Emily St. John Mandel has become an author like John Green or Liane Moriarty for me — I read her first book and adored it, so I sought out her earlier books and remain largely disappointed. Of the three I’ve read by her — Station Eleven, Last Night in Montreal and now The Singer’s Gun — this book definitely disappointed and irritated me the most.
Anton Waker grew up with parents who ran a store filled with stolen goods, and a little bitch of a cousin (with whom he implies that he fell in love at a young age — I cannot understand why, she’s awful) who steals at every opportunity — including from his “best friend’s” parents’ bodega. Anton turns into an unhappy young man (shocking!) with a forged degree from Harvard and an even unhappier fiancee (she cancels their wedding twice, finally marries him then gets abandoned on their honeymoon — I’d be unhappy, too). When his office runs a background check on him, his past gets flagged — but instead of firing him, they stick him in an dead files room to rot (and fuck his secretary) while the government investigates his family.
I…I did not like a single person in this book. They’re all liars, cheaters, thieves, etc. Anton ends up staying on this island in the Mediterranean when his honeymoon is over — then we never see his unhappy fiancee/wife again. He’s waiting on the island because the bitchy cousin wants him to receive a package, so he just kind of wanders around and complains the whole time. Meanwhile, back in the US, his secretary/girlfriend (who also has a boyfriend that’s cheating on because his antidepressants make him impotent, so it’s okay…see, these people really ARE all terrible!) makes whiny noises about informing on his previous criminal activities (making fake passports/social security cards) to the government. And there’s a whole thing about these girls being brought over from Russia in shipping containers, and one dies, which sets a lot of this off — but all this serves to do is make Anton and bitchy cousin even more unlikable.
Don’t bother with this one.
