“The Glass Hotel,” Emily St. John Mandel’s newest book, is a story about several people linked by a hotel in remote British Columbia, a huge Ponzi scheme brought down by the economic crisis of 2008 and obsessions with the ocean – among other things.
As the novel cuts forward and backward in time, each character, fully realized, grapples with the ways their conception of self intersects with the realities of their actions, and how guilt from moral failure affects their mental state and life trajectory. It’s a story of great wealth and poverty, ghosts of the living and the dead, of kindness in the wake of selfishness.
Because of the reputation of her 2015 novel “Station Eleven,” this new book is in high demand, with wait lists on the eBook, eAudio and print copies. It’s worth the wait, but there are similar books you can check out in the meantime to satisfy your craving for atmospheric stories told from multiple perspectives about the intersecting lives of flawed individuals.
You can sign up for a free library card here. If you are new to our eResources, check out these tutorial videos on how to get started.
If you’re looking for more book suggestions, we’re happy to recommend them! Use this Book Recommendation form to send us some information about what you like to read and we’ll curate a list just for you.
If you have any additional questions, you can contact a librarian through Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. You can also call us at 412-622-3114 or email us at info@carnegielibrary.org.
A drug dealer and an addict’s lives intersect, a large amount of money goes missing and generations of the two families’ stories are told in this kaleidoscopic novel. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.
As an English-language newspaper slowly struggles to survive in Rome, the people that make up its staff and executives look back on how it has affected their lives while trying to imagine new futures. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Will wants to escape his fundamentalist past and Phoebe is being taken into a cult connected to her Korean-American family. They are trying to figure out if their relationship can survive this when an act of terror occurs and Phoebe disappears. Will sets out to discover what the connection could be. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby.
Ghosts and memories haunt Nora, her son, her maid and a man with supernatural talents in the Arizona Territory in 1893. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby.
A multimillionaire with a disappeared daughter, a reporter looking for a father figure, an Ugandan maid fleeing persecution for homosexuality and a nosy neighbor find their lives colliding in contemporary London. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby.
Melody’s daughter’s coming-of-age party leads her to think back to her own (planned but never held) ceremony, derailed by her pregnancy. The history of her family in Brooklyn unfolds from the focus point of this moment. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
Twelve Native American characters narrate the important moments of their lives as their connections are revealed leading up to the first Big Oakland Powwow. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby.
A man’s decision to steal his dead co-worker’s identity ties together the stories in this novel that ranges from the cane fields in Jamaica to present day Harlem. You can also check out this title as eBook on OverDrive/Libby or as eAudio on OverDrive/Libby.
A record executive, his mentor and his employee’s intersecting lives are described at various times and places through different chapters in this Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby.
A teenager disappears from the Brooklyn waterfront, her friend survives their tragic rafting journey. The ripples of this mystery touch a bodega owner, a teacher and other neighborhood residents. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby, as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Hoopla.
Victor returns home on the day of the WTO protests in Seattle and goes there to sell weed, despite his father being the chief of police. Many different voices narrate the events of the day as the protests turn more violent. You can also check out this title as eBook on Overdrive/Libby or as eAudio on Overdrive/Libby.