Book Count (since 1 January 2012)

Book Count (since 1 January 2014): 30

Sunday 25 July 2010

The Glass Room by Simon Mawer

Shortlisted for the booker prize 2009.

Opening in 1930s Czechoslovakia this novel begins with a young newly wed couple looking to build a modern home to raise a family. The couple hire a German architect who builds them a large, open space bounded by glass walls and known as the glass room. Throughout the story many of the most dramatic events take place in the glass room and the house itself is an important part of the book. The family are forced to move as the war begins because the father is Jewish, so the novel then splits to follow the family's emigration as well as the fate of their glass room.

I did really enjoy this book, which is very well written and the historical setting is interesting. There are a lot of inter-connecting characters which at times is slightly too convenient and coincidental, but perhaps that is a bit unfair as it was of course necessary to make this such a good story. Definitely worth reading.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.