Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Last Night in Montreal

3.47 of 5 stars 3.47 · rating details · 909 ratings · 257 reviews

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...more

Hardcover, 247 pages

Published June 3rd 2009 by Unbridled Books (first published 2009)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Best Books of 2009

453rd out of 1,225 books — 6,460 voters

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Great Debut Novels

403rd out of 667 books — 1,071 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 2,175)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Mar 23, 2010 Athira (Reading on a Rainy Day) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, fiction, f-literary

Intense! That's what I thought once I turned over the last page. I read this right after White Oleander, so my mind is now in a huge philosophical introspection phase!

My opinion
Last Night in Montreal is a story that masterfully interweaves several complex elements. Lilia has been traveling for years, ever since her father abducted her from her home, when she was seven. For a long time, Lilia and her father were on the road. They kept moving from town to town. Lilia soon learned to read a map, ho...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 15, 2009 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: y2009-text, indie-press

I am dumbfounded that this is a debut novel. The pacing is impeccable, the characters are intriguing and well developed. The details the author chooses to highlight are poetic and evocative, and the paragraphs are well crafted. My one critique (and this has nothing to do with the author) is that the cover image is a little TOO specific to the story. I might have chosen something from the earlier part of Lilia's story, like a stark motel room or the isolated payphone, something that captures a sp...more

4 likes · like · see review

Mar 10, 2009 Patrick Brown rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: best-of-2009

The best debut novel I've read in years. Mandel writes with confidence and creates compelling characters around dark secrets and half-forgotten memories. This is the kind of book that stays with you long after it's over.

5 likes · like · see review

Jan 20, 2013 Alisa Ridout rated it 4 of 5 stars

It was one A.M. in Café Depot and Eli is waiting for Michaela. He inadvertently thinks he hears a near-by table of girls mention Lilia’s name…he was wrong…they were speaking French and he was deprived of sleep and it was one in the morning. Yet another demonstration of Eli’s desperation and paranoia in his relentless pursuit of the elusive Lilia in Montreal. It turns out the girls were discussing Lillian Bouchard, not Lilia Albert.

Continued on page 162, Eli waits on Michaela every night at the C...more It was one A.M. in Café Depot and Eli is waiting for Michaela. He inadvertently thinks he hears a near-by table of girls mention Lilia’s name…he was wrong…they were speaking French and he was deprived of sleep and it was one in the morning. Yet another demonstration of Eli’s desperation and paranoia in his relentless pursuit of the elusive Lilia in Montreal. It turns out the girls were discussing Lillian Bouchard, not Lilia Albert.

Continued on page 162, Eli waits on Michaela every night at the Café Depot or he goes to Club Electrolite and waits on her in her dressing room. On page 163, Eli waits in Michaela’s dressing room and she asks him why he did not wait at the coffee shop. He remarks how cold it is and he mentions he is concerned about her having a place to sleep that morning. She is absorbed in finding her sleeping pills; apparently, she can sleep in a frozen drainage ditch so long as she has her meds.

Page 164, Michaela sleeps with a number of casual lovers or simply curls up in her corner of the dressing room to sleep.

Halfway into page 164, Eli offers his hotel room bed to Michaela but she refuses, “I don’t stay in hotel rooms.” She is somehow put-off by this remark as if he is offending her deliberate nomadic existence.

She goes on to say, “…she selected two bottles from the paper bag that Jacques had brought her and swallowed a pill from each. ‘I have to go up to the VIP lounge in an hour anyway. I think I’ll just sleep here tonight.’”

Tension builds in the conversation at this point between Eli and Michaela. Eli, being a nice person, wants to help a friend in need of a place to sleep, and to the contrary, Michaela senses it is not an offer without stipulations. Eli is infatuated with Lilia and vocalizes this fact so often that he ruins his chances with Michaela, who sent the post card invitation promising to reveal Lilia’s whereabouts if he came to Montreal for a visit. Oh, the games people play…

On the bottom of page 164, Eli stops on his way out of the dressing room and comments, “Did Lilia used to wait for you like this?”

Considering Eli’s last question about Lilia waiting on Michaela after hours at the club in her dressing room one has to wonder whether Elli is serious or just bored with life or is his character transforming into an insulting, annoying, albeit completely harmless stalking type? Is he innocent or is he menacing at this point? Is he not loitering night after night in Montreal using his connection to Lilia as a front for his own futility?

I wonder how long Lilia’s game of abandoning people will go on before some she cares deeply for abandons her leaving her feeling the pain she caused for others again and again throughout her life of endless wandering. When does she get a dose of her own medicine?

In the first paragraph on page 165, Eli’s motivations are sincere in his search of Lilia. The note he composes in the solitude of his hotel room in Montreal bears witness to the heartache Lilia caused when she walked out on him in Brooklyn. “…I wish I knew where you are tonight…the words brought her no closer to him.”

Eli’s pain dissipates as he writes his thoughts on the paper and throws them in the garbage. He is misunderstood and probably feels like a sap at this point.

(less)

like · see review

Sep 03, 2012 Steven Buechler rated it 5 of 5 stars

A great story dealing with: wandering, identity, lost friends, longing, and so much more.

Chapter 4:
There is a word in the Dakota language, gender-specific and untranslatable, that expresses the specific loneliness of mothers whose children are absent. Eli told Lila the word once when they were lying in bed together, and it was hard not to think of her mother when she heard it.
Lilia's mother said once in an interview that she wished she could forget her daughter. (The interview aired on Unsolved...more A great story dealing with: wandering, identity, lost friends, longing, and so much more.

Chapter 4:
There is a word in the Dakota language, gender-specific and untranslatable, that expresses the specific loneliness of mothers whose children are absent. Eli told Lila the word once when they were lying in bed together, and it was hard not to think of her mother when she heard it.
Lilia's mother said once in an interview that she wished she could forget her daughter. (The interview aired on Unsolved Cases. It's on record somewhere, although Lilia can't quite bring herself to watch it again.) It was a cruel thing to say, but touchingly pragmatic. She had a daughter who disappeared: this is the kind of catastophe that marks a person forever afterward, as indelibly as missing limb.
On the night her daughter disappeared it was late November, and a heavy snowfall had blanketed the lawn. Just before Lilia left the house for the last time a sound startled her out of sleep, or perhaps she was lying awake already. When the sound came again she climbed out of bed and went to the window, the floorboards cold beneath her feet. She opened the window and the air outside was exquisitely cold, the lawn brilliant with snow and moonlight, and beyond the lawn the forest rose up like a wall. Her breath was pale in the frozen air. Her father was standing in the snow beneath the window; he waved to her and smiled and pressed a finger to his lips. Shh. She turned back into the room, clutching her bunny (it was blue, and its eyes were startled round buttons that gleamed dark in the half light), and she made her way out into the silent hall. A bare floorboard creaked softly as she passed her half-brother's room. He lay still, but he wasn't sleeping, he listened to her footsteps recede unsteadily on the stairs. Lilia skipped the ninth stair which sometimes creaked and tiptoed through moonlight on the landing, the bannister railing at shoulder height. Down through the shadows of the living room, then the silent kitchen. She unlocked the front door and ran out barefoot into the snow.
He father cam forward to meet her; in a easy swooping movement he lifted her up into his arms, and she dropped the bunny as he feet left the ground. My lily, he kept saying, Lilia my dove . . . He hadn't seen her in almost a year and a half, but he remembered how to hold her so she wouldn't fall. He kept saying her name as he took her away from there, Lilia's bandaged arms around his neck and her heart beating fast against his shoulder. He carried her quickly across the lawn and into the forest where everything was silent and waiting and dark; the air was a little warmer here, and no snow penetrated the branches on the forest floor. The only snow here was on the driveway, a pale ribbon winding down between the trees. To her brother, watching from the window on the staircase landing, it was as though the forest closed behind them like a gate.
Far from the house, beyond the wall of the forest, a car started down by the road; Lilia's mother stirred uneasily in her sleep as it receded. Her brother turned away from the window and returned to his bed.
This was her escape. It was recorded in newspapers.(less)

like · see review

Jul 15, 2012 Lee Razer rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction

When I was a teenager my family took a trip up to Quebec on vacation one year. I came back home with a t-shirt that I often wore for many years that bore the province's motto - "Je me souviens", meaning "I remember". A touch ironic for me, not only because I refused to use any of my embarrassing high school level French while we were there, but also because I did not remember those French speaking Acadian ancestors of mine who were expelled from Canada after the British conquest in the 18th cent...more When I was a teenager my family took a trip up to Quebec on vacation one year. I came back home with a t-shirt that I often wore for many years that bore the province's motto - "Je me souviens", meaning "I remember". A touch ironic for me, not only because I refused to use any of my embarrassing high school level French while we were there, but also because I did not remember those French speaking Acadian ancestors of mine who were expelled from Canada after the British conquest in the 18th century and who were forced to flee to Louisiana. I found that history out later.

It's also ironic for one of the main characters in this fantastic debut novel. Lilia was abducted by her father from his ex-wife when she was seven. She does not remember her life in the small Quebec town near the American border before the abduction. She does not remember why she has these scars on her arms. She does not remember her mother. She does not remember why her half-brother tells her "never come home". She and her father spend the next nine years fleeing from Quebec - always traveling, changing names, hiding from discovery. It's an anxious way to live and grow up.

But she never felt at ease in the world. It couldn't be claimed that she was really a part of it, and from the specific night when her memories began (ice against window, lost bunny, snow), the traditions of the world were foreign to her. She picked up what she could from books and television shows, noting carefully the existence of two-parent families, houses, schools, family dogs, memorizing intriguingly home-specific phrases like latchkey kid and back garden and state-of-the-art kitchen appliances and basement. She moved over the surface of life the way figure skaters move, fast and choreographed, but she never broke through the ice, she never pierced the surface and descended into those awful beautiful waters, she was never submerged and she never learned to swim in those currents, these currents: all the shadows and light and splendorous horrors that make up the riptides of life on earth.

Then as a young woman she receives a letter from Montreal - come and I will tell you what you don't remember. It's information wanted for information to give. There will be remembering and wishing for never knowing. One person will emerge okay. One person will not. One person will be spun out by the chaotic turbulence unleashed.

Ultimately for me it's a sad novel, but well worth reading. I really felt for all of the characters in these pages; add to that success the wonderful writing and I was completely hooked into this one.(less)

like · see review

Jul 24, 2011 George Pence rated it 5 of 5 stars

I thought this was a terrific book.

Let's start with the premise, a young man in New York wakes up with the woman he loves, and whom he thinks he knows quite well. Then, in a way that is normal and routine, she announces she's going to pick up a few items at the corner store. However, she does not return. No note, no phone call, nothing. Soon he discovers that she's traveled to Montreal, but there's no evidence she plans to come back, or even that she plans to stay in Montreal.

Why?

I guarantee,...more

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 15, 2010 Mary rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Recommended to Mary by: someone was given it and loaned it to me; it wasn't recommended

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

Jun 05, 2010 Micheal Fraser rated it 5 of 5 stars

This novel is why I became a bookseller and why after 23 years I remain one. To come across a gem like this makes slogging through many many other books we read, ones that may be goodish,or ordinary or even bad, all worthwhile. Her voice captivated me from the start and the way the story unfolds kept me reading it compulsively.

I have started to read aloud to the dogs in the mornings (don't judge - I am not crazy but reading aloud makes me slow down and listen to the language) and started them on...more

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 28, 2010 Manda rated it 5 of 5 stars

When Lilia says she is stepping out for coffee and never returns, Eli does not imagine the past he will uncover when he searches for her. A mysterious postcard from Montreal sends Eli on a wild goose chase that introduces him to a strange girl named Michaela and a few stories neither of them are ready to hear. Filled with a broken past, lost loves, and crazy moments at every turn, Last Night In Montreal is a wild ride with an amazing twist.

I absolutely adored this book. This is Emily St. John Ma...more

2 likes · like · see review

Dec 20, 2009 Felicity rated it 2 of 5 stars

I'm reading books so rapidly at the moment that I feel like my standards for a good read are moving gradually higher. The other option is that there is just a lot of substandard manuscripts out there, they keep getting published, and I (foolishly) keep reading them. I certainly don't think anyone has to worry about the death of the book just yet, well, maybe only the death of the good book.

I finished this one a few days ago and I'm already struggling to remember what it was about which doesn't b...more

like · see review

Aug 02, 2009 Literary Feline rated it 4 of 5 stars

Last Night in Montreal is a rather melancholy tale set in the bitter cold of winter. But the author's writing has a softness to it, a gentleness that takes away the edge without losing any of the suspense or the strength of its message. Emily St. John Mandel has a way with words. Her writing is lyrical and yet simple.

On the outset, this may seem like Lilia's story. Her father kidnapped her when she was 7 years old, and, most of her life, she was on the run, traveling by car from town to town. Sh...more Last Night in Montreal is a rather melancholy tale set in the bitter cold of winter. But the author's writing has a softness to it, a gentleness that takes away the edge without losing any of the suspense or the strength of its message. Emily St. John Mandel has a way with words. Her writing is lyrical and yet simple.

On the outset, this may seem like Lilia's story. Her father kidnapped her when she was 7 years old, and, most of her life, she was on the run, traveling by car from town to town. She has no recollection of her life before her father whisked her away, much less of why her father took in the first place. Even after her father decided to set down roots, Lilia was unable to stop moving from place to place. She would make friends, sometimes take on lovers, and always she would leave, most often without a word of warning.

It was like that when she left Eli behind in New York. Eli had no idea that the morning he sat working on his long-overdue thesis would be the day she would disappear from his life. She had given no warning. After she left, he felt lost. A postcard from a stranger in Montreal spurred him into action. He would go to Montreal to make sure Lilia was okay.

All her life, Lilia had felt as if someone was watching her. And she was not have been wrong. When police failed to locate her, her mother hired a private investigator to track her down. The detective assigned the case became obsessed with finding Lilia to the detriment of his own family, including his daughter Michaela.

And while this is Lilia's story, it is also the story of Eli, Christopher and Michaela, all of whom are gliding through life, seeking something they aren't quite sure of. There is an underlying desperation within each of the characters, even the outwardly calm Lilia. Lilia has been chasing after her forgotten past while all the meanwhile running away from it. Eli feels stuck, living his life but not moving forward. He has been trying to write his thesis for years and continues to work in the same mindless job. Michaela longs for her absent father, jealous and angry of the time he has devoted to finding Lilia, a complete stranger. She was on her own from an early age, her parents absent for much of her life. Christopher's life was spiraling out of control before he took on the search for Lilia and her father. Lilia was someone he could latch onto, an anchor of sorts. She was a distraction that kept him from facing his own problems. Each of these four characters were lost, their paths intersecting--the key, being Lilia.

I was just as mesmerized by Lilia as the other characters in the book. There was a charm about her that drew people in. She was worldly and ever changing. She seemed to float through life, or as Lilia would say, "ice skate" through it. It is obvious the author took great care in creating the characters. They are vulnerable, and yet each carry within them a strength that keeps them going.

The city of Montreal made a fascinating character all her own. Not to mention it was the perfect setting for the story. Both Michaela and Eli are English speakers in a part of the town where French is the main language. Already feeling unsteady on their feet, they are even more isolated, more alone.

There was only one minor thread in the story that stretched my own suspension of disbelief almost to the breaking point, a part of Michaela's family's history. Eli's wonderment over it made it okay for me though. It is always interesting to me how that happens. If a character acknowledges the doubt I am feeling, however silly I am being, I find it easier to move past it and accept that which I doubted in the first place.

Told in third person, the novel flits back and forth between the past and present and between the characters. The changes are subtle, but I had no difficulty following each of the story threads. This is definitely a book that is more about the process, the journey that falls in between the beginning and the end. While certain aspects of the outcome may not be surprising, the way it comes together was completely unexpected. Last Night in Montreal was a pleasure to read. It was beautiful--poetic even--in writing and profound in scope.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Apr 28, 2009 Elevate Difference rated it 3 of 5 stars

Emily St. John Mandel’s premier novel, Last Night in Montreal, is a cocktail of neurotic travel, obsession, and misunderstandings. As a child, Lilia Albert’s father abducted her and crossed the Canadian-American border, taking her away from her mother and half-brother. Once in America, they never live in one city for too long for fear of being caught by the police. Most of Lilia’s childhood takes place in a series of road trips, aliases, and motel rooms. Years later, as a young adult and after b...more

1 like · like · see review

Apr 29, 2009 Violet Crush rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: i-own

Lilia is constantly running away, leaving behind places and people. She simply cannot make herself stay at one place; she has to keep moving. When the book opens, it’s Lilia’s last day with Eli in Brooklyn, her current boyfriend. Only Eli doesn’t know that. After the first chapter Lilia kind of disappears from the book only to appear at the end. The rest of the book is about Eli’s search for her and about Lilia’s past.

When Lilia was 7 years old, she was kidnapped by her father from her mother’s...more Lilia is constantly running away, leaving behind places and people. She simply cannot make herself stay at one place; she has to keep moving. When the book opens, it’s Lilia’s last day with Eli in Brooklyn, her current boyfriend. Only Eli doesn’t know that. After the first chapter Lilia kind of disappears from the book only to appear at the end. The rest of the book is about Eli’s search for her and about Lilia’s past.

When Lilia was 7 years old, she was kidnapped by her father from her mother’s house on a snow covered night. Lilia and her father keep traveling from one place to another for the fear of getting caught by the police. Lilia is still traveling when she is 15 years old. She has got used to this life. She has blocked out her past before her kidnapping and is quite happy the way she is. Lilia knows that her mother is searching for her, but she does not want to be found. She leaves a note in the bibles she finds in hotel rooms. She asks everyone to stop searching her and leave her alone.

Christopher is a private investigator her mother has hired to search Lilia. He gets so involved in Lilia’s case that he follows them for months leaving behind his crumbling marriage and his daughter who is more or less the same age as Lilia.

Eli reaches Montreal when he receives a note from someone named Michaela saying that Lilia is in Montreal and to come and get her as soon as possible.

For me this book was like a puzzle. Who was Michaela and how does she know Lilia? Why does she write to Eli? What happens to the detective? Does Eli find Lilia? Why does Lilia’s father kidnap her? And finally, will Lilia will ever be able to stop traveling and settle down?

This book had so many layers and emotions that it’s difficult to describe what exactly this book is about. All I can say is that I loved it. There is Eli who wants to find his love, Michaela who wants some answers and then there is the private investigator who watches his family fall apart in front of him but does not do anything about it. The writing is beautiful. For the sake of the review I was thinking about which sentences I should copy here. But then if I open to any page I am sure I will find something that I love. So I opened a random page and here it is. Something for you to see how beautiful and evocative the writing is.

"He stopped at a Don’t walk signal somewhere deep into Chinatown, waiting for the direction of traffic to change. A bottle had been smashed in the gutter. He stood staring at it for a while, the mesmerizing sparkle of broken glass. A van paused a beat too long in the intersection and was attacked by a blaring cacophony of car horns. The sound brought tears to his eyes. He stood on the corner while passersby streamed around him like ghosts and lights changed from green to red to yellow to green again and the stream of traffic before him continued unchecked. He looked down and flecks of glass on the pavement sparkled, like crystal, like ice, tears blurring the pinpoints of light. It was a long time before he could force himself into motion." (Quoted from an ARC)

I do have a complaint though. There was constant switch between places, characters and time in-between chapters. Every chapter was a leap in some way. If in one, Eli was searching for Lilia in the present, the next chapter is when Lilia is say 10 years old. The only problem I found with this approach is that it made the novel very easy to put down. But ‘Last night in Montreal’ has some memorable characters and even situations which will stay with long after you turn the last page.(less)

like · see review

Apr 22, 2009 Edan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think this is actually a 3.5 star book for me, but I am rounding up because it's a debut novel and shows the enormous skills of this young writer. I was really impressed with the structure of this book, which balances and braids multiple time frames and places. I read this in a few days and really enjoyed myself--the mystery and secrets build as the story goes on in such a delicious way!

My main critique of the book is that one of the story's main characters, or at the least the character we b...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 19, 2012 Eccentrika rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adult, drama, my-favorites

Leggere questo libro è come assistere ad un collage di immagini, suoni, emozioni. La forma narrativa è "strana", va avanti e indietro nel tempo, cambia punto di vista a capitoli alterni, insomma... detta così può sembrare un qualcosa di caotico, ma in realtà è un romanzo che mi è estremamente piaciuto, me ne sono innamorata! E' stato così diverso dalle mie aspettative e dai romanzi a cui sono abituata, che fin dalle prime pagine è riuscito totalmente a catturarmi. Lilia è una ragazza insolita, a...more Leggere questo libro è come assistere ad un collage di immagini, suoni, emozioni. La forma narrativa è "strana", va avanti e indietro nel tempo, cambia punto di vista a capitoli alterni, insomma... detta così può sembrare un qualcosa di caotico, ma in realtà è un romanzo che mi è estremamente piaciuto, me ne sono innamorata! E' stato così diverso dalle mie aspettative e dai romanzi a cui sono abituata, che fin dalle prime pagine è riuscito totalmente a catturarmi. Lilia è una ragazza insolita, abituata fin da bambina ad una vita "on the road", abituata a scappare da un posto all'altro, con un padre ricercato al suo fianco. Questi continui e incessanti spostamenti sono talmente un caposaldo della sua esistenza che anche da grande Lilia non riesce a smettere, e neanche la relazione con Eli la dissuade dal rimanere. La vita di Lilia, quel suo pattinare sopra al mondo senza mai sprofondarvi, si intreccerà indissolubilmente con l'esistenza di altre persone, le scombussolerà senza che lei nemmeno se ne accorga, ed il lettore assisterà impotente dinnanzi al susseguirsi di eventi che scaturiranno dalle sue fughe infinite.
"La musica delle parole" è un romanzo intenso, appassionante, poetico, nostalgico, vivido, che circonda il lettore in un aurea impalpabile e fino alle ultime pagine lascia con il fiato sospeso per la voglia di scoprire la verità. I tasselli del puzzle andranno al loro posto con lentezza, ma inesorabilmente e con la forza di un macigno in picchiata libera. Una storia introspettiva che affronta l'argomento dei legami familiari da un punto di vista insolito e oscuro, con un finale spiazzante che, nonostante appiani i dubbi, fa permanere la sensazione di indefinito, come se l'autrice avesse volutamente tralasciato qualcosa di importante.
Un libro oggettivamente inclassificabile, che non ha alcuna caratteristica affine ai "romanzi rosa" proposti di solito dalla collana Leggereditore, e, proprio per questa sua peculiarità, ancora più meritevole di essere letto.(less)

like · see review

Jun 16, 2009 Serena rated it 3 of 5 stars

Emily St. John Mandel's Last Night in Montreal reads like sketched notes in a private investigator's notebook. With chapters that alternate between the past and present and a variety of characters, readers will feel like they are investigating a child abduction case, while garnering a better understand of human motives and emotions.

"She'd been disappearing for so long that she didn't know how to stay." (Page 9 of the uncorrected proof)

Lilia Albert is abducted by her father, and as they move arou...more Emily St. John Mandel's Last Night in Montreal reads like sketched notes in a private investigator's notebook. With chapters that alternate between the past and present and a variety of characters, readers will feel like they are investigating a child abduction case, while garnering a better understand of human motives and emotions.

"She'd been disappearing for so long that she didn't know how to stay." (Page 9 of the uncorrected proof)

Lilia Albert is abducted by her father, and as they move around the United States in and out of hotels, her sense of home is vanquished. She no longer knows how to stop and settle into a "normal" life. As an adult she continues to move from place to place, carrying with her the only photograph from her past that she has--a Polaroid of her and a waitress. Lilia is a complex character, her emotions deep below the surface, and she meets a variety of people along the way--Eli, an art gallery salesman working on his thesis; Erica, a girl from Chicago with blue hair; and Michaela, an exotic dancer and part-time tightrope walker from Montreal.

"She came out all dressed in black, as she almost always did, and carrying the three pieces of plate that had fallen off the bed the night before; it was a light shade of blue, and sticky with pomegranate juice." (Page 2 of the uncorrected proof)

Mandel peppers each chapter with just enough description and information to keep the pages turning, as readers strive to uncover the moment when Lilia's life changed and why it changed. But this mystery is more than what happens to Lilia, it's about how an obsession can rip apart a private investigator's family, encourage an ex-lover to step outside his comfort zone, and the myriad ways in which humans react to disturbing events from the past.

"Lilia's childhood memories took place mostly in parks and public libraries and motel rooms, and in a seemingly endless series of cars. Mirage: she used to see water in the desert. In the heat of the day it pooled on the highway, and the horizon broke into shards of white. There was a map folded on the dashboard, but it was fading steadily under the barrage of light; Lilia was supposed to be the navigator but entire states were dissolving into pinkish sepia, the lines of highways fading to gray. The names of certain cities were indistinct now along the fold, all the borders were vanishing." (Page 7 of the uncorrected proof)

Readers will itch to reach the resolution of this abduction case, not only to discover why Lilia's father took her from her mother and brother, but also to see Lilia recover many of her earlier memories settled behind the dust kicked up by her continuous travels. The one minor drawback could be the chapters featuring the private detective and his obsessive pursuit of Lilia and her father even when he no longer desires their capture; these chapters dispel some of the suspense built up in previous chapters. However, Eli, Michaela, and Lilia's story lines twist and mingle throughout the novel, and Mandel does well shifting between points of view. Last Night in Montreal is not a typical mystery, but still satisfying.

(less)

like · see review

Sep 19, 2011 Elyse rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm in *aw* of this new young author. She's intriguing to me. Her book was beautifully written (SO CLEAN ---not filled extra junk). At times, I read her sentences 'over & over', (almost a poetic style)--- JUST lovely choice of words!

"Her voice was somnambulant" ....."her voice was a current through fitful dreams" ----[well, I'll tell ya....I had my own 'nightmare'---involving rushing waters-- after thinking about this section of the book]....NO KIDDING--- Then restless sleep ---(woke thinki...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 25, 2011 Tess Malone rated it 4 of 5 stars

Last Night in Montreal is a novel full of loners, lost causes, infatuation disguised as love and vice versa, broken families, bitter cold, unknowable secrets, and betrayal. It all starts on a cold midnight in Quebec when seven-year-old Lilia is abducted by her father, taken across the border, and on a Lolita style roadtrip across the U.S. that she cannot shake even fourteen years later. She leaves lovers in every city, except one of them cannot leave her and tracks her down to Montreal. Equally...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 14, 2011 Keirstan rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian, contemporary, fiction

Emily St. John Mandel’s Last Night in Montreal is a book I was prepared to love. The novel came to me under the best of circumstances: remembered while perusing the excellently stocked shelves of Los Angeles’s landmark bookstore Skylight Books on vacation earlier this month. I was hooked as I started reading on the drive back to Phoenix, but unfortunately, as the plot wore on and I transitioned out of vacation mode, the novel steadily lost its appeal. An interesting premise and well-executed mys...more Emily St. John Mandel’s Last Night in Montreal is a book I was prepared to love. The novel came to me under the best of circumstances: remembered while perusing the excellently stocked shelves of Los Angeles’s landmark bookstore Skylight Books on vacation earlier this month. I was hooked as I started reading on the drive back to Phoenix, but unfortunately, as the plot wore on and I transitioned out of vacation mode, the novel steadily lost its appeal. An interesting premise and well-executed mystery kept me on until the end, but ultimately, St. John Mandel’s debut effort is plagued by a lack of character development and the overuse of clichés about youth and growing up.

Last Night in Montreal opens with Eli, a frustrated graduate student in his late twenties working on an interminable thesis on dead and dying languages. Without warning, Eli’s capricious girlfriend, Lilia, leaves him and he is left to get over the loss in the midst of his increasingly dissatisfying life. After an illuminating conversation with his mother on the arrested state of his life and studies, Eli decides to take action and travel north from Brooklyn to Montreal, where he has been told Lilia now resides. What follows is the story of the enigmatic Lilia and the cast of characters whose lives become intertwined to the point of obsession with her own.

Undoubtedly the best part of this novel is the steadily revealed mystery of Lilia’s youth. There are many questions about her peculiar past and St. John Mandel answers them expertly over the course of the last three-quarters of the novel. As the mystery unfolds, the author also explores the dynamic theme of “leaving”. For Lilia, leaving is a way of life. Because she has no memory of ever staying in one place, she is unable to contend with the idea of doing so as an adult. Eli, however, believes leaving to be a demonstration of one’s worldliness and maturity. In fact, the individuals that Eli admires most are his traveling missionary brother Zed and the wayfaring Lilia. Though Lilia and Eli have opposing views on the concept of leaving, contending with it for both of them is a large part of growing up.

While I found the mystery of Last Night in Montreal to be engaging, unfortunately, certain flaws in the novel marred my overall opinion of it. St. John Mandel’s characters are young and quirky, but they are also flat. Each character enters the novel with a host of flaws and leaves it resolving very few of them. St. John Mandel also makes heavy use of certain clichés about youth that caused me to roll my eyes after more than a few passages. The recurring setting of the coffeehouse and the appearance of characters like the Dostoevsky-reading bouncer, came off as indulgent and reminded me that this is indeed the author’s first novel.

While there is some good writing to be found in Last Night in Montreal, overall, I found the novel disappointing. I will be interested, however, to hear others’ opinions on this new writer.(less)

like · see review

Oct 21, 2010 Kirby rated it 3 of 5 stars

This month, my book club read Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel. I kind of hated it for the first 50 pages– mostly because it was following a do-nothing twenty-something living in Williamsburg, who was having a crisis over the fact that he couldn’t finish his thesis on dead languages and felt no fulfillment working part-time in a pretentious art gallery. Then, he meets this girl, and she’s so “different from everyone else”–she’s a dishwasher, but she knows 4.5 languages, reads vora...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 05, 2010 Emily rated it 3 of 5 stars

"Last Night in Montreal" is the story of several dysfunctional characters. Lilia is abducted at age 7 by her father, who did not have custody of her. She and her father spend the next 9 years traveling from place to place avoiding investigators. It comes as no surprise that as an adult Lilia is incapable of staying in one place for too long. She roams the country, leaving a trail of jilted lovers in her wake. Which brings us to Eli, an untethered intellectual who inexplicably cannot let go of Li...more

like · see review

Nov 08, 2010 Sally rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book has some ideas that interest me about thoughts expressed specific to cultures and therefore to those languages, about being isolated if you don't speak the predominant language, and about the isolation of having been brought up rootless. I enjoyed half of the story, half of the characters, those who were running away. The other half, the ones pursuing, I couldn't like. I couldn't understand the motivation and why they were cast as having been circus people. It seemed to me that the rea...more

like · see review

Oct 16, 2010 Andrea rated it 2 of 5 stars

Last Night in Montreal is forgettable for the most part.

The story is about a girl named Lilia who is in her early twenties and has a habit of vanishing. She tells her boyfriend, Eli, that she will leave him one day and disappear. Despite this knowledge, Eli asks Lilia to move in with him, and five months later she leaves "to buy the newspaper" and never comes back.

Eli is deeply upset by Lilia's leaving and decides to try and find her. Which is strange to me, considering he doesn't love her and...more Last Night in Montreal is forgettable for the most part.

The story is about a girl named Lilia who is in her early twenties and has a habit of vanishing. She tells her boyfriend, Eli, that she will leave him one day and disappear. Despite this knowledge, Eli asks Lilia to move in with him, and five months later she leaves "to buy the newspaper" and never comes back.

Eli is deeply upset by Lilia's leaving and decides to try and find her. Which is strange to me, considering he doesn't love her and hardly knows her at all. He even admits that she is a mystery to him but he likes her company. Lilia is a traveler who has never lived anywhere more than six or seven months. She knows five different languages and has dual citizenship in both the States and Canada, so she could be nearly anywhere (be it to live or just visit). Eli's best friend tries to talk him out of searching for Lilia, and then Eli receives a mysterious postcard from someone named Michaela who tells him to come to Montreal if he wants to see Lilia.

Eli is dumb enough to do just that--well knowing that Lilia won't return with him. And, when he gets to Montreal, Michaela won't tell Eli where he is for nearly two weeks anyways. She wants him to tell her a secret about Lilia that Lilia refused to tell her. When Eli finally does tell Michaela, she admits she doesn't know where Lilia is.

The chapters weave between Eli's search, Lilia's past and why she has made a habit of vanishing and being invisible, and we also follow the story of the detective who has been following her for fifteen years, as well as the story of Michaela (who is the detective's daughter).

Confusing? Yes, sometimes it really is. The problem with St. John Mandel's writing is that she weaves all of these characters' stories together, and brings their chapters into the book out of chronological order, so we will read about present day Eli in one chapter, then seven year old Lilia in the next, we'll read about the detective's cheating wife in the following pages, and then we'll learn that Michaela likes to secretly practice tightrope walking without a safety net over cobblestones late at night. It's ridiculous. But somehow, the story manages to work--but only at times. I spent most of my time scratching my head and wondering why any of these "clues" about the characters are important.

The problem with the book and the writing is that I didn't care about any of the characters enough to really want to follow them throughout the story, or learn more about their histories and how they connect. The only reason I completed the book is because my book club is reading it for the month. Blah. What a waste of time.(less)

like · see review

Mar 06, 2010 Suzanne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Last Night in Montreal is full of disappearances. A seven-year-old girl is abducted by her father in the middle of the night, leaving only footprints in the snow. A wife and mother gives her husband a cake, and then disappears. Languages become extinct.

St. John Mandel has a quirky, delicate voice. Although some elements in this story of a girl-gone-missing and the people who follow her strain credulity (is it really possible to live in a place for 20 years and not pick up the basics of the langu...more

like · see review

Jul 14, 2009 Laura de Leon rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

This was a beautiful book that pulled me into the lives of the characters.

I was fascinated by Lilia's childhood on the run, in seeing the effect on her as an adult, and puzzling the reasons behind what had happened to her.

I was hooked on this book when Eli explained his interest in dead and dying languages. Eli's character was lost-- not sure where he was going with his own life. When Lilia steps into his life, then back out again, he wants to help her, and to make sure she is OK. He pursues her...more

like · see review

Jul 14, 2011 Sushila rated it 3 of 5 stars

It was fun to read Last Night in Montreal, the work of a young, new author. I absolutely loved the first few chapters of the book. The prose seemed fresh and the concept original. Although the writing was detailed, it was also fast-paced. I think Mandel did a wonderful job portraying Eli, although I guess he was the most "normal" of the main characters.

As the novel progressed, it was still enjoyable and I was very motivated to keep reading. However, while Mandel's writing was still skillful, it...more

like · see review

Mar 16, 2011 C. Michael Massey rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Truthfully, I didn't really get into Last Night in Montréal until I was over halfway through it. True, there was intrigue from the first few pages, but I didn't develop enough of an emotional interest in the characters for me to really care about their mysteries and distress for another hundred or so pages. Until that point, reading was more or less drudgery.

The plot of the novel itself is at least partially responsible, as the revelation of the suspense that pushes the work relentlessly forward...more

like · see review

Jun 04, 2010 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

I started this book on the beach in Cuba and the beginning didn't really catch my attention until I returned and really got into it. A suspenseful story, deep characters, beautifully descriptive language, identifiable themes...this book has it all. Except for the ending, it definitely didn't satisfy me as much as I was hoping it would.

Here is a part that i particularly liked:

How deep in our genes is the longing for flight embedded? We always were a species of nomads. Eli found it easy to imagin...more

like · see review

Jun 20, 2009 Tamara rated it 4 of 5 stars

The plot of this book was outstanding, as was its craftsmanship in structure. The novel juxtaposes the childhood experiences of a girl continuously changing identities while on the run with her non-custodial father after he abducts her, with the impacts this case has on the adults involved. This is a strong showing for a first novel. However, it is also marked with some of the flaws common to author's initial efforts. It can be heavy-handed at times (i.e. the name of the town where Lilia & h...more

1 like · like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 72 73 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
ELEVEN READERS CL...: Barriers- A Video Retell	1	7	9 de Jun 14:25
ELEVEN READERS CL...: A Vital Plunge, a Neglected Skim	1	7	4 de Jun 14:42
ELEVEN READERS CL...: A Vital Plunge; a Neglected Skim	1	1	4 de Jun 14:36
Last Night in Montreal - Update #5 - pages 201-247	1	5	26 de Abr 09:27
ELEVEN READERS CL...: Last Night in Montreal - Update #4 - pages 151-200	1	4	24 de Abr 14:56
ELEVEN READERS CL...: Last Night in Montreal - Update # 3 - pages 101-150	1	3	21 de Abr 09:05
ELEVEN READERS CL...: Last Night in Montreal - Update #2 - pages 51-100	1	3	19 de Abr 09:26

combine
Other Editions (8)

More editions...

Genres

Cultural > Canada

11 users

Mystery

11 users

Book Club

10 users

Contemporary

6 users

Novels

5 users

Literature

4 users

Adult Fiction

4 users

Family

3 users

Thriller > Mystery Thriller

3 users

Drama

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Miss Hargreaves
by Frank Baker
Instead of a Letter: A Memoir
by Diana Athill
Woodsburner
by John Pipkin
Blood Harvest
by S.J. Bolton
The Origin of Species: a Novel
by Nino Ricci

About Emily St. John Mandel

Emily St. John Mandel was born on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. She studied dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre and lived briefly in Montreal before relocating to New York.

Her new novel, The Lola Quartet, was recently published by McArthur & Company (Canada) and Unbridled Books (US), and is the #1 Indie Next Pick for May 2012. Her two previous novels are Last Night In M...more

More about Emily St. John Mandel...

Books by Emily St. John Mandel

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Last Night in Mon...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Last Night in Montreal

“Forever is the most dizzying word in the English language. The idea of staying in one place forever was like standing at the border of a foreign country, peering over the fence and trying to imagine what life might be like on the other side, and life on the other side was frankly unimaginable.” — 6 people liked it

“She slipped so easily into the folds of his life” — 2 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Last Night in Montreal
avg rating	preview: Last Night in Montreal Goodreads rating: 3.47 (909 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6105964-last-night-in-montreal?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328694897l/6105964.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6105964-last-night-in-montreal?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel[/url]

Last Night in Montreal

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website