The Glass Hotel Character Analysis

Vincent

Vincent is one of The Glass Hotel’s main characters. She grows up in Caiette, a town on a remote tip of Vancouver Island. Vincent has a half-brother, Paul, from her father’s first… read analysis of Vincent

Jonathan Alkaitis

Jonathan Alkaitis is the New York financier at the center of the massive Ponzi scheme that destroys the lives and livelihoods of many of the novel’s characters, such as Olivia Collins, Leon and Marie… read analysis of Jonathan Alkaitis

Paul

Paul is Vincent’s half-brother. They have the same father, but Vincent was the result of an affair Paul’s father had with Vincent’s mother, a younger, bohemian hippie, when Paul was young. Paul is… read analysis of Paul

Leon Prevant

Leon Prevant is a former shipping executive and Alkaitis investor. He first meets Jonathan Alkaitis while he and his wife, Marie, are vacationing at the Hotel Caiette, which Jonathan owns. Leon booked their stay… read analysis of Leon Prevant

Olivia Collins

The novel presents Olivia at various stages in her life. In the 1950s, she is a young painter in Manhattan, struggling to make ends meet and to make a name for herself. She first meets… read analysis of Olivia Collins

Suzanne Alkaitis

Suzanne Alkaitis is Jonathan Alkaitis’s first wife and mother to their daughter, Claire. Suzanne dies of cancer sometime before the main events of the novel take place, which greatly affects Alkaitis. Alkaitis and… read analysis of Suzanne Alkaitis

Lucas Alkaitis

Lucas Alkaitis is the deceased older brother of Jonathan Alkaitis. Jonathan was only a child when Lucas died of a drug overdose, and the death affects him throughout his life. Lucas was a painter… read analysis of Lucas Alkaitis

Claire

Claire is the daughter of Jonathan Alkaitis and his wife Suzanne. She’s not fully comfortable with her father’s relationship with Vincent, who is five years younger than her, but makes an effort to… read analysis of Claire

Lenny Xavier

Lenny Xavier is Jonathan Alkaitis’s most important investor. He’s a music producer from Los Angeles and something of a slimeball. He worked as a producer for Annika when she was trying to become a… read analysis of Lenny Xavier

Mirella

Mirella is the girlfriend of Faisal, one of Jonathan Alkaitis’s biggest investors. Vincent meets Mirella at a party she attends with Jonathan, and the two become fast and close friends, bonding over their… read analysis of Mirella

Faisal

Faisal, a Saudi prince in his forties, is one of Jonathan Alkaitis’s biggest investors. He lives in New York and doesn’t work. Before investing with Alkaitis, Faisal’s family viewed him as something of a… read analysis of Faisal

Yvette Bertolli

Yvette Bertolli is one of Jonathan Alkaitis’s former investment associates, a highly “elegant” older woman. She loses $320 million of her clients’ money to Alkaitis’s Ponzi scheme and dies of a heart attack when… read analysis of Yvette Bertolli

Ella Kaspersky

Ella Kaspersky is a Chicago businesswoman who frequents the Hotel Caiette. It’s there that Kaspersky meets Jonathan Alkaitis, who tries (unsuccessfully) to convince her to invest in his fund. Kaspersky does some investigating, becomes… read analysis of Ella Kaspersky

Oskar Novak

Oskar Novak works on Floor 17, in the asset management branch of Jonathan Alkaitis’s business. Although he is knowingly complicit in the Ponzi scheme, he offers the cryptic statement that “it is possible to… read analysis of Oskar Novak

Enrico

Enrico works on Floor 17, in the asset management branch of Jonathan Alkaitis’s business. When Alkaitis informs his employees of the scheme’s impending collapse, Enrico flees to Mexico, starts a family, and avoids facing… read analysis of Enrico

Simone

Simone is Jonathan Alkaitis’s new receptionist in late 2008 when the Ponzi scheme implodes. She is young, naïve, and struggling financially at the time of the collapse. The night before his arrest, Alkaitis orders… read analysis of Simone

Ron

Ron works on Floor 17, in the asset management branch of Jonathan Alkaitis’s business. He’s the only employee who doesn’t seem to grasp that he and his coworkers are doing anything illegal. After the… read analysis of Ron

Joelle

Joelle works on Floor 17 of Jonathan Alkaitis’s business, in the firm’s asset management branch, and is therefore complicit in the Ponzi scheme. She struggles over what to tell her husband about her role… read analysis of Joelle

Harvey Alexander

Harvey Alexander is an employee who works on Floor 17 of Jonathan Alkaitis’s business, in the firm’s asset management branch. He is one of the employees who knowingly engages in fraudulent business on Alkaitis’s… read analysis of Harvey Alexander

Charlie Wu

Charlie Wu is a keyboardist with the Canadian electronica band Baltica. Charlie dies in late 1999 as a result of the bad ecstasy pills Paul gives him at a night club. Paul later insists that… read analysis of Charlie Wu

Annika

Annika is the beautiful and talented violinist of the Canadian electronica band Baltica. Paul encounters Baltica while out at a club in Toronto in late 1999. He asks Annika out on a date, but she… read analysis of Annika

Vincent’s and Paul’s Father

Vincent and Paul have the same father. Vincent is the result of an affair their father has with Vincent’s mother, a young, bohemian poet who moves to the remote British Columbia town of Caiette… read analysis of Vincent’s and Paul’s Father

Vincent’s Mother

Vincent’s mother was a free-spirited young poet when she gave birth to Vincent, who was the result of an affair she had with Vincent’s father, who was married to Paul’s mother at the… read analysis of Vincent’s Mother

Aunt Shauna

Aunt Shauna is Paul and Vincent’s aunt. Vincent comes to live with Shauna in Vancouver after Vincent’s father’s work schedule prevents him from adequately caring for her. Eventually, Vincent’s rebelliousness becomes too much… read analysis of Aunt Shauna

Geoffrey Bell

Geoffrey Bell is an English man form Newcastle who is the third mate of the Neptune Cumberland. He’s Vincent’s coworker and, later, her boyfriend. When Vincent first meets Geoffrey, she believes he will… read analysis of Geoffrey Bell

Felix Mendoza

Mendoza is the steward of the Neptune Cumberland and is Vincent’s boss during her time aboard the ship. He got along well with Vincent while she worked there. When Saparelli and Prevant board the… read analysis of Felix Mendoza

Michael Saparelli

Saparelli is the lead investigator of Vincent’s mysterious disappearance from the Neptune Cumberland in 2018. He is a former NYPD officer who works in the security office of Leon Prevant’s former shipping company… read analysis of Michael Saparelli

Melissa

Melissa is Vincent’s childhood friend from Caiette. Vincent and Melissa eventually live together in Vancouver. In her youth, Melissa is a frequent partier, and this behavior will develop into a substance abuse problem. After… read analysis of Melissa

Walter

Walter serves as the Hotel Caiette’s night manager in the 2000s. He later becomes the caretaker when the resort is abandoned in the aftermath of the collapse of Jonathan Alkaitis’s Ponzi scheme. Walter first… read analysis of Walter

Raphael

Raphael is the Hotel Caiette’s manager. He hires Walter to be the night manager three years before Ella Kaspersky hires Paul to write a threatening message on the lobby’s glass wall. Raphael receives Walter’s… read analysis of Raphael

Marie Prevant

Marie Prevant is Leon Prevant’s wife. Leon takes Marie to the Hotel Caiette in 2005 as a surprise for their anniversary, though Leon’s financial worries make it impossible for him to enjoy the trip… read analysis of Marie Prevant

Miranda

Miranda was Leon Prevant’s junior colleague at the shipping company before he was let go in the wake of a company merger. Miranda replaced Leon in the midst of the restructuring. It’s Miranda who… read analysis of Miranda

Clarissa

Clarissa is Marie Prevant’s psychic friend. Sometime before the events of the novel take place, she and Leon have a meaningful conversation about what Leon’s career in shipping means to him. Clarissa will eventually… read analysis of Clarissa

Roberts

Roberts was an older man who was assigned to Jonathan Alkaitis’s prison bunk before Alkaitis arrived there. He left the message “no star burns forever” scratched into the cell wall before being transferred to… read analysis of Roberts

Julie Freeman

Julie Freeman is a journalist who is in the process of writing a book about Jonathan Alkaitis. She visits him in prison to conduct interviews about his past and the Ponzi scheme. When Alkaitis… read analysis of Julie Freeman

Renata

Renata is Olivia’s friend in 1950s Manhattan. She and Olivia share a game of making up hypothetical ghost stories to pass the time when Renata poses for Olivia’s paintings. Renata is at Olivia’s studio… read analysis of Renata

Monica

Monica is Olivia Collins’s sister. She worked as a lawyer but is retired by the time Jonathan Alkaitis’s Ponzi scheme implodes. Monica invests money with Alkaitis and gives his name to Olivia when… read analysis of Monica

Professor

The professor is a volunteer who leads a book discussion group at the medium-security facility where Jonathan Alkaitis is imprisoned. He exclusively focuses on the works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, though the group one day… read analysis of Professor

Minor Characters

Theo

Theo is the bass player of the Canadian electronica band, Baltica, that Paul encounters at a nightclub in Toronto in 1999.

Grandma Caroline

Grandma Caroline is Paul and Vincent’s grandmother (their father’s mother). She comes to stay with Vincent and Vincent and Paul’s father in Caiette after Vincent’s mother’s death. It’s Grandma Caroline who gives Vincent the video camera that kickstarts Vincent’s artistic obsession with capturing five-minute segments of film.

Paul’s Mother

Paul’s mother was married to Paul and Vincent’s father before his affair with Vincent’s mother ended the marriage. Paul’s mother lives in Toronto and struggles to support and maintain a healthy distance with Paul, whose substance abuse problems complicate their relationship.

Paul’s Counselor

The narrative features brief flash-forwards to Paul’s conversations with his counselor at a rehab facility in Utah in 2019. Paul talks to his counselor about many of his past demons, including his unjust treatment of Vincent and the role he played in Charlie Wu’s death.

Larry

Larry is the Hotel Caiette’s night porter. He’s working the night Paul writes a threatening message on the lobby’s glass wall (though he doesn’t witness the act of vandalism) and tells Walter about Paul’s odd behavior that night.

Veer Sethi

Veer Sethi is Jonathan Alkaitis’s defense attorney when he’s on trial for committing securities fraud. Sethi fails to make a convincing case when he refers to Alkaitis’s decision to defraud his investors as a simple “mistake,” and the court sentences Alkaitis to 170 years in prison.

Hazelton

Hazelton is Jonathan Alkaitis’s cellmate in prison. He’s doing 10-15 years for grand larceny. He’s half as old as Alkaitis and talks often of having his whole life ahead of him, which depresses Alkaitis, who is sentenced to 170 years in prison and likely will die there.

Churchwell

Churchwell is one of Jonathan Alkaitis’s acquaintances in prison. He’s also serving a life sentence for his work as a double agent with the CIA/KGB. He listens to and sympathizes with Alkaitis’s ideas about alternate realities, or “counterlives,” as Alkaitis calls them.

Keisha

Keisha is Simone’s assistant in the future (2029) when Simone works for a clothing company.

Tiffany

Tiffany is the wife of Lenny Xavier, Jonathan Alkaitis’s biggest investor. She’s very beautiful but rather uninteresting.

Ned

Ned is Vincent’s coworker at a bar she works at after the collapse of Jonathan Alkaitis’s Ponzi scheme.

Khalil

Khalil is a bartender who works at the Hotel Caiette while Vincent is employed there.

Ilieva

Ilieva is Vincent’s favorite manager at the Russian Café, a place in lower Manhattan that Vincent and Jonathan Alkaitis frequented when they were together. Vincent sees Ilieva at the Russian Café the night she quits her bartending job in Chelsea.

The Glass Hotel Characters