The Glass Hotel Characters

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

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 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.

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

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

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

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

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.