The Glass Room is a Great Discussion Book

My book group just finished reading The Glass Room by Simon Mawer. We had a great discussion about this book, which was short-listed for the 2009 Man Booker Prize.

It’s about a Czechoslovakian couple and their magnificently modernistic house of steel, glass and onyx. In hopeful, forward-thinking, very early 1930s Europe (another war like the last war surely would be impossible), the house, shining on its hill, seems to engender the idealism of its time.

The Landauer House, which slips from hand to hand, from Czech to Nazi to Soviet and finally back to the Czechoslovakian state, becomes a central character in the novel with other characters sometimes as mere interesting visitors. But are they interesting! They bring art, architecture, science, lust and more to this book. In fact, the very best and the very worst of Eastern Europe during this era visit the carefully designed house of glass. Besides, it was quite informative to have this country’s view of World War II.

Here’s something from our discussion:  The fictional Landauer House is modeled on a real house that still does exist. Villa Tugendhat, in what is now the Czech Republic, is considered a masterpiece of German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

If you read this book, first go to this site:  www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Tugendhat_House.html.

This will give you a mental image of the house. It is exactly the same ... right down to the onyx wall, which is cream-colored, not black. Almost to the person, we imagined the wall as being black even though, in the book, it is described in detail as being light colored. Strange.

Interestingly, in the book the wall cost $15,000 in 1929. That’s more than $150,000 in today’s dollars. That’s just one of the tidbits we shared during our discussion.

Enjoy!

 

Comments

[reading glasess]

The book sounds interesting. I would love to buy one so I can fully read them. I bet this going to be a great story.

[Patricia Potts]

Hi Susan

Just looking for some info to slip inside the book cover as it awaits our book club discussion of it mid-year. I read it this month and absolutely loved the book - a fantastic read. Interestingly, I imagined the wall as black onyx throughout and then looked at the above page in your link. I've already printed out a copy of the glass room with its cream onyx wall for our other members to see. This looks like a wonderful blog and I'll have to delve into it more deeply.

Regards
Patricia

[Terry Polaner]

I will be leading a review at my book club on the Glass House. It's my first attempt. Are there any questions that you could suggest? There's lots of

[V Adik]

Our book group will be discussing Glass Room in 2 weeks. Do you have any information on former & present owners?

[Susan Swagler]

I found a great website on the real house in The Glass Room. Go to http://www.tugendhat.eu/en
This has info on the original owners, the architect Ludwig Miles van der Rohe and ongoing restoration of the house.

As for book discussion questions ... go to http://www.themanbookerprize.com/downloads/2009/MBP09_mawer.pdf

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