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A review by dragonarmy
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
2.0
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Well, that was underwhelming.
I read and loved [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1451446835l/20170404._SX50_SY75_.jpg|28098716] back in 2018. When I heard that Emily St. John Mandel wrote a new book, I was excited to read it. Then I read it and was excited no longer.
The Glass Hotel is not like Station Eleven. Here, we get a few POV characters that are loosely connected to one another due to a collapsing Ponzi scheme. We go back and forth in time to learn about the events leading up to the collapse, the collapse itself in 2008, and then the ghostly aftermath in 2010 and beyond.
But, the characters are flat. I didn't connect to a single one. The entire time I expected the story to go somewhere, to have some reveals, to surprise or shock me. It didn't. Ever. The prose is great. It's one place where the author shines. But I just found myself waiting and wanting the entire time and never got any payoff.
It's kind of poetic though. I'm ending 2020 with a book that I had high hopes for but was let down, disappointed. Ain't that an apt description of this horrid year?
---
Well, that was underwhelming.
I read and loved [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1451446835l/20170404._SX50_SY75_.jpg|28098716] back in 2018. When I heard that Emily St. John Mandel wrote a new book, I was excited to read it. Then I read it and was excited no longer.
The Glass Hotel is not like Station Eleven. Here, we get a few POV characters that are loosely connected to one another due to a collapsing Ponzi scheme. We go back and forth in time to learn about the events leading up to the collapse, the collapse itself in 2008, and then the ghostly aftermath in 2010 and beyond.
But, the characters are flat. I didn't connect to a single one. The entire time I expected the story to go somewhere, to have some reveals, to surprise or shock me. It didn't. Ever. The prose is great. It's one place where the author shines. But I just found myself waiting and wanting the entire time and never got any payoff.
It's kind of poetic though. I'm ending 2020 with a book that I had high hopes for but was let down, disappointed. Ain't that an apt description of this horrid year?