Last Night in Montreal

by Emily St. John Mandel

No cover — Emily St. John Mandel: Last Night in Montreal (2015, Pan Macmillan)

256 pages

English language

Published Nov. 23, 2015 by Pan Macmillan.

ISBN:: 978-1-4472-8002-6

(11 reviews)

Lilia Albert has been leaving people behind for her entire life. She spends her childhood and adolescence traveling constantly and changing identities. In adulthood, she finds it impossible to stop. Haunted by an inability to remember her early childhood, she moves restlessly from city to city, abandoning lovers along with way, possibly still followed by a private detective who has pursued her for years. Then her latest lover follows her from New York to Montreal, determined to learn her secrets and make sure she s safe. Last Night in Montreal is a story of love, amnesia, compulsive travel, the depths and the limits of family bonds, and the nature of obsession. In this extraordinary debut, Emily St. John Mandel casts a powerful spell that captures the reader in a gritty, youthful world charged with an atmosphere of mystery, promise and foreboding where small revelations continuously change our understanding of the …

4 editions

Anne reviewed Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

My review

4 stars

Someone else wrote that her writing is like an art house movie, spare, elegant, elevating the mundane. That is part of the appeal for me. Lilia leaves Eli in Brooklyn just like she always leaves, without notice. She can't stay in one place because she doesn't know how; her childhood was spent endlessly travelling with her fugitive father. You find out why, you meet interesting people, you learn about dead languages and what it's like in Montreal in winter. Now I've read all her books and await the next which I think is due next year.

Vinjii reviewed Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

Review of 'Last Night in Montreal' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I'm currently reading every book St. John Mandel has ever written. I loved [b:Station Eleven|20170404|Station Eleven|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1451446835l/20170404.SX50_SY75.jpg|28098716], [b:The Glass Hotel|45754981|The Glass Hotel|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1564199892l/45754981.SX50.jpg|57817644], and [b:Sea of Tranquility|58446227|Sea of Tranquility|Emily St. John Mandel|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1626710416l/58446227.SX50.jpg|92408226]. Last Night in Montreal isn't quite in the same league and a bit rough around the edges.

If you're a fan of hers, please do read it. Her writing is skilled, and I love the way she's weaving her non-linear narratives, but if you're looking for your first St. John Mandel, pick up Station Eleven instead.