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A review by bookbybook
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
4.0
I received this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no ways changes my opinion and all the words below are my own. My review is based on an advanced copy of the book and may not fully reflect the finished copy.
Oh boy, I really don’t know what to say about this one. It’s my first Emily St. John Mandel book, so, unfortunately, I cannot use the comparison of Station eleven (though I do plan to pick it up soon now that I’ve read this) and I’ll be the first to admit, I was heavily swayed into getting this book because it's set somewhere I know fairly well. The rest of the description sort of went in one ear and out the other until the book actually arrived and I started reading it.
I struggled through the first quarter-ish because it felt slow, but then all of a sudden it picked up to the point where I was 50 pages from the end and couldn’t believe for a single second that all of the many, many plotlines could truly be wrapped up in so few pages. So many characters were introduced and so many things were happening, yet it had one of the most seamless endings I’ve ever read. The ending alone hit the 4 stars point even if the rest of the book had sucked (which it didn’t). Every little thing came together so perfectly, and satisfyingly. That, of course, makes it hard to explain my love of the book without spoilers, you’ll just have to take my word for it!
I took a two-week break from this book during the slow part because I failed to finish it before I had a scheduled reading challenge that it did not fit into, but when I picked it up again I read the entire second half in under 24 hours. It felt like I had never taken the break, sometimes when you stop a book or even take a break between books in series you realize you’ve forgotten half the character's names, where each one is, and who is married to who. Not with this book, it was like meeting up with an old friend, I still remembered everything about the characters (amazing for me considering I often forget large casts without taking a break from the book). I loved how unique all the characters were and how none were written purely with the intent of being likeable. They were all written to be just close enough to reality that you really get invested and interested. The characters were deep, motivated, and well written. They brought the entire book to life despite there being so many intermingling plots that could have caused the book to fall flat due to lack of a set and steady path. Emily St. John Mandel is definitely on my list of authors to watch now!
Oh boy, I really don’t know what to say about this one. It’s my first Emily St. John Mandel book, so, unfortunately, I cannot use the comparison of Station eleven (though I do plan to pick it up soon now that I’ve read this) and I’ll be the first to admit, I was heavily swayed into getting this book because it's set somewhere I know fairly well. The rest of the description sort of went in one ear and out the other until the book actually arrived and I started reading it.
I struggled through the first quarter-ish because it felt slow, but then all of a sudden it picked up to the point where I was 50 pages from the end and couldn’t believe for a single second that all of the many, many plotlines could truly be wrapped up in so few pages. So many characters were introduced and so many things were happening, yet it had one of the most seamless endings I’ve ever read. The ending alone hit the 4 stars point even if the rest of the book had sucked (which it didn’t). Every little thing came together so perfectly, and satisfyingly. That, of course, makes it hard to explain my love of the book without spoilers, you’ll just have to take my word for it!
I took a two-week break from this book during the slow part because I failed to finish it before I had a scheduled reading challenge that it did not fit into, but when I picked it up again I read the entire second half in under 24 hours. It felt like I had never taken the break, sometimes when you stop a book or even take a break between books in series you realize you’ve forgotten half the character's names, where each one is, and who is married to who. Not with this book, it was like meeting up with an old friend, I still remembered everything about the characters (amazing for me considering I often forget large casts without taking a break from the book). I loved how unique all the characters were and how none were written purely with the intent of being likeable. They were all written to be just close enough to reality that you really get invested and interested. The characters were deep, motivated, and well written. They brought the entire book to life despite there being so many intermingling plots that could have caused the book to fall flat due to lack of a set and steady path. Emily St. John Mandel is definitely on my list of authors to watch now!