I love Emily St. John Mandel’s writing, especially Station Eleven, and read this book soon after watching and loving the TV adaptation of Station Eleven. I had been less sure about loving The Glass Hotel, but for me, this book is a return to form for the writer. It is a time travel/parallel universe/is everything actually a simulation? type novel, but typical of Emily St. John Mandel it is written in a beautiful and thoughtful literary style. There are nods to living through Covid with lockdowns and vaccines etc, but how could living through that not seep into a writer’s work at this time?
I’m stealing a passage from an Amazon review because I think it says it better than I could:
‘Within it’s pages it tackles a breathtaking number of philosophical questions. These range from the validity and importance of Simulation Theory, the ethical ramifications of time travel, the seemingly impossible and everlasting battle between bureaucracy and humanity and the inability of the two to coexist, and the importance of constancy of character within the separately fluid nature of our lives.’
A very satisfying and rich read – I love the way the stories fit together in such a cohesive final product.
Sarah Wray Writer 