intéressée par l'histoire. 

Une chance que la narration et les personnages étaient prenants ! Puisque je les trouvais profondément humains et imparfaits, j'aimais avoir accès aux pensées et au vécu de chacun des personnages entremêlé à cette toile narrative et financière.

Je trouve que la fin du livre renoue avec ce qui m'a fait aimer les autres livres de Mandel, soit cette apparition du surnaturel ou du science-fictionnel dans un monde que nous connaissons. Si tout le livre avait été ainsi, j'aurais adoré ! Mais bon. C'est une lecture plaisante, sans plus ni moins. 

Ayant lu La mer de la tranquillité avant, j'ai aimé voir les débuts de certains personnages et de certains thèmes qu'on retrouve dans cet autre bouquin qui a été écrit après L'hôtel de verre. J'ai pu comprendre toutes les références, ce que je trouvais chouette ! Cela m'a aidé à un peu plus apprécier ma lecture.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Death and Suicide

kitten_nuisance's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Cancer, Suicide, and Death of parent

dizzymisslizzy's review against another edition

emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Suicide, Dementia, and Death of parent

Moderate: Confinement and Mental illness

eachz's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I'm amazed at how all the pieces of this novel worked together. This was really a fantastic read that touches on so many incredibly human topics and has a really great cast of characters. I love that there was just a touch of the supernatural expertly woven in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

ms_sarah621's review against another edition

mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This was so different from what I was expecting. However, I still enjoyed it so much. Mandel’s writing is beautiful and so lyrical. I always enjoy her use of language and storytelling in her books. This book focuses on reality and survival of characters going through difficult times. It was so well written and thought out. The plot comes full circle at multiple points and shows so many different struggles that people face with real, complex emotions. If you like Mandel’s newer work, be prepared that this is somewhat different. It’s still focuses on moving through time, many characters, and how everything connects together. It is more based in reality and specifically the 2008 financial crisis. It is a wonderful story, and I would recommend it. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Drug use, and Death of parent