A review by yawnsbooks
Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel

dark emotional reflective slow-paced
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

“Stop looking for me. I’m not missing; I do not want to be found. I wish to remain vanishing. I don’t want to go home - Lilia” 
 
Just Finished Last in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel, which was a fantastic debut novel from one of my favourite authors. 
 
Lilia Albert is not able to stay in one place, and has been leaving people behind ever since she can remember. Leaving people and abandoning places drives her. This  story is what happens when one of her lovers, Eli, decides to follow her from New York to Montreal. 
 
The writing in this book is fantastic. It felt like reading poetry, especially with both Lilia and Eli’s characters being obsessed with dying, endangered, or extinct languages. 
 
This story explores themes of loss, loss, healing, memory, obsession, trauma, and the difficult choices people make to protect one another. 
 
Emily St. John Mandel excels in writing complex, lyrical stories from multiple perspectives and I can’t wait to read another of her books. 
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