This is one of those books I was kind of avoiding because it seemed like everyone was reading and reviewing it. I know that is a dumb reason to avoid a reading a book, but I also know I am not the only person who gets caught in that psychological trap. Fortunately, I found a cheap remaindered copy The Glass Room when I visited Daedalus Books this past summer with Frances of Nonsuch Books and Teresa of Shelf Love. Once the book was in the house it seemed like I was one step closer to getting over my aversion to popular books, at least in this instance. I had picked it up a few times since I bought it and thought I might be in the mood to start it, but it wasn’t until I focused in on the TBR pile in my nightstand that it really started to bubble to the surface. And I am so happy that it did.
It is easy to see why The Glass Room was short-listed for the Booker Prize. Despite a typo or two (see here), it is a marvelous novel that is hard to put down. At its essence it is a World War II story focusing on the lives of a group of people in Czechoslovakia. What makes the novel unique is that its organizing structure really is an organizing structure. When Viktor and Liesel Landauer are on their honeymoon in Venice they meet Rainer von Abt, a German modernist architect, whose design philosophy is right in line with the couple’s desire to live in a house that looks to the future rather than the past. The result is a stunningly modern architectural gem which acts as far more than a piece of the backdrop for the events of the novel. The clean lines and pure spaces of the house not only provide a multifaceted and apt metaphor for many of the themes of the book, but the house also often plays a catalytic role in the lives of the people who live and work in it.
And the lives of the people that Mawer creates are interesting and joyous and tragic. He shows the many ways people learn to survive not only politics, war, and dislocation, but also how we survive personal upheaval and adversity. None of Mawer’s main characters are paragons of virtue but they are all likable and so believably human.
I am often fascinated, perhaps morbidly so sometimes, by the fact that human lives are so fleeting and ephemeral. That regardless of the importance of any given thing, or feeling or event in our lives, they are but momentary blips on the map. They only matter to a relatively small circle of people and even then for only a brief period of time. The memory of the feeling or event event fading into oblivion faster than most of would care to admit. It is just a matter of decades before the Landauer House, so important to those who imagined it, built it, and lived in it, loses its original use and meaning and its history is defined and redefined by those who don’t necessarily have the knowledge, or the right, to do so.
The life of the house before, during, and after the Landauers illustrates wonderfully the ways in which buildings change use and sometimes form over time. Think of seminaries that became grand houses, that became wartime hospitals, that became prep schools, that became something else. Sometimes those new uses suit the building and other times the fit is less than ideal.
I liked this book a lot on many different levels. Certainly not a perfect novel, but one that gives the reader a lot to think about and discuss. This really is a perfect book club book.
A few other reviews:I know that I saw many other reviews out there in the blogosphere but I am having a hard time finding them now. For those of you who review lots of books you should go over to FyreFly’s Book Blog and register your blog for the Book Blogs Search Engine. That way I can find your reviews more easily in the future.
hogglestock 
many thanks for the mention ,I had this down as the booker winner ,I was one of the few that didn't really enjoy wolf hall ,the beauty of this is in the use of the glass house as a character within the book ,this was my first Mawer I hope at some point to get to read some of his older books ,all the best stu
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this one is on my 2011 shelf of hopeful reads. thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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I reviewed this too. If it wasn't for the Booker I probably wouldn't have read it and I'm glad I did; it was the one I enjoyed most from the shortlist.
Mawer's use of space and light reflective of the House's architecture was exquisite.
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Stu: For some reason I have avoided the Booker lists for the past several years so I can't compare it to its competitors.
Diane: I heartily recommend moving it to the top of your list.
Claire: I agree. My review didn't really touch on how well Mawer wove all that imagery together.
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I just wanted to say thank you for plugging the book blog search engine… I've had a bunch of new sign-ups over the past two days, and this is one of those cases where it's definitely the more the merrier for all involved!
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This book sounds great. I'm definitely hoping to get to it this year.
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This has been sitting on my shelf for like a year now, it appeals and sounds right up my street but for wahtever reason I haven't picked it up yet.
maybe this year
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Fyrefly: Glad to promote such a great tool.
3M: You won't regret it.
Jessica: I might have ended up in the same situation as you if I hadn't decided to take on CB's TBR dare.
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Not only have I not read it (or of course reviewed it), I've not even heard of it. :<)
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Thanks for the referral to Book Blogs Search Engine…the web just gets better and better ! :)
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