Lilia has been leaving people behind her entire life. Haunted by her inability to remember her early childhood, and by a mysterious shadow that seems to dog her wherever she goes, Lilia moves restlessly from city to city, abandoning lovers and friends along the way. But then she meets Eli, and he's not ready to let her go, not without a fight.
Gorgeously written, charged with tension and foreboding, Emily St. John Mandel's Last Night in Montreal is the story of a life spent at the centre of a criminal investigation. It is a novel about identity, love and amnesia, the depths and limits of family bonds and - ultimately - about the nature of obsession.
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[No one stays forever]***
(Picador, 12 March 2015, borrowed from my library)
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Last Night in Montreal is an intense read and I had a great time with this book.
I love the way Lilia's story is gradually unravelled, moving from the present and Eli's quest to find her when she leaves him to the past and gradually showing dark events from her past that caused her to become the kind of person who just leaves.
I found the chapters about Lilia's past engrossing. How could her father have kept her for so many years, constantly moving and not been caught? My heart went out to Lilia as she didn't have a very good life with him and it clearly affected her ability to form relationships and live a normal life.
The characters are all well-written, made of flesh and blood and easy to get behind. I sort of loved Lilia even though she's really messed up and appears to be suffering some form of PTSD.
Last Night in Montreal looks at obsession and I loved the way this theme is handled. Eli is obsessed with finding Lilia and making her stay. Lilia is obsessed with constantly moving before something or someone catches up with her. Christopher, the PI hired by Lilia's mother is also obsessed with her and its sort of creepy.
Last Night in Montreal is hugely enjoyable.