The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

This is the discussion thread for the Spring 2025 Group Read, The Glassmaker in the category Fiction: Strong Women. Please post your comments here. This thread is not restricted to those choosing this book for task 20.10, feel free to join in the discussion. Warning- spoilers ahead!

The requirement for task 20.10: You must participate in the book's discussion thread below with at least one post about the contents of the book or your reaction to the book after you have read the book.

I have read several other books by this author
Set on Murano and in Venice it follows a family of glassmakers across timelines that are really unbelievable. How the same characters can be alive in the 15th and 21st century just beats me. This is probably the reason for my rating

The main charcter is Orsola Rosso, a woman in a man's world at the start of the book but with the desire to be much more than this. The narrative feels very hapharzad - the earlt parts of the book being slow to the point of tedious at times and the ending which jumps through decades and centuries to cover everything else.

I suppose it is Historical fiction with a touch of magical unreality

If this was my first Chevalier novel I don't think I would be tempted to more but she is an author I have previously enjoyed.

I might have given anything from 1 and a half to 3 stars - I am erring onto the higher side but hope she goes back to her normal form with her next book

As a historical fiction AND magical realism buff, I was excited to read The Glassmaker! I enjoyed learning a bit about the artistry of glassmaking, and it certainly fit with the theme of "Strong Women." This was also one in a (coincidental) run of several Italy-set books I've recently read, and I felt that Murano and Venice came to life authentically.

All this said, though, I found the central conceit of the novel required me to suspend more of my disbelief than I was able. I love a story that follows a family through time, but the way Chevalier constructed this particular story did not work for me.

Overall this was a 3/5 for me, which is a bummer - I thought it had potential to be a 5!

I also enjoyed reading about glassmaking. I was able to picture some of the working descriptions as a local glass museum had a viewing room where visitors could watch the process of glass making. I've always been fascinated by Venice, so the Murano/Venice settings pulled me in.

I was fascinated by the different approach to time travel, but I did find it somewhat confusing. I think the magical realism of it needs some smoothing out for it to work, but I admired the effort.
I enjoyed the book and the audio narrator and ended up giving it 4 stars.

Just finished this!

I'm torn about what I think. On other platforms, I rated it 3.5, but rounded up to 4 on Goodreads.

I really liked the character development and the historical fiction insights. Getting insights into not only how glassmaking worked but also life on Murano and in Venice over the centuries was really interesting. This really made you feel like you were there.

That said, it was somewhat slow. I often like character-driven novels, but I found myself skimming in parts here.

I'm also not sure what to think about the magical realism aspect...it was certainly a unique approach to have Orsola living through all the centuries, and I'm glad that was finally acknowledged in the end. But I'm not the biggest fan of magical realism so I didn't feel like that was truly for me, but that's a personal preference.

I did like Girl with the Pearl Earring better, and I'll definitely still read more by this author!

Amy FL

I found the glass-making history interesting, but the book was long and dragged a bit. The magical realism didn't work for me at all. The story was going along fine in the beginning, and suddenly time moved forward but the family didn't age accordingly. It made no sense and there seemed to be no reason for this phenomenon. I gave the book a generous three stars.

I have enjoyed this author in the past. This one was a little different as far as the magical realism aspect. I liked reading about the history of glass making and was able to suspend my belief that this family lived throughout the centuries while the rest of the world went on. I enjoyed the characters and how she worked in different historical figures and events.

4/5