St. John Mandel, Emily: Last Night in Montreal

Unbridled © 2009, 247 pages

"No one stays forever," reads the first line of Emily St. John Mandel's debut novel Last Night in Montreal. Certainly Mandel's main character can't stay in one place for longer than a few months, if that. Abducted when she was seven by her non-custodial parent, Lilia spent her childhood in a car--nine years of motels and chain restaurants and public parks, dyed hair and name changes, her picture and her grieving mother on their room's flickering TV screen before they fled again in the middle of the night. The book slowly circles around Lilia's story until we get the whole of it, skipping around in time and among perspectives: Lilia's own, when she was younger; and later we see her mostly through other's eyes--the private detective who became obsessed with her case, his daughter, and Eli, the latest of her abandoned lovers.

Last Night in Montreal is a powerful read--an unusual story, very well told. It's also dispiriting, not only because of the facts of Lilia's life, but because the principals of Mandel's story are all rootless and unsatisfied. But it's a compulsively readable book. I downed it in two days and might have been quicker if the obligations of my own rooted existence hadn't interfered. In the end I did have problems with the story's credibility. Mostly I find it hard to believe that the private detective on Lilia's tail would abandon his life in order to track her down, that he would continue tracking her after he found her. But the book raises any number of interesting questions, among them the reasons for this obsession of his, which leads him to treat his own daughter more horribly than the kidnapper he's chasing treats Lilia. I also am not sure that it made sense to make the private detective and his wife former circus people, but perhaps I'm missing some thematic relevance here. That the book raises so many questions would make it a good selection for book discussion groups. And maybe for Oprah as well, if she's reading this. (And I know you are, Oprah. I know you are.)

Comments

[Emily St. J. Mandel]

1.

Thank you very much for your review. I appreciate you taking the time to read my book, and I especially appreciate all your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Debra Hamel]

2.

Thanks for your note and for stopping by, Emily!

[Susan]

3.

I'll keep my eye open for this one, it sounds like I'd enjoy it too. Hey! I just noticed I can buy it through your link right here! I wonder if it'll connect me to Amazon dot CA...?

[Debra Hamel]

4.

Nope! I'm afraid that will go to Amazon.com. Sorry about that :) The book seems to be all the rage these days in online circles. Looks like there's some Twitter reading group taking it up. Good job to the author, and also to the publisher (@unbridled) for getting the word out about it.

[Susan]

5.

Well, what I've done is put it on my 'wish list' and one of these days - soon - I'll go and copy down about five titles I want and then come back here to make sure I enter Amazon via your link to place my order. I'm so cross with myself because I forgot the last time. (Sorry, Debra! I've really been out of it the last little while.)

[Debra Hamel]

6.

Very nice of you to think of it, Susan! Any TwitterLit link would do too.

But you're cross with yourself over this?! I'd say you've had more important stuff to worry about!

[Clare D]

7.

Another very interesting book - I do like the sound of this - the way it's structured. You seem to have hit a little gold vein in your reading recently, Debra!

[Debra Hamel]

8.

I have read some good ones lately. And my reading is (finally) picking up after a slow first half of the year. I've still got a backlog of six reviews to post, too.