In 'The Glass Hotel,' The Disasters Are Smaller But Still Disruptive
Emily St. John Mandel's powerful new novel follows a troubled brother and sister who get involved with a crooked hotel magnate whose Ponzi scheme destroys the lives of his investors.
These are deeply weird times, and especially so for Emily St. John Mandel. The Canadian novelist is publishing her latest book just as the literary world has again become obsessed with her last one: Station Eleven, her 2014 novel about a world devastated by a deadly virus. It's a brilliant book (and one that even Mandel thinks you should wait a few months to read).
Her newest novel, , isn't about the "Georgia flu," as the fictional pandemic inwas called, although it is mentioned in passing. The novel is about other kinds of disasters, ones on a smaller scale: depression, drug addiction and the economic devastation that sometimes results from greed. It's a striking book that's every bit as powerful — and timely — as its predecessor.
