Point of View

The Glass Hotel is told predominantly from third-person omniscient point-of-view from the perspectives of a cast of characters who are interconnected through the Hotel Caiette and through their relationships with Jonathan Alkaitis, the runner of an investment Ponzi scheme. There are a few exceptions in which the narration switches to first-person. The first and last chapters are told in first-person from Vincent's point-of-view as she is dying in the water after going overboard on the Neptune Cumberland, and Chapters 10 and 14 are told from the collective first-person points-of-view of Jonathan's co-workers, referred to as the “Office Chorus” (163). In these chapters, the pronoun “we” is used when the chorus is speaking as a group, but third-person is used when focusing on any individual co-worker's experience.

The novel begins by introducing Paul, whose narrative includes mention of his sister Vincent; it then widens out to introduce the characters...