'The Glass Hotel' by Emily St. John Mandel

The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Emily St. John Mandel is a weaver of the richest story tapestries. Her latest, The Glass Hotel, begins and ends with a young woman named Vincent and works its way to the titular building at the nexus of the novel, where characters collide like elementary particles, spinning off in new directions that determine the course of their lives. The characters include Vincent’s half-brother Paul, a ne'er-do-well who capitalizes on Vincent’s videography; high-flying financier Jonathan, who takes Vincent as his wife though never legally marries her; and Leon, who loves the business of international shipping and tells Vincent about it when she is serving as a bartender at the Hotel Caiette, a five-star hotel on the far northern reaches of Vancouver Island. Lying, stealing, the various countries of the monied, the cheated, the sick -- all are strands in the weft, their color enlightened by astute observations small and large. Add a strand of the supernatural, and the result is pleasing to the eye and reveals more the more it is observed.