![]() ![]() Paul and Vincent have never been close: Paul’s father left his family for Vincent’s mother, and Paul failed to act as a steadying hand for Vincent when her mother tragically drowned. ![]() Like Station Eleven, this book hops back and forth through time, examining the ever-widening circle of people whom Alkaitis and Vincent impact. The two arcs intersect through Vincent, who eventually becomes Jonathan’s second wife (well, not technically his wife, but wife for all intents and purposes). The puzzle of The Glass Hotel follows two major story arcs: the troubled relationship between half-siblings Vincent and Paul, and the downfall of Jonathan Alkaitis, a wealthy man who runs a successful pyramid scheme. While Mandel’s newest work is a fantastic read and I promise to talk about it in its own right, the two make for a fascinating comparison. ![]() I dove right into The Glass Hotel immediately after rereading Station Eleven for the fourth time. In The Glass Hotel, as in Station Eleven, the puzzle pieces only reassemble into that portrait again in the novel’s final few pages. She likes to assemble a portrait of multiple human lives meshed perfectly together, break that portrait up into jagged but intersecting pieces, and then scatter those pieces across the table. John Mandel excels at creating puzzles out of human stories. ![]()
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