![]() So it’s a ghost story! But the book doesn’t really focus on ghosts. (SPOILER-WARNING) In The Glass Hotel, there are (maybe) ghosts. ![]() What do I mean by that? Here’s an example/explanation (highlight to read the sort-of spoiler): And then she blends the genre stuff with the literary stuff. The general “gimmick” of the author (at least in her most recent two books) is that she takes genre fiction and uses its tropes and themes as metaphor/allegory/inspiration for a story that has a more traditional literary subject and themes. If you haven’t read that, A Visit From the Goon Squad has sort of the same format. If you would like a comparison, stylistically it is similar to the author’s previous Station Eleven. The Glass Hotel bounces around through decades of time, from the perspectives of multiple characters. On the surface, The Glass Hotel is about (more or less) the unraveling of a Ponzi scheme. John Mandel was one of the books I was most-looking forward to reading this year because I loved the author’s previous novel, Station Eleven. ![]() ![]() It’s possible to know you’re a criminal, a liar, a man of weak moral character, and yet not know it, in the sense of feeling that your punishment is somehow undeserved, that despite the cold facts you’re deserving of warmth and some kind of special treatment. There’s something in it, he decides later, standing in line for dinner. ![]()
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