- Mass Market Paperback: 424 pages
- Publisher: Pocket Books; 7th THUS edition (1 Nov 1974)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0671787683
- ISBN-13: 978-0671787684
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.7 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 866,475 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
'The Glass Inferno' is one of two novels written during the 1970s that were combined to create the screenplay for 'The Towering Inferno' (see 'The Tower' for the other half). This novel takes a 'Quincyesque' view of skyscraper building in that it preaches quite clearly the dangers of their existence.
The story follows a day in the life of a glass skyscraper that is slowly engulfed in flames. We are introduced to a wide variety of characters who must find a way to escape the building before they are killed by flames or smoke. Can the maverick fire-fighter work miracles to prevent the entire building from being destroyed or will the poor workmanship cause the disaster to be far worse than anyone could have imagined?
Scortia has created an interesting book that was surprisingly fun to read. The story is pretty fast paced and the action sequences are good when they come about. I liked the fact that the story had a slow build-up and introduced you to the characters before deciding to start the main elements of the disaster. There are a couple of issues with the book as it does feel far too preachy and it is deeply rooted in the 1970s. If you can look past the slight racist and chauvinistic elements of the book, which reflect the period in America at the time of the books writing, you get an enjoyable adventure.
The story follows a day in the life of a glass skyscraper that is slowly engulfed in flames. We are introduced to a wide variety of characters who must find a way to escape the building before they are killed by flames or smoke. Can the maverick fire-fighter work miracles to prevent the entire building from being destroyed or will the poor workmanship cause the disaster to be far worse than anyone could have imagined?
Scortia has created an interesting book that was surprisingly fun to read. The story is pretty fast paced and the action sequences are good when they come about. I liked the fact that the story had a slow build-up and introduced you to the characters before deciding to start the main elements of the disaster. There are a couple of issues with the book as it does feel far too preachy and it is deeply rooted in the 1970s. If you can look past the slight racist and chauvinistic elements of the book, which reflect the period in America at the time of the books writing, you get an enjoyable adventure.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was what formed most of the basis of the film "The Towering Inferno". If you havent seen it, it follows a group of people who are stuck in a huge skyscraper that goes up in flames and keeps you on the edge of your seat as you see who will survive and who wont.
"The Glass House" has a fiar few of the films characters in it (although some are under different names) as well as a bunch of charcters that were not included in the film version. Each of the characters are well detailed and documented but they are all introduced with heavy slants on them pushing you to think "I'm doing wrong, I'm going to die" and "I'm a good guy, I will survive". Sadly from that, you can predict many of the characters outcomes within their introductuary paragraph.
My main problem however was that there were very few characters you actually cared about as so many of them are portrayed negatively.
The next problem was that at every oppertunity the book was (quite rightly) lay down morality in health and safety standards. The message hits home wihthout it being drummed into your head for the first 170 pages!
Finally, if you have seen the film, you might find yourself dissapointed with the lack of action sequences as strangely, many of great oppertunities to crank up the tension were not in this book.
Despite my buggings, this is a great read for disaster movie fans. Some of it is a little dated in context but it held my attention from start to finish and there is still bucket loads of tension and drama. Probably more for fans of the film though
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Great Read.....and Mrs. Mueller doesn't die in THIS one!
22 April 2002
Format:Hardcover
When Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox decided to make their own high rise disaster pic, one picked "The Tower" and the other "The Glass Inferno"; they realized they each will be making similar movies. So in a rare instance of common sense, the two studio combined resources and churned out "The Towering Inferno". Despite having the movie based on the two novels, the end result resemble more on "The Glass Inferno" rather than "The Tower." In fact, the only thing the movie retain from "The Tower" was the breeches bouy and several characters, some of which have their own counterparts in "The Glass Inferno".
If you have seen "The Towering Inferno", then you will know what the novel is about. Of course, the novel doesn't have the stupid insipid dialogue the movie was saddled with. And "The Glass Infnero" ends on a brighter note that the movie.
As a point of interest, the building is known as the "Glass Tower", 66 stories high and equipped with a scenic elevator and a promenade room. And Jennifer Jones' character, Lisolette Mueller, who "enjoyed" a spectacular death scene in the movie, survived in the novel in her own spectacular way (she climbed down the blown stariwell BY HERSELF without help and with a kid on her back).
Overall, the book is good, espcially how chapters are devoted to the fire itself; describing it as "the beast", and chronicling it from its "birth" with a cotton string as its umbilical cord, and to its death....as if the fire was a living entity in itself.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
One of the original (and great) works of disaster fiction
26 Jan 2009
Format:Hardcover
The Glass Inferno, co-written by Thomas Scortia and Frank Robinson, is one of the two novels (along with The Tower) that became the classic disaster movie "The Towering Inferno" (See what they did there?).
Set in an an unnamed Anycity, USA, the book chronicles the traumatic, destructive events of a single wintry evening. The centerpiece of the story is the Glass House - a beautiful-and-controversial new skyscraper.
The reader is quickly introduced to the story's villain: the fire. From ember to blaze to really, really big blaze to ashes, the fire is daringly personified. The authors even use the fire's perspective to introduce each chapter, going so far as to give it a vicious, animalistic motivation. Especially in the early part of the book, when the fire is 'sneaking' about unnoticed, this literary device adds a lot of tension to otherwise dry introductory material.
The other characters (the human ones) are a mixed lot. Even before the fire eats most of downtown Townsville, the residents and visitors to the Glass House are all having a traumatic evening. A local reporter is doing his damnedest to crucify the tower (appropriately for its bad fire codes...), causing a bit of (necessary, if belated) panic. The hero architect is in a professional battle with his boss, the developer, as well as a personal one with his shrewish wife. A clerk contemplates some larceny, a businessman's affair comes to an end, a con man moves in for the kill, a fireman wrestles with career ennui and a maintenance man does his best to drink himself to death. The Glass House is a very busy (and bleak) building.
To give praise where it is due, Scortia and Robinson do a fantastic job fleshing out the entire cast in very little time... even if it is just to roast that flesh from their bones. The authors don't hesitate to narrow their focus in key places, in order to maximize the sense of horror. The flame's many inevitable victims don't go nicely, and even the survivors spend most of the book vomiting and/or inhaling the charred remains of their neighbors. One death - involving a storeroom of melted plastic Santas - is notably disgusting, and has definitely oozed its way to the top of my 'ways not to go' list.
While The Glass Inferno doesn't surprise with its plot - either overall or in any of the little twists - it does with its surprisingly-detailed (and occasionally progressive) characters and its tactical use of horror. The authors take care to keep the reader involved in the action, by constantly reminding them of what is at stake - both the value of life and the horror of (burning/oozing/falling) death.
Set in an an unnamed Anycity, USA, the book chronicles the traumatic, destructive events of a single wintry evening. The centerpiece of the story is the Glass House - a beautiful-and-controversial new skyscraper.
The reader is quickly introduced to the story's villain: the fire. From ember to blaze to really, really big blaze to ashes, the fire is daringly personified. The authors even use the fire's perspective to introduce each chapter, going so far as to give it a vicious, animalistic motivation. Especially in the early part of the book, when the fire is 'sneaking' about unnoticed, this literary device adds a lot of tension to otherwise dry introductory material.
The other characters (the human ones) are a mixed lot. Even before the fire eats most of downtown Townsville, the residents and visitors to the Glass House are all having a traumatic evening. A local reporter is doing his damnedest to crucify the tower (appropriately for its bad fire codes...), causing a bit of (necessary, if belated) panic. The hero architect is in a professional battle with his boss, the developer, as well as a personal one with his shrewish wife. A clerk contemplates some larceny, a businessman's affair comes to an end, a con man moves in for the kill, a fireman wrestles with career ennui and a maintenance man does his best to drink himself to death. The Glass House is a very busy (and bleak) building.
To give praise where it is due, Scortia and Robinson do a fantastic job fleshing out the entire cast in very little time... even if it is just to roast that flesh from their bones. The authors don't hesitate to narrow their focus in key places, in order to maximize the sense of horror. The flame's many inevitable victims don't go nicely, and even the survivors spend most of the book vomiting and/or inhaling the charred remains of their neighbors. One death - involving a storeroom of melted plastic Santas - is notably disgusting, and has definitely oozed its way to the top of my 'ways not to go' list.
While The Glass Inferno doesn't surprise with its plot - either overall or in any of the little twists - it does with its surprisingly-detailed (and occasionally progressive) characters and its tactical use of horror. The authors take care to keep the reader involved in the action, by constantly reminding them of what is at stake - both the value of life and the horror of (burning/oozing/falling) death.
6 of 8 people found the following review helpful
"The Glass Inferno" generates serious heat
23 Mar 1998
Format:Hardcover
Twentieth-Century Fox and Warner Bros. knew what they were doing when they adapted The Glass Inferno into the disaster epic, The Towering Inferno. Scortia and Robinson put together an convincing scenario in which San Francisco's tallest building goes up in flames.
There's no denying that the authors know their stuff. The characters and the action stay crisp and sharp. Even today, such a cautionary novel should give readers pause the next time they venture into the concrete caverns of our modern cities.
Though not as good, The Tower, by Richard Martin Stern, should be read in tandem with The Glass Inferno. The Towering Inferno also draws from it.
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