The Lola Quartet

Written by Emily St. John Mandel

Narrated by Morgan Hallett

Gavin Sasaki is a promising young journalist in New York City, until he' s fired in disgrace following a series of unforgivable lapses in his work. It' s early 2009, and the world has gone dark very quickly; the economic collapse has turned an era that magazine headlines once heralded as the second gilded age into something that more closely resembles the Great Depression. The last thing Gavin wants to do is return to his hometown of Sebastian, Florida, but he' s drifting toward bankruptcy and is in no position to refuse when he' s offered a job by his sister, Eilo, a real estate broker who deals in foreclosed homes.
Eilo recently paid a visit to a home that had a ten-year-old child in it, a child who looks very much like Gavin and who has the same last name as Gavin' s high school girlfriend Anna, whom Gavin last saw a decade ago. Gavin-- a former jazz musician, a reluctant broker of foreclosed properties, obsessed with film noir and private detectives-- begins his own private investigation in an effort to track down Anna and their apparent daughter who have been on the run all these years from a drug dealer from whom Anna stole $121,000.
In her most ambitious novel yet, Emily Mandel combines her most fully realized characters with perhaps her most fully developed story that examines the difficulty of being the person you'd like to be, loss, the way a small and innocent action (e.g., taking a picture of a girl in a foreclosed house) can have disastrous consequences. The Lola Quartet is a work that pays homage to literary noir, is concerned with jazz, Django Reinhardt, economic collapse, love, Florida' s exotic wildlife problem, crushing tropical heat, the leavening of the contemporary world, compulsive gambling, and the unreliability of memory.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books Audio
• Release date: Jan 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781464044977

Emily St. John Mandel

Emily St. John Mandel was born in Canada and studied dance at The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. Her novels are Last Night in Montreal, The Singer’s Gun, The Lola Quartet, Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel. She lives in New York City.

Reviews for The Lola Quartet

[baystatera · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The third novel by Canadian-American author Emily St. John Mandel, The Lola Quartet is composed of vignettes, whose order at first appears random and tangential, before their connections and intersections gradually become apparent. Ten years after high school graduation, when they dissolved the Lola Quartet and went their separate ways, the four former members of the prize-winning high school jazz ensemble – Gavin, Daniel, Sasha, and Jack – are brought back into tangential contact with each other through their connection to Sasha’s younger half-sister – the tough, vulnerable, and elusive Anna.The novel’s structure and style seems inspired by the style of quick-shifting gypsy jazz music, as performed by the real-life master guitarist Django Reinhart, who is idolized by Liam Deval, one of the many musicians in the novel. Here’s the description, from early in the book, of Liam Deval’s jazz guitar duo that Gavin is listening to after his life has imploded. Gavin has a sense that these performances he is witnessing are momentous, but doesn’t know that Liam Deval plays another role in his story, as well:"Arthur Morelli was older, an unsmiling man in his late thirties or early forties who played with a heavy swing. In his solos he wheeled out into wild tangents, he pushed the music to the edge before he came back to the rhythm. Liam Deval looked about Gavin’s age, late twenties or early thirties, the star of the show: a perfect counterpoint to Morelli, all shimmering arpeggios and light sharp tones. Gavin had never seen anyone’s hands move so quickly. His skill was astonishing. Jazz slipped into gypsy music and back again, a thrilling hybrid form. Gavin knew it wasn’t new, what they were doing, but it was the first time he’d encountered it live."The Lola Quartet’s structure of intersecting stories building atmospheric tension reminded me of Dan Chaon’s Await Your Reply. If you liked Await Your Reply, you should definitely add The Lola Quartet to your to-read list.Read complete review at Bay State Reader's Advisory blog.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another fascinating and intricate novel from this excellent author that kept me reading far later into the night than I probably should have done.

[janeajones · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The title of The Lola Quartet references a musical group in an arts-oriented high school in the small town of Sebastian, Florida. The novel opens in 2009 about 10 years after the quartet has graduated and gone their separate ways, only to be inextricably linked back in Sebastian.The novel unfolds as a mystery through flashbacks and investigations with a murky Florida-noir atmosphere. Sebastian is a real place in east-central Florida, but the novel seems to put it much closer to the Everglades with invasive boas and iguanas arising out of the swamps. But the drugs, the real estate foreclosures, and the danger hanging over a general apathy ring true. I was riveted, but never truly moved.

[meredy_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Six-word review: Interwoven threads of causality govern lives.Extended review:The Lola Quartet is the third of the four novels that Emily St. John Mandel has published so far, and for me it's the last one read. Not as strong as the other three, in my estimation, it still has most of the same traits that made the others so good, including a main character situated in a strange complex of circumstances and an admirable degree of skill in managing intertwined plotlines.Gavin Sasaki, once a member of a high school jazz quartet, has sabotaged his journalistic career by some bad decisions and has to crawl home to Florida just as the economy is taking a plunge. When he finds out that his high school girlfriend, Anna, had had a child that was probably his, a chain of events unfolds that brings him back into contact with the other members of the quartet--and puts him in the path of a ruthless drug dealer out for revenge against Anna. The story could be a cautionary tale about living with the consequences of our worst choices, but Mandel's storytelling art clothes the lessons with the skins and psyches of believable people. It's one of her gifts to show us characters who inhabit very weird situations and yet seem like ordinary, flawed beings to whom we can relate.I liked the depiction of Anna's half-sister Sasha, once the band's drummer, now a waitress, who has become a gambler struggling to master her compulsion. Her condition gives Mandel a chance to voice a minority view on addiction:She'd known that this was her last chance and she'd fought every day since then to not gamble, but she could never bring herself to think of it as a disease. She'd had arguments with William about it."If I had pneumonia," she'd said, "I wouldn't be able to will myself to get better. There's no such thing as Pneumonia Anonymous. There's a difference between a disease and a character flaw.""It's thinking like that that keeps treatment programs underfunded," he'd said, and changed the subject. (page 193)Mandel has a good author's talent for making the course of events seem natural and inevitable without being predictable. The result is a suspenseful novel that comes together with a solid bang. To me the weakness is mostly in the fact that I simply don't find Gavin as interesting as the main characters in her other novels, and his quest to find his daughter doesn't feel to me like the sort of compelling passion that drives large actions at the core of great novels.Nonetheless, I'm in Mandel's corner and will be looking forward to reading whatever she writes next.

[eyejaybee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Until late January I had never heard of Emily St John Mandel. Now I have read four amazing novels by her and she is firmly established among my favourite authors. 'The Lola Quartet' is her third novel, published in 2012, and is probably the weakest of the four, though that still leaves plenty of scope for it to be exceptionally good.The Lola Quartet of the title is a jazz band formed of pupils in their last year in high school in Sebastiana, Florida, and their final concert is the occasion for event that will reverberate for all of them throughout the next ten years. The novel resonates with a rich melange of themes ranging from teenage love, hope, despair, fear, mental fragility, gambling addiction, substance abuse, drug dealing, music and murder. Mandel adroitly moves between the present and various points during the previous ten years. Beyond their membership of the quartet the four members have relatively little in common and are all set to go their different ways after leaving school. The book initially focuses on Gavin who, after having secured a place at the prestigious Ivy League Columbia University, is now a reporter in New York. Gavin is now living alone after his long term girlfriend Karen had left him a short time ago. A chance assignment leads Gavin to return to Florida for the first time in several years. There he meets his sister Eilo (short for Eileen) who shows him a photograph that she had recently taken of a girl who looks just like she had done when she was that age. Gavin is intrigued and wonders whether the girl might be his daughter, from his girlfriend during his last year in school. This precipitates a series of memories of Gavin's final weeks at school, and also starts to have a deleterious effect on his work. Meanwhile the focus moves to the other former members of the Lola Quartet who have all led rather hectic lives since leaving school.The plotting is tense, gripping and always plausible. Mandel has a great facility for conveying the seedier aspects of life without glorification or condescension - this is how some people live, so get over it, she seems to say, though that does not preclude her characters from viewing aspects of that lifestyle with searing squeamishness. Her dialogue is always vibrant but somehow immensely believable, and she captures all the different voices with a deft ear.

[scolgo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The title refers to a high-school band. On the night of their final gig, as their senior year is winding down, the trumpet-player's girlfriend disappears amid rumors of pregnancy. Ten years later, Gavin (the trumpet player), having moved to New York to pursue a career in journalism, gets an assignment to return to his Florida hometown to do a story. He meets up with his sister, who shows him a photograph she took of a 10-year old girl that looks exactly like she did at that age. The taking of that photo has set events into motion that sheds light onto semi-forgotten mysteries. Subsequently illuminated is an incredible story involving stolen drug money, broken lives, faulty memory, addiction, violence, and murder.This is the 2nd Mandel book I have read and, once again, her characters are what carry the narrative. Believable and sympathetic, Gavin, Anna, Sasha, Daniel, and Jack - all of them grown into less than their dreams - pull you along as their relationships and intertwined stories are revealed. Gritty and real, this is a slow-burn, noir-ish tale reminiscent of a Cohen brothers film.

[elastic.ella · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was not a suspenseful mystery as it was described; instead it’s a drama examining a set of friends’ past and current lives. Between a runaway, theft, and a pregnancy kept secret- their connections to one another have become quite convoluted.Had I realized quite how much emphasis was placed on the drama rather than the noir mystery aspect, I probably wouldn’t have chosen this book. As it was, I apathetically trudged through this book. I didn’t find any of the main characters particularly interesting or likable, and they only seemed like full characters towards the end; I was rather happy when one character was rightfully fired from his job. Mandel would often switch the point of view between characters, so that the reader knows practically everything that’s going on. The very first chapter starts off with some suspense, but it isn’t maintained. The plot tended to wander into dramatic mundanities, and the most interesting bits of the protagonist thinking like a detective weren’t as strong, as the reader knew far more than the protagonist. There was one interesting conversation between two characters about justifying murder, but it’s not discussed at length or any great depth. The language was easy to read, and there were quite a few references to pieces of music that amused me. Thus far, many other readers have enjoyed this book, but it simply wasn’t my cup of tea.Nibble: “For a moment he was flattered that they’d called him a star journalist, then he realized they just meant he’d been a journalist for the Star.”I would recommend this to someone who enjoys simple dramas. I received an advanced free copy of this book from the publishers, Unbridled,via NetGalley.

[voracious_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a novel about four high school friends who went their separate ways after their jazz quartet disbanded. Years later, after Gavin's sister sees a child who looks just like him, Gavin wonders if his old high school girlfriend had a baby and didn't tell him. Compelled to find this child he believes may be in danger, and in the wake of the highly publicized self-destruction of his career, Gavin returns to his hometown in Florida. Unbeknownst to Gavin, his old friends have kept secrets from him regarding his girlfriend and the birth of her child. As Gavin tracks down the clues to uncover the truth, he inadvertently sets into motion a series of events which place his friends and the child in jeopardy. Told from multiple perspectives and different periods of time, this novel questions the strength of old friendships and past secrets, which may be best left alone.I enjoyed this novel, primarily because the writing style I enjoyed from "Station Eleven" was also present in this earlier work from the author. It was a quick read and I enjoyed the suspense I experienced worrying for the characters' safety. However, it was also a dark novel, which was only partially balanced with the thrill of the music described throughout. I found it interesting that the author chose to focus on the music as a primary element given the focus on Shakespeare and the Traveling Symphony in "Station Eleven". In all, a good read.

[pmackey_11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If someone asked me to summarize the theme of "The Lola Quartet", I’d say there are two that I found: First, choice and consequences; and second, life after high school never lives up to our teen expectations. "The Lola Quartet" presents characters that have made various choices, many originating in high school, and the consequences that unfold and interweave. The second theme, high school expectations, was depressing because it reminded me vividly of what I think we generally expect upon graduation. We have big plans and we hope to make a mark in our world. After graduation, though, most of us get smacked in the face by reality and are reminded of how relatively unimportant we are. This is the second book I’ve read by Emily St John and I look forward to reading more. She has a way of dealing with characters -- even unlikeable ones -- that gets my interest and keeps me reading long after I should have turned out the light. "The Lola Quartet" has haunted me since I finished it (about three weeks ago). I relive the parts I enjoyed and still get upset with parts I didn’t. That my thoughts keep returning to the book is for me one of the marks of a good book.I initially gave the book four out of five stars because of the intense impact on my imagination. I’ve subsequently been tempted to revise the rating to three and a half stars because frankly I disagreed with the ending. I would have liked to see a more (for me) satisfying resolution. In the end, I’ve stayed with four stars because the novel has been thought-provoking.Based on “Station Eleven” and “The Lola Quartet”, I can’t wait to read more by Emily St John Mandel.

[markpsadler · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

There’s no going back. Once high school is over, just like Bruce Springsteen says, there’s nothing but ‘glory days,’ rehashing what might have been. The Lola Quartet gave their last performance of the year from the back of the truck and that too was when Gavin last saw his wannabe-girlfriend, Anna, as she stood in the outskirts of the woods. He looked for her but she was just gone. Rumors that she was pregnant where supposedly authenticated when his band mate and best friend Daniel disappeared about the same time.
They all moved on but Gavin more than the others. He got the college degree that sent him to New York to work as a high-powered journalist. Addicted to the infamy, he started glamorizing his stories with quotes that he thought his boring subjects could have said ignoring their real world answers, until the inevitable happened and he had to leave, head hung low.
The shame took him home to swampy steamy Florida from where he escaped to avoid the omnipresent heat. His sister found him work with her firm, flipping homes going into foreclosure, and also showed him a photograph she took of a ten-year-old girl, the spitting image of Gavin; no mistaking the Japanese ancestry. Daniel is now a small town cop, Anna’s sister Sasha works nights in the town diner, and the last member of the band, Jack is living a drug-addled life in a tent in a friend’s back yard. Gavin uses the skills he learned as a top-notch reporter to put together the big picture and track down what appears to be the daughter he never knew about.
The lives the four led since high school took them down paths no one could have imagined, and what Gavin learns shocks and scares him to the core. Be prepared to be surprised.

[jaylia3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

2014’s Station Eleven captivated me with its story of life after a pandemic flu caused the collapse of society, and The Lola Quartet, an earlier novel by the same author, shares many of Station Eleven’s story elements, including a life during crisis theme, though here the disasters are on a smaller scale. Gavin is unsettled by the news that he may have fathered a daughter by a troubled high school girlfriend who disappeared--so unsettled he makes mistakes that sabotage his NYC career as a reporter, though print journalism is in its death throes anyway and his paper shut down not long after he was fired. He moves back to Florida because an economic crash similar to (or the same as) the one of 2007-2008 has created a job opportunity for him with his sister, whose work involves foreclosing on homes--she has to use a punching bag to work off the stress. In his free time Gavin uses his investigative skills to try to find his old girlfriend and his daughter. It’s a fraught enterprise, and he’s warned off it at every turn, but locating his missing daughter is not something Gavin can let go of. In the process he reconnects with the other members of his high school jazz quartet--his girlfriend’s half-sister was the drummer--but everyone’s life has changed drastically since the almost magical evening of their final concert outdoors on the back of a truck, and no one seems able or willing to help him. As in Station Eleven there are several third person narrators, the writing is beautiful and evocative, and the story is riveting, moving, and complex. Both novels unfold while shifting back and forth in time, revealing information slowly--a technique that irritates me in some books, but author Emily St. John Mandel makes it feel artful. Though The Lola Quartet doesn’t involve the almost total disintegration of civilization, strangely it’s a darker, less hopeful tale than Station Eleven, with moral dilemmas and needless but inevitable tragedy giving it an uncompromising, maybe noirish feel.

[anneearney · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This was a quick read, but didn't really move me. The characters, setting and story were all fairly distinct and memorable, but for me that little spark of magic was missing and in the end, I didn't care all that much what happened.

[munchingontheapple · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This was not a suspenseful mystery as it was described; instead it’s a drama examining a set of friends’ past and current lives. Between a runaway, theft, and a pregnancy kept secret- their connections to one another have become quite convoluted.Had I realized quite how much emphasis was placed on the drama rather than the noir mystery aspect, I probably wouldn’t have chosen this book. As it was, I apathetically trudged through this book. I didn’t find any of the main characters particularly interesting or likable, and they only seemed like full characters towards the end; I was rather happy when one character was rightfully fired from his job. Mandel would often switch the point of view between characters, so that the reader knows practically everything that’s going on. The very first chapter starts off with some suspense, but it isn’t maintained. The plot tended to wander into dramatic mundanities, and the most interesting bits of the protagonist thinking like a detective weren’t as strong, as the reader knew far more than the protagonist. There was one interesting conversation between two characters about justifying murder, but it’s not discussed at length or any great depth. The language was easy to read, and there were quite a few references to pieces of music that amused me. Thus far, many other readers have enjoyed this book, but it simply wasn’t my cup of tea.Nibble: “For a moment he was flattered that they’d called him a star journalist, then he realized they just meant he’d been a journalist for the Star.”I would recommend this to someone who enjoys simple dramas. I received an advanced free copy of this book from the publishers, Unbridled,via NetGalley.

[nbmars · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

"The Lola Quartet" refers to the musical group created by four of the five principal protagonists when they were students at a high school for the performing arts. Gavin, Daniel, Jack, and Sasha were the members of The Lola Quartet. The fifth student, Anna, a year younger than the others, was the sister of one of the members and girlfriend of at least one of the others. The story tells what happened to them in the subsequent ten years by weaving back and forth in time, gradually exposing the meaning and consequences of the puzzling scene in the opening chapter.Discussion: In spite of being talented students at a magnet school, the five main characters of this book all turned out to be colossal losers. Ten years later, one is a publicly-disgraced mendacious reporter, one a wasted drug addict, one a wasted gambling addict, one a washed-up, twice-divorced cop, and one a drop-out and thief. What are the odds? It seemed a bit unlikely to me. In any event, we never really find out why that happened.But even if one accepts that set-up, there is more that just didn’t ring true for me. Gavin and Anna were dating in high school and presumably spent all their spare time together, yet in the last two weeks of school, Gavin didn’t see Anna; had no idea where she was; nor any idea why they were incommunicado. Furthermore, when she abruptly left town, he made only a few minor efforts to reach her or find out where she went and why, even after, and in spite of, hearing rumors she was pregnant when she left! (And Gavin isn’t even the one who was drug-addled!)As for Anna, we are never let in on her motivations, especially about why she felt she had to distance herself from Gavin. In addition, we learn of at least two subsequent unhappy break-ups of hers after Gavin, and though rather central to the plot, we get not a word as to what caused them either. So Anna remains a cipher, which means to me that (a) her purpose is to show who the other characters are by how they react to her; or (b) she is left enigmatic as part of the noir atmosphere of the book. I could almost believe (a) except we really don’t learn enough about the other characters, save for Gavin (and him only superficially), to support that argument. So I am assuming (b) to be the case, which reminds me why I don’t like noir….(More broadly, all the information we don’t get may have been a meta referential plot device to point up the annoying way in which none of the characters fully and honestly communicate with one another. Even if that is the case, I don’t think it added to the appeal of the book.)And then there is the ending, in which two of these five very damaged individuals decide they are somehow qualified to pass judgment on the other three about their moral rectitude (or lack thereof). It just doesn’t seem realistic to me.One final complaint: There is some very pretty writing in this book, but to me it felt a bit too much like the result of a writing workshop. It definitely has a cinematic, sparse, noir feel, but the regular inclusion of stylistic flourishes at the end of paragraphs and chapters seemed too consciously constructed.Some examples:“He stared unseeing out the window into white.”“Gavin walked back out into the heat with his fedora in his hands.”“He drifted alone in his lawn chair on the grass.”Evaluation: This book has gotten very good reviews, but I wasn’t as enamored with it as most reviewers. I thought there were too many holes in the plot, and too much that didn’t make sense to me. I also felt a bit too aware of a writer plying her craft, rather than being immersed in the story in a way that fully transported me.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm a fan of Emily St. John Mandel. There is something about her writing that creates a mood or atmosphere around her characters, allowing the reader to come to know them deeply. I can feel what they feel.The Lola Quartet talks about the consequences of choices we make. These characters seem especially disposed to make bad ones, leading to almost inevitable conclusions. And yet the book ends on a hopeful note, with most of them positioned to make a better start.The plot isn't told in a linear fashion. The beginning is downright disjointed. But, knowing this author, I knew it would come together and that I would be drawn into this world of jazz music, drug dealers and people haunted by their own past.

[randymetcalfe · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Emily St. John Mandel’s third novel is almost a return to form. It is certainly a return to themes of loss and searching, dissipation and disappointment, and the overwhelming sense that one’s life just hasn’t gone the way one planned. But there is also something unfinished about this novel, much as its main characters never seem, despite the passage of years, to escape from their adolescence. Gavin, Sasha, Daniel, and Jack were The Lola Quartet in their final year in high school in Sebastian, Florida. Gavin, who suffers from heatstroke (a nice touch), can’t decide whether he wants to be an investigative reporter or a private detective. He wears a fedora and, sometimes, a trench coat (but not out in the Florida heat) as though he is trying on his future life. Ten years later he is still trying it on, though some avenues have recently been closed. Is it a case of arrested development, or just the usual life filled with regrets? Sasha has a gambling problem in high school, and ten years later she still has a gambling problem. Jack discovers early on that he does not have the drive or talent to become the musician he hoped he would be and turns to pills, a habit he still has ten years later. Daniel suffers a disappointment that sours his perspective and embitters him toward Gavin, and ten years later he is a sour police detective. Anna, Sasha’s younger half-sister, is the nominal target of all their attention. But Anna’s response to any situation is always an immature fight or flight, and both options end up hurting people. There is no doubt that Mandel has talent. And I was really hoping that The Lola Quartet would be a return to the form she showed in her first novel, Last Night in Montreal. But numerous characters that show no progression, recurring themes, and borrowed plot devices (as in her second novel, there is a major plot device here which seems borrowed from the television series The Wire) leave me unable to enthusiastically recommend this novel.

[karen_o_23 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I first heard of Emily St John Mandel via a Nancy Pearl NPR segment in which she included Mandel's first novel, Last Night in Montreal, in her Under the Radar recommendations. I read that book and loved it and suspect that this one will receive just as glowing a recommendation. It certainly does from me.What I love best about Emily St John Mandel is, first, the quality of her writing which is to the point and precise without being removed or remote, lyrical without being flowery or overwrought. Secondly I love the way she tells a story! This is a tale of the lives of 5 people who were friends in high school and how their lives separated and inter-mingled during the 10 years following graduation. Although not exactly a happy tale, it was certainly real and definitely worth reading.

[ntempest_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is my first experience reading Emily St. John Mandel, and I was very much impressed by her lovely, precise writing style and her well-crafted story. The book features a number of flawed characters whose lives dovetail in intriguing ways. Gavin Sasaki, a writer for a newspaper in New York, goes back to his youthful stomping grounds in Florida to cover a story and learns he might have a daughter with his old girlfriend Anna, who has long since vanished. When Gavin loses his job as a result of lying in his piece, he uses his newly found free time to go in search of Anna and his child. His investigation results in him contacting the other members of the Lola Quartet, the jazz group he was part of back in school, and learning the dark turns their lives have taken. The characters in this book are not precisely likable, but they are very real and their motivations intriguing. Mandel's skill in guiding the reader through this murky world is admirable, and I'll definitely be seeking out her previous works.

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I can still recall the first two books written by Emily St. John Mandel and it was with eagerness I awaited her third book, The Lola Quartet. My longing was quickly rewarded as I received this book as an early review book and I eagerly sat down with it. The Lola Quartet is exceptionally written, which is what I have come to except from Emily St. John Mandel. She offers the readers a narrative, which takes on a life and becomes a part of the reader, in this case having this reader recall her long past high school years. The Lola Quartet is written in three parts, beginning ten years after the group graduated and went their separate ways and through clever and expertly executed plot twists the four are brought together once again. As I have come to expect from this author, The Lola Quartet slowly drew me in and before I knew it, I was unable to set the book down. I highly recommend not only the Lola Quartet, but also Emily St. John Mandel's two previous novels, The Singer's Gun and Last Night In Montreal.

[writestuff_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

“How far would you go for someone you love?” – from The Lola QuartetGavin Sasaki is living his dream job writing stories for a New York newspaper. Then his editor sends him to Florida, where Gavin grew up, to do a story on dangerous and exotic wildlife living in the suburbs. Back on his old stomping grounds during a meal with his sister, Gavin is shocked to learn he may have a daughter. The revelation stirs up old memories and slowly Gavin begins to unravel. When he gets back to New York, he inserts a small lie in his Florida story…a lie which opens the door to more lies and eventually the loss of his job.The point was that Gavin had opened a door, cracked it just slightly, and he could see through to the disgrace and shadows on the other side. If you tell a lie it’s easier to tell another. An abyss yawns suddenly at your feet. – from The Lola Quartet -The unraveling of Gavin’s life brings him back to Florida to the home of his sister where he begins his own private investigation into the disappearance of his high school girlfriend, Anna, and the search for his now ten year old daughter. As he navigates the murky and dark waters of his youth, Gavin reconnects with the members of the Lola Quartet, a high school jazz group including Jack (a college dropout who is sinking into the shadows of prescription drug abuse), Sasha (Anna’s half sister who is struggling with a gambling addiction), and Daniel (a black cop with a tattered past of failed relationships). What he uncovers and the consequences of his search will forever change Gavin’s life.Emily St. John Mandel’s third novel is haunting and carefully crafted. It is a little like peeling an onion with the layers slipping away until the core of the story is uncovered. Mandel has constructed her story from multiple view points, dipping back and forth in time, allowing the reader to get glimpses of the complexity of relationships before finally exposing the complete truth of what has happened. It is a unique style of narration which creates subtle tension and keeps the reader fully engrossed.The characters in The Lola Quartet are damaged and very flawed. Once young and hopeful, these characters are now facing an uncertain future. One impulsive act in youth has led to dire consequences in adulthood.Mandel takes her readers on a twisty course, building her story to its inevitable end. But it was not the plot which grabbed me, it was the train wreck of the characters’ lives and the secrets they hold. And this is something which Mandel does extraordinarily well – she creates living, breathing people and puts them in terrible situations so that we may examine their motivations, their sense of morality (or not), and the fragile balance between fate and choice.The Lola Quartet is a terrific novel which I would classify as a literary suspense-thriller. Written with Mandel’s signature style, filled with complex characters, and revolving around the simple, yet compelling, concept that one decision can have lasting echoes far into the future.Highly recommended.

[melopher_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first encounter with Mandel, but not with Unbridled Books, and I think they make a good pair. They both produce quality, unique fiction that stretch the confines of genre-labeling. I suppose The Lola Quartet could be viewed as crime fiction or suspense - it definitely had elements of both - but there is so much more than that layered into the writing and storytelling. I'd recommend it to anyone in the mood to liven up their reading without sacrificing writing quality.

[bookmagic_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Emily St.John Mandel's third book does not disappoint, showing that she is a writer to contend with. Gavin Sasaki is a journalist living in NYC. His sister, Elio works in real estate in Florida. On one job she sees a young girl that looks just like her and has the last name of Gavin's high school sweetheart, Anna, who disappeared from his life without even a goodbye. She takes a picture but when she goes back, the girl is gone. She shows Gavin the picture when he comes down for a visit. Gavin becomes distracted thinking he might have a daughter and ends up getting fired from his job for making up quotes and facts for his stories. Gavin moves back to his hometown in Florida to work for his sister but becomes obsessed with learning what happened to Anna. He looks up members of his high school jazz quartet, The Lola Quartet, and finds out that everyone has been keeping secrets from him.While there is the mystery part of the book, I really enjoyed the flashbacks and seeing how things happened from the point of view of the other members.Mandel's writing is brilliant, the plot strong and intriguing, the characters captivating. If you have not read any of Mandel's work, you are missing out and need to pick one up now!

[travis1259 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book features the solid writing skills of Mandel, strong on characterization, But in this case short on plot for my money. The book displays her extensive knowledge on a number of subjects. But, somehow we get mired down in a bleak world. And, although we move along at a fairly rapid pace, I lost interest due to so many bad decisions made by the characters and the resulting grim situations they faced. One can only ask is everyone in this novel, unfocused, unsuccessful and moving in the wrong direction with no relief in sight? Yes, this is Noir. But Mandel herself included a great sequence when Gavin, a central character in the book, looses his fiancee, his job and become so unable to function normally that he fails to inform his landlord of a leaking shower head that eventually turns his apartment into a close resemblance to a rain forest. Now had the book included more great stuff like this, it would have offered an antidote in part to the grim reality described.I would love to read and review a book by this author that shows a more positive side, with a mix of characters more diverse. That's how much I believe in her skills. Read this if only to see a blooming writer at work.

[clarkisaacs · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wonders never cease when it comes to new authors and their writing styles. Emily St. John Mandel falls into this category with “The Lola Quartet” because her writing is fresh, clean, and extremely compelling.One of the things you discover in this fictional account of one man’s life is that as a reader your own high school days come alive. Friends long forgotten, parties, crushes, and of course graduation. Embarking on careers or further educational pursuits take precedence over continuing relationships with those people who were so important while you were taking classes.Emily has captured the spirit of the past and has mingled it with the present with remarkable precision. Characters ethnicity though never overtly discussed soon emerges that some are black and one is Asian. There is a mixture with a common thread and that is music. “The Lola Quartet” is a high school jazz group, which plays for their own enjoyment and that of fellow students. Their last ‘concert’ takes place in the bed of a pick-up truck when abruptly it ends with the members each going their own way.Flash forward to 10 years later and one of the members of the original players is no longer engaged in music, but instead is a journalist in New York City, far removed from his old hometown in Florida. His career apparently is solid and he has a bright future until he overtly makes his stories more interesting by creating interviews, which never took place. He is publicly disgraced and fired. Returning to his hometown Gavin Sasaki moves in with his sister Eilo and becomes employed in real estate. Eilo while handling a real estate foreclosure encounters a girl who is roughly 10 years old who looks like her brother! She takes a picture and shows it to her brother. This is where the happenstances begin as Gavin’s quest to find the child who could have been his as her name is Chloe Montgomery. Ten years before his girlfriend Anna Montgomery disappeared and rumors were that she left because she was pregnant.“The Lola Quartet” sounds so far like a soap opera, but there is so much more involved. Gavin meets with one of the old members of the group who is now with the local police department. Detective Daniel continually misdirects Gavin by giving him wrong leads to follow and disguises his relationship with Anna and Chloe. Another member of the group, Jack, lives in a tent and is a failure in every sense of the word in real life. Throughout all this turmoil, Gavin cannot find his old girl friend and gain knowledge of the truth about his alleged daughter. Mandel has written an excellent imaginative book. This is her third novel, which follows on the heels of her second novel “The Singers Gun” that received the Indie Bookseller’s Choice Award.Do not pick this book up and read the first few pages without expecting to spend a few hours getting into the story. This is a four star book which is highly recommended.

[sophroniaborgia · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gavin has spent most of his life wishing he lived in a 1940s noir -- he wears fedoras, listens to jazz, and works in the dying field of daily newspaper reporting. His world is rocked when his sister shows him a photo of a little girl who could be his daughter, the child of his high school girlfriend, Anna, who disappeared years earlier. Very much a noir, this book is not so much a mystery as an exploration of the decisions people make to screw up their lives and the lives of everyone around them. Anna's disappearance turns out have directly affected everyone in their circle over the years, leaving them reeling and broken in various ways. But perhaps Gavin's search for his daughter will lead to something good coming out of it after all.This book was well-written and kept me reading with interest. But, in the tradition of noir, it's rather depressing about the state of human nature. And strangely, the main character seems so washed out and empty that it's hard to get much of a feel for him. I had a hard time believing that someone so neurasthenic could have had a passionate sexual relationship in high school, much less survived in the cutthroat world of New York print media. Perhaps that's why the point of view so often switched to the various other characters in the drama, each of whom knew a piece of the story, which occasionally got confusing. I enjoyed reading an update of the noir genre to the sterile, amoral world of sprawling suburban south Florida, but I would have enjoyed it more with a more dynamic character in the lead role.

[mmerose_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Advertised as a mystery, this is more accurately a drama. It is a seriously depressing one. All of the characters are bent or twisted in some way (usually by their childhoods), not one has a good or happy life. There are many rapid changes to point of view and time, which are confusing. The "mystery" was nonsensical and didn't hold my interest.Had this not been an ER book, I would not have finished it.

[gchristianson_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The title and the book cover art of The Lola Quartet give very little indication of the books' contents. Instead of causing me to bypass this book, both the cover and the title intrigued me. I am not sure what I was expecting, but the story within was a pleasant surprise.I am not sure that this novella fits into any one genre. It is a little bit of a mystery, a bit noir and a bit of a commentary on the mistakes we make during our youth and the ability for these choices to follow us into adulthood.All of the characters are flawed in some way. Many of the decisions that they make seem to be random choices and not very well thought out. Quite typical of the way most adolescents approach life changing choices. The main character of Gavin is sympathetic, although he seems to live in a reality of his own creation. He develops and grows over the course of the book and by the end appears to be attempting to make some well though out mature decision.The story weaves back and forth between the present the the past, gradually unveiling an interesting plot. The writing is flawless and flows effortlessly from beginning to end. At some points during the first half, it did seem to drag just a bit, however this is a minor concern. What I really enjoyed about this book was how different it was from anything else I have read recently. St. John Mandle is an author to watch!Special thanks to Netgallery for the complementary copy of the Lola Quartet, allowing me to read and offer an unbiased review.

[beamis12 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Four friends, and a girl who is the girlfriend of one and the stepsister of the only female, start a jazz quartet in highschool. It is their last concert and their last year in high school and they all have bright plans for the future. I can relate to this because I remember being in that position, didn't like jazz much, but music was always around. Thought at 17 I was all grown up and the future was limitless. A decade passes and the group is brought together again by a picture, find out their lives didn't turn out the way they thought and that things that seemed transparent back than, were different than they thought. As the story progresses from one to the other, secrets are uncovered and things that were kept hidden are brought to light. Loved this book, it was wonderfully written and I could really identify with the characters, maybe not their exact problems, but their hopes and dreams as a whole.