Review

Emily St John Mandel's latest novel, The Glass Hotel, focuses on the 2008 GFC, but is relevant to our current predicament

By Lucy Neave
May 2 2020 - 12:00am
Author Emily St John Mandel. Picture: Getty Images
Author Emily St John Mandel. Picture: Getty Images
  • The Glass Hotel, by Emily St. John Mandel. Pan Macmillan. $29.99.

Emily St John Mandel's The Glass Hotel is ostensibly about the 2008 financial crisis and Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme. It focuses on a series of characters who are affected by the actions of Jonathan Alkaitis, who runs a similar operation to Madoff. Rather than making investments with clients' money, Alkaitis recruits wealthy investors to pay out apparent dividends and to fuel his lavish lifestyle. The novel explores not just Alkaitis' crimes, but the ripples that extend from his theft, examining the consequences for those from whom he has stolen, and for his employees and partner, who to a greater or lesser extent have condoned his crimes.

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