The Glass Hotel: A Novel

The Glass Hotel: A Novel by Emily St. John Mandel

The novel revolves around the people that are involved in the life of a woman named Vincent. The start centers on her half brother Paul, a drug addict who is struggling with school. He eventually meets up with Vincent and gets a job at the remote hotel where she is bartending. However, shortly after he starts, he agrees to write a very negative message on a window. This brings us to the other major thread. The message was targeting the owner of the hotel, a rich financier named Alkaitis. He meets people at the hotel, including a man in shipping (Leon Prevant) and Vincent. He falls for Vincent and has him become his "wife" (though they are never officially married). She initially enjoys the life of luxury with unlimited spending on his credit card. However, she eventually tires of it. Later the financial empire crumbles in 2008 when it is revealed to be a Ponzi scheme. Alkatis goes to jail. Vincent changes her look and goes off to live on a container ship. She eventually dies when she falls overboard trying to film during a storm. Leon Prevant is called in to investigate the circumstances of her death. He had "retired" from the shipping firm and then lost everything he invested in Alkatis's scheme and was desperate for a gig.

The book moves back and forth in the timeline and bounces around focus, yet it works very well. It all seems to come back to the hotel in remote part of British Columbia.