Lisa Eckstein’s Reviews > The Glass Hotel > Status Update

Some readers of Mandel's last novel, Station Eleven, were bothered by the number of coincidental connections between characters, so it's interesting to notice this novel is leaning hard into them. It's a much harder story to describe than the last, but I'd say the main focus is the random turns of chance and coincidence that bring people together and shape their lives.

”What I'm suggesting," Caroline said softly, "is that the lens can function as a shield between you and the world, when the world's just a little too much to bear. If you can't stand to look at the world directly, maybe it's possible to look at it through the viewfinder."

There are already many intriguing elements: the structure, the jumps in time, the characters, the ghost...