<p>BUandBC thank you for posting another link with photos of the house. I hadn’t looked at them again after reading the book. For some reason in my mind the Onyx wall was more along the lines of black in color, so now I’m wondering whether Mawer mentions that it’s more of an amber.</p>
<p>EmmyBet it’s great to have someone here who has first hand knowledge of the historical aspects - thank you for joining in!</p>
<p>EmmyBet, thank you for the fascinating analysis! I’d say you have a much closer tie to the history of these characters than most of the rest of us do, and your comments have given me a new perspective.</p>
<p>I did not like The Glass Room. Emmybet expressed some of my reasons—and opened my eyes to others that I wasn’t even aware of.</p>
<p>As I read, I kept thinking that I liked the idea of the book, but not it’s execution. Having the house as a “character” in the story was interesting and not something that we’ve run across in our other selections. Was the house benign? Malignant? Did it cause people to act contrary to their nature or did it draw out their true desires? Can behavior be affected by the architecture of the building in which one lives? With skillful writing, these questions could have been addressed in a substantial way. I wasn’t far through the story, however, before I realized that the house had more depth and complexity than any of the human characters that walked through its doors. At times, the dialogue was almost laughable.</p>
<p>I know that I was spoiled by the richness of Cloud Atlas; nonetheless, I went into The Glass Room with an open mind. Like EmmyBet, I was bothered by the stereotypes and by the lack of any true understanding of what it was like to live through that era. My mother-in-law grew up in Nazi Germany and the few brief stories that she has reluctantly shared with us over the years have more power than all of Mawer’s novel.</p>
<p>Shortly before Cloud Atlas, I read Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian. I still think about it. That’s what I would recommend if you could bear reading about the violent, agonizing demise of a family ousted from their home in the waning years of World War II.</p>
<p>As usual, here is a batch of discussion questions to ponder or ignore:</p>
<p>Discussion Questions</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Why are the Landauers so devoted to modernity? What makes them so intent on shedding the past, and how is this tied to their country’s history or future? </p></li>
<li><p>What was your first impression of Rainer von Abt? What did you think of his minimalist approach? Why do you think it appealed to Liesel and Viktor?</p></li>
<li><p>The characters are constantly fluctuating between languages-specifically German and Czech. How do these characters use or manipulate language to express themselves?</p></li>
<li><p>During the housewarming party at the Glass Room, von Abt speaks of his masterpiece, saying, “A work of art like this demands that the life lived in it be a work of art as well.” Do you think this prophecy comes to fruition?</p></li>
<li><p>Why does Viktor initially approach Kata in Vienna? What is he looking for in her? How is she different from Liesel?</p></li>
<li><p>The Glass Room takes on many personas throughout the book, moving from a home to a laboratory to a gymnasium to a museum. Does the original concept of the house remain intact through all of its internal transformations? Does the house ever become part of the past?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you believe that Viktor is in love with both Liesel and Kata? Does he fall for Kata before or after she comes to live with the family? What does the scene at the train station reveal about both him and Liesel?</p></li>
<li><p>Coincidence plays an important role in the novel. Does the Glass Room encourage it? If so, how?</p></li>
<li><p>Why do you think Hana agrees to be examined by Stahl and his crew? Why do you think the house is seen as an ideal place for a scientific laboratory?</p></li>
<li><p>What image or scene within the novel haunted or stayed with you the most?</p></li>
<li><p>Tomas, much like Viktor, is always looking toward the future. But with yet another love triangle in the Glass Room—this time between Zdenka, Tomas, and Eve—do things really change in this society obsessed with the future? Can history be erased if it is constantly being repeated?</p></li>
<li><p>What is Hana searching for in all of her love affairs? Do you think she is truly in love with Zdenka? Is it the Glass Room’s influence or is Zdenka just a replacement for Liesel?</p></li>
<li><p>When Hana and Liesel are reunited at the novel’s end, both women gloss over the tragedies in their past. Why do you think they hold back?</p></li>
<li><p>Does The Glass Room tell the story of a house or a family? What story do you think Mawer set out to tell?</p></li>
<li><p>Mawer constantly shifts the perspective from character to character, often leaving the reader wanting more. Which character’s outcome or emotions did you wish you knew more about by the novel’s end-Katalin’s? Von Abt’s? Viktor’s? Stahl’s? Oskar’s?</p></li>
<li><p>Why do you think Mawer chose to conclude the book with Ottilie and Maria reuniting? What, if anything, does this new generation represent?</p></li>
</ol>
<p><a href=“http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/1252-glass-room-mawer?start=3[/url]”>http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/1252-glass-room-mawer?start=3</a></p>
<p>EmmyBet, Thank you for starting the discussion on such a personal note. </p>
<p>sylvan, I also imagined the onyx to be black in color with amber and reddish streaks within…I will have to go back and read the description.</p>
<p>I felt that this book was a good choice after Cloud Atlas in that we faced that very real and horrific predator, Hitler. The author did not describe the atrocities of the time but it was implied, as a contrast to the “legitimate” experimentation in the Glass Room. Whether the author should have been more historically factual with the degree of sadism and oppression is a point of debate.</p>
<p>I found myself interested in the characters in the beginning, but I drifted away from them towards the end. Even Hana, who was the most fascinating in my mind, became lost to me when the friendship with the ballerina turned sexual in nature.</p>
<p>I loved some of the imagery of the writing and the beautiful metaphors, although at times it felt overdone…perhaps too ornate?</p>
<p>The ending felt contrived to me, but perhaps that was the author’s point: all kinds of absurdities happen. I meant to search how many times the word “absurd” was used in the book. I guess it gave the book a degree of sentimental closure and hope for the future.</p>
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<p>Katalin’s (Kata’s)!! Kata’s story after she was separated from the family was never told! I thought this was shocking on the part of the author…inexcusable, really.</p>
<p>In addition, Kata was described physically in great detail, but we never got a look inside her head…never learned her thoughts. It was mostly the men whose thought processes were presented by the author, and when this occurred it seemed that they mostly thought about sex. That really bothered me.</p>
<p>Anyway…a warm welcome to Emmybet. I, too, have such strong feelings about the book that it’s been difficult to wait until today to post here about them. ;)</p>
<p>I’m sure we will not all be in total agreement about the literary merits of the book, but I think that we do all value historical accuracy, and Emmy has helpfully pointed out ways in which this was sadly lacking.</p>
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<p>sylvan and psychmom – yes:</p>
<p>“The slabs had veins of amber and honey, like the contours of some distant, prehistoric landscape” (p. 72). </p>
<p>Also: “The colours are pale gold and amber, streaked with tears. Almost the only colour in the whole space, which otherwise is white and ivory and mirrored chrome and transparent glass” (p. 402).</p>
<p>And at one point, Lanik examines “the honey-colored partition of the onyx wall” (p. 191).</p>
<p>(I loved looking at the photos of the house, but I know I wouldn’t want to live there [or have sex on the cold linoleum floor ;)]).</p>
<p>Originally posted by psychmom
</p>
<p>I agree. I felt that the writing was uneven. Often it was relatively graceful, but all too frequently the author lapsed into what struck me as wordy, overblown flights of…bombast!</p>
<p>A fair amount of the figurative language was relatively appealing. However, the author came up with occasional similes and metaphors that absolutely made me groan. Maybe I’ll cite a couple later.</p>
<p>Favorite character … just because of who she really is: the beautiful, young Eva Mandl, aka as Hedy Kiesler, the “stark naked” star of *Ekstase<a href=“%5BI%5DEcstasy%5B/I%5D”>/I</a>. I recognized her: Hedy Lamar. Truly beautiful. </p>
<p>[Hedy</a> Lamarr - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedy_Lamarr]Hedy”>Hedy Lamarr - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>I started the book ambivalent about reading it and finished it the same way. </p>
<p>(I agree the “happy” ending feels contrived. However, I think it best the author Simor Mawer ends the novel when he does: given a few more pages, I swear Ottilie and Marie would be having sex on the floor of the glass room. Mawer would not know what else to do with them. ;))</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Oh please, can I?</p>
<p>
[quote]
Her nipples are pointed, asymmetrical in their gaze, like someone with a slight, amusing squint.<a href=“p.%20246”>/quote</a></p>
<p>:eek:</p>
<p>This is the first of the awkward similies that really brought me up short. It refers to Venice:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>(p.20)</p>
<p>Okay, maybe water can slop and stir, though “slop” is an ugly word. Maybe a body of water could be compared to a large feline animal…though such an image would certainly never occur to me. But to try to combine the two?? A slopping <em>cat</em>?!</p>
<p>You guys are making me feel bad about liking this book. I thought it started out slow, spending too much time on the building of the house (I also envisioned the onyx wall as black), but once the story got going, I liked it. Mawer only touched upon the real horrors of the time in history, but I felt the story was about the characters that lived and passed through the room and how the world going on outside the room impacted and influenced their lives. Power and wealth allowed Viktor and Liesel to escape the horror that was happening in Czechoslovakia. I guess I took the story as fiction and ignored some of the more unbelievable events.</p>
<p>I was also disappointed when Hana started a sexual relationship with the dancer. I wondered why the author felt it was necessary to let it happen. The women characters in this story did not have loving or comforting relationships with the men in their lives. Perhaps that is the reason they turn to each other? What is Mawer saying to us about men?</p>
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<p>LOL. And the scene would include a description of their pubic hair! I’ve never read a book with so many descriptions of pubic hair. Was this supposed to be some important metaphor?</p>
<p>Speaking of sex, when Viktor, Liesel, and Kata are sharing a household in exile, was he having sex with both of them? With all the sex in the novel, the author left that part out.</p>
<p>Liesel put up with that living arrangement, but years later was incredibly blase about Kata’s fate in the Holocaust (“It was better that way. Things work out for the best in the end, don’t they?”).</p>
<p>I disliked most (maybe all) of the characters in the book, but then again, Nazis and bombs and Soviet tanks are not something you wish on anyone, so the plot didn’t provide any satisfaction, either.</p>
<p>ignatius, I had no idea that Eva was based on Hedy Lamarr. The story of Eva’s controlling husband buying up copies of Ecstasy is straight out of Lamarr’s bio. Mawer even uses their real names (Eva and Fritz Mandl). </p>
<p>Of course, unlike the real Hedy, Eva has a tryst with Hana – but then, who doesn’t? What is it about Hana that brings out the bisexuality in every woman whose path she crosses? Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as Seinfeld would say, but still…it became a little silly after a while. I was amused rather than moved at the scene where Hana confesses her love for the young Zdenka, as I found it unrealistic and…absurd. Thanks for the word, psychmom. I did your search for you: 65 times. Does that sort of word repetition mean that Mawer is a poor writer or that he simply lacks subtlety in driving home his themes? Or both? (Apologies to BCandBU82–I’m trying to hold back, but I can’t help myself :).)</p>
<p>I believe that it is not possible for these people to have been so rich or powerful that they would have had such a mild experience during the Nazi occupation. But that is my opinion, and I am not a historical expert. Nor am I an expert on Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia. I personally believe that people there would have felt and acted differently, but anyone is welcome to disagree.</p>
<p>What bothers me as a reader of literature is that someone would choose to write a book about a very singular and identifiable historical era - actually two - and minimize the hugely pervasive issues that affected people at the time. It doesn’t make sense to me, and it makes the book unbelievable.</p>
<p>Here’s an analogy: How would we feel if someone wrote a book about people who lived in Manhattan in September of 2001? Would we be offended if they only had mild to moderate feelings about the terrorist attacks and suffered virtually no effect except some minor financial problems and maybe some sadness? Was anyone rich or powerful enough in NYC at that time to merely be worried about hiding their mistress from their wife, or frustrated that they couldn’t get to their fancy condo for the time being, or relieved they’d sold their stock that became devalued in the aftermath?</p>
<p>If an author chooses to write about an iconic historical era, they have a responsibility to portray it respectfully. Otherwise, they are welcome to use a time and place that doesn’t require them to focus on those elements.</p>
<p>I agree, Emmybet. I kind of feel like Mawer tricked me. One of the reasons I was interested in the book was because I thought it might throw some light on a certain historical period from a different angle. Instead, I felt that the author was appallingly remiss in that regard.</p>
<p>One of the many things that really bothered me about the story was Hana’s sleeping with the German officer as kind of a lark. (Or for the money, she said…but then she also claimed she only did it with that one guy!) She never expressed any remorse or regret or distaste about it.</p>
<p>Not too long ago, I read a novel set in Germany during the years before WWII that gave a much better picture of what things were like at the time, without being the kind of super bleak narrative that some people shy away from. I recommend it. It’s called A Postcard from the Volcano by Lucy Beckett.</p>
<p>EmmyBet, I suppose that, historically speaking, there may have been some people who were relatively untouched. The real family that lived in Villa Tugendhat
may have had that kind of good fortune:</p>
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</p>
<p>But I imagine those lucky ones were the exception and not the rule, and I agree that making them a focus of the novel somehow skews reality, and is a missed opportunity.</p>
<p>I was bothered by more than just the skirting of history in the story. It is not only that Mawer chooses to focus on characters who suffer only on the periphery, it is also that those characters are so lacking in integrity. </p>
<p>I think Hana summarizes the self-centeredness of all the characters in her comments to Liesel about the appeal of sleeping with a woman: “…if you’re a woman you think, “that’s an aspect of me and I want to love her just as I love myself” (p. 120). For most of the characters in The Glass Room, it’s all about me, and the best way to love myself. This is epitomized in Liesel’s comment about Kata’s tragic fate, as pointed out by buenavista, “It was better that way. Things work out for the best in the end, don’t they?" </p>
<p>Cold.</p>
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</p>
<p>I’m guessing they were – a cool, obligatory version with Liesel and a more heated, on-the-sly version with Kata. That’s how things had been functioning in the glass house before exile. Honestly, though, how much time before a Simon Mawer fantasy threesome would have come to pass? Did anyone else find that scene on the beach when Liesel gives Kata the towel rubdown a bit over the top? An improbable, titillating clich</p>
<p>I started out liking the book, and the style, but after awhile it seemed like the author devoted an inordinate amount of verbiage to near-obsequious raving about the house/glass room. Despite the amount of ink he expends on it, I never came to feel that much for the house - and I love mid-century modern, so I fully expected to. </p>
<p>I agree with posters above about the male fantasy aspect of all those bi-sexual women. Really? That many in one place? Practically every female character? Interesting the connection between the onyx wall (“the fingernail of Venus”) and the amount of sex that took place in the glass room.</p>
<p>ETA: Loved it when Lanik got his due from the Russian woman…</p>
<p>
I agree, EmmyBet. I think I’m just looking at the novel differently than you. Well, I guess I’m looking at it differently than all of you. I see the world outside the glass room as the background. Not unimportant, but not the main part of the story. Are the characters created unlikely characters? Possibly. Mary’s example shows one family that appeared to escape Czechoslovakia without total loss. Before Mary posted, I was thinking it is possible to have as many experiences through a tragedy as there are people experiencing the tragedy. </p>
<p>I like that the book made me think about the different characters’ purposes in the story. I like that I’m still trying to figure it all out :). I like that I was interested enough in Czechoslovakia to read more about it after I finished the book.</p>
<p>I agree that when Liesel and Viktor had sex, it was obligatory. I don’t think Liesel and Viktor had an sexual relationship after she found out about his relationship with Kata. What about the relationship between Liesel and Kata? On page 251 there is a passage that made me wonder if Liesel and Kata also had a sexual relationship.
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<p>If every bit of the action had taken place in the glass room, then maybe the author’s very sketchy approach to historical context could have been somewhat justified. (After all, there is a bestselling novel, Room, that takes place almost entirely in a single room…and there are plenty of plays and films that operate under similar constraints.)</p>
<p>But that is not the case. The setting of the novel includes Switzerland and Vienna and Paris (that silly interlude of a “professional conference” in Paris never could have occurred back then with Czech people in attendance) and other places. The author chooses to follow his characters around…but then he omits things. He coldly omits what happens to Kata, an underprivileged Jew, portraying her essentially as a whore and then discarding her as a character. That’s unforgivable, I’d say.</p>