Review of The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel

The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read and thoroughly enjoyed Emily St. John Mandel's later works "Station Eleven" and "The Glass Hotel." When, at my local independent bookstore (Prairie Path Books), while checking out the post-holiday sale, I found this earlier book on offer I decided to read it. I found it interesting and revealing of an author's growth.

The book was originally published in 2012 and set during the financial crash of 2008, so it predates "Station Eleven." Like the later book, we see Emily's use of multiple point-of-view characters and flashbacks. The nominal protagonist is Gavin Sasaki, and according to the back-cover blurb he's a "promising young journalist" until he was fired for plagiarism. (Actually, he just made stuff up out of whole cloth.)

But Gavin's not really the protagonist. He doesn't do much - he observes and at times gets in the way, but the action of the book is performed by others. There is action - theft and murder - but Gavin's not doing it and frequently isn't even observing it. The people in the story are a rather sordid bunch as well, struggling to get by with low-end jobs in dead-end places.

The bones of Mandel's later and better novels are in this one, but the flesh isn't yet. Despite that I enjoyed the work and it will tide me over while I wait for her latest work to be released.



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