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karmapen's review
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment and Car accident
Moderate: Suicide, Physical abuse, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Stalking, and Self harm
Minor: Infidelity
bklassen's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
This book feels so surreal – it has Emily St. John Mandel’s prose, which I really enjoy, but it has this otherworldly feeling to it. It feels Murakami-esc from someone who has read only samples of his work but is familiar with his work in relation to the zeitgeist.
Both Murakami novels and Last Night in Montreal deal with loneliness, boredom, loss, and unhappiness. The characters feel very stylized and suited for an indie movie in their actions, their dialogue, even their appearance sometimes. Hell, the overlapping storylines just feel so bizarre, as if it’s written in an alternate plane.
There are 3 or 4 main characters in this novel, and in typical Mandel fashion, they’re all intertwined one way or another and eventually coalesce. Eli is a lonely man in NYC who has a boring job he hates, a master’s thesis he just can’t write, and a longing for something he can’t identify. When he meets and dates Lillia for 6 months, he sees her and her odd quirks as an escape from his unfulfilling life.
Lillia is a girl with a mysterious and strange past – abducted by her father in the middle of the night and was on the run for him for most of her life. She can’t seem to stay in one place for too long, and she can’t remember anything from before her father took her away.
Christopher is a private detective hired to find Lillia, but eventually his whole life becomes finding and trailing Lillia and her father, even after he has found them and is able to keep track with them. His obsession erodes the relationship with his wife (equally unhappy and work obsessed) and his daughter, Michaela.
Michaela, about the same age as Lillia, had been slowly abandoned by her parents, emotionally and eventually physically, until she ran away at 15 and now lives a sad and lonely life of cigarettes, insomnia, dancing at a club, and searching for the missing piece of Lillia’s case that affects her.
These tragic characters are all drawn together by the singular event that jumps everything off – Lillia’s father taking her away from her mother and step-brother in the middle of the night and going on the run. They have vague conversations and answer evasively. They circle around each other, not providing crucial information that the other wants and needs. They are searching for something of meaning, closure, or happiness in their lives but can’t seem to find it.
I read another review that said this book reads like an art house film, vaguely film noirish but also 90s indie. It is extremely stylistic, and Mandel’s handling of the prose is expert. The questions of what happened in Lillia’s past and where she is are there to sustain the mystery, but it almost doesn’t matter. It’s more of discovering the motivations and history of the characters themselves that keep you reading.
I won’t say I didn’t enjoy the book, but I wouldn’t be raring to read it again. I also would be quite selective in who I recommend this book to, because it’s very much not for the entire public.
Both Murakami novels and Last Night in Montreal deal with loneliness, boredom, loss, and unhappiness. The characters feel very stylized and suited for an indie movie in their actions, their dialogue, even their appearance sometimes. Hell, the overlapping storylines just feel so bizarre, as if it’s written in an alternate plane.
There are 3 or 4 main characters in this novel, and in typical Mandel fashion, they’re all intertwined one way or another and eventually coalesce. Eli is a lonely man in NYC who has a boring job he hates, a master’s thesis he just can’t write, and a longing for something he can’t identify. When he meets and dates Lillia for 6 months, he sees her and her odd quirks as an escape from his unfulfilling life.
Lillia is a girl with a mysterious and strange past – abducted by her father in the middle of the night and was on the run for him for most of her life. She can’t seem to stay in one place for too long, and she can’t remember anything from before her father took her away.
Christopher is a private detective hired to find Lillia, but eventually his whole life becomes finding and trailing Lillia and her father, even after he has found them and is able to keep track with them. His obsession erodes the relationship with his wife (equally unhappy and work obsessed) and his daughter, Michaela.
Michaela, about the same age as Lillia, had been slowly abandoned by her parents, emotionally and eventually physically, until she ran away at 15 and now lives a sad and lonely life of cigarettes, insomnia, dancing at a club, and searching for the missing piece of Lillia’s case that affects her.
These tragic characters are all drawn together by the singular event that jumps everything off – Lillia’s father taking her away from her mother and step-brother in the middle of the night and going on the run. They have vague conversations and answer evasively. They circle around each other, not providing crucial information that the other wants and needs. They are searching for something of meaning, closure, or happiness in their lives but can’t seem to find it.
I read another review that said this book reads like an art house film, vaguely film noirish but also 90s indie. It is extremely stylistic, and Mandel’s handling of the prose is expert. The questions of what happened in Lillia’s past and where she is are there to sustain the mystery, but it almost doesn’t matter. It’s more of discovering the motivations and history of the characters themselves that keep you reading.
I won’t say I didn’t enjoy the book, but I wouldn’t be raring to read it again. I also would be quite selective in who I recommend this book to, because it’s very much not for the entire public.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide and Infidelity
Minor: Kidnapping, Child abuse, Drug use, and Car accident
sorcha's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Abandonment, Car accident, Child abuse, Suicide, and Suicide attempt
Minor: Addiction, Alcohol, Car accident, Infidelity, and Drug use
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