Customer Reviews

The Singer's Gun

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Emily St. John Mandel's The Singer's Gun opens on an investigation. A woman working for the State Department is listening over and over to a snippet of conversation recorded 15 days earlier--a few words only, confirmation of a job completed, nothing much. It's not clear for a long while how the recording fits into what follows. And what follows is an exploration of why Anton Waker abandoned his wife on their honeymoon and is now sitting alone on the island of Ischia, off the coast of Naples, biding his time and missing his one-eyed cat. Eventually all is made clear: the layers of Anton's life are slowly peeled away in chapters that explore his unusual childhood, the strange circumstances of his employment, his adversarial relationship with his cousin. Nothing in Anton's life is quite what it looks like on the surface. Any guess we may have initially about the reasons for his wait on Ischia would be wrong.

Anton is a complex character who's been living in a world that doesn't fit him. He's disturbed by his environment but doesn't break away from it given the opportunity, and he in fact participates in activities he doesn't quite approve of. The book thus introduces questions about what constitutes moral behavior and about personal responsibility. While it is by no means a fast-paced thriller, the book does become a tense read toward the end, and it is always compelling. Anton's situation--the wait on Ischia, and more so his being warehoused at work prior to his honeymoon--is so strange that you can't but read on for the answers. St. John Mandel's second book--see my review of Last Night in Montreal--is another winner.

-- Debra Hamel

In Emily St. John Mandel's new book, The Singer's Gun, Anton Waker has found himself in trouble, without a possible way out. Anton thought he was finally done with the business of illegal dealings and shady transactions, but when his cousin comes to him with one more job, and the blackmail to force his hand, Anton finds himself once again in over his head. Anton's carefully constructed life hangs on the edge and things take an unexpected turn, he's forced to choose between a life that he made for himself or the one that's thrown upon him. Will he make it out alive, and if so at what cost?

This is Emily St. John Mandel's second novel, and I've had the pleasure of reading both of her books. Her writing talent and impressive skill once more shine again. She has proven that her first novel wasn't just a fluke and she is definitely an author I'll keep reading. Again, Mandel jumped from past to present in this novel and it worked beautifully. The shifts in time were never uncomfortable and they flowed beautifully. I loved this novel even more than her first. The story was interesting and detailed and I was pulled into it immediately. I read The Singer's Gun all in one sitting because I just could not bear to pull myself away. I loved the main character, Anton. He was extremely personable and I felt the struggles he went through were believable and realistic. Emily St. John Mandel has won me again, and The Singer's Gun is something that everyone must read.

Review originally posted on my blog Draw A Blank.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Unbridled Books. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

To some degree or another, we all live in a caste society. The Singer's Gun offers us an antidote: If you cleave with all your might to your own deepest nature, the rewards will be -- goddamned Mediterranean in nature. This is not your soulless Horatio Alger dogged overcoming-of-obstacles; it is the transformative oomph of the personal lodestone. When coupled with shady imports, felonious forgery, a skewering look at illegal immigration -- and of course Emily St. John Mandel's sly prose -- The Singer's Gun becomes a passport out of -- well, whatever the reader happens to be mired in at the moment of that reading. And a passport -- as we learn in all of Mandel's work -- is a *very* valuable thing.

Anton Waker is on an island in Italy. A year ago, he would never have thought this would be his life. Back then he worked in an office and was about to be married. He was the picture of respectability.

But that picture was marred. Anton was having an affair with his secretary, Elena. His job had disappeared from under him; one day he got to work and his staff was gone and he had been transferred to an office in the basement and given no work. In fact, Anton's whole life had been a charade. He had been raised by parents who made their living by selling stolen goods. His cousin Aria had lured him into an illegal business of selling counterfeit social security cards and passports.

Anton tried to leave that life behind. But Aria has forced him to do one last job; a job that has left him stranded on this island, and that has forced him to leave his entire life behind. His wife is gone; his job is gone, his life as he's known it is gone. Can Anton build another life; one that is built on honesty and that gives him the home and peace he has been searching for his entire life?

Emily St. John Mandel is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. She has a knack of creating characters who live on the margin, who are searching for connection and meaning, and for making the reader care about them. The writing is sparse and the reader sometimes feels adrift in a fog between them and the story. But then a flash of light occurs and the connection is made, leaving the reader feeling more involved in the character's lives than they would have suspected. The reader finishes the last page satisfied and content, and already anxious for Mandel's next effort. This book is highly recommended for all readers.

"Sometimes regular channels aren't open to you, and then you have to improvise. Find your own way out. Think about it, Anton. What does it take to succeed in this world?"

"It's never easy. You have to be creative sometimes. You have to make things happen for yourself."

What does it mean to be a good person? Can you justify a tiny bit of crime, maybe by simply looking the other way, if your intent is good? Are you saving the world if you ignoring your own child?

The Singer's Gun is an incredible novel, one that has consumed me since I began reading it. Tension and suspense are mixed in with significant questions regarding morality and family honor in a world changed by 9/11. Anton is the protagonist, a man who wishes to wash his hands of his family's criminal links, but finds that doing that requires its own sort of dishonesty. This novel discusses the complex links that connect us to our past and lead to our future. How desperate do we have to be to make a new beginning?

The novel makes you consider all these things without ever getting preachy or dull. The stride is brisk, and the characters are all unique and compelling. As in real life, very few people are completely good or completely bad: this explores all the mysterious layers and inconsistencies of everyday life. Anton is appealing: after all, he adopts a one-eyed cat and shows up at his job reliably, long after he's been quietly fired. Yet he's lost, gripped by an inertia brought on by not wanting to do wrong but not having the courage to do "right".

What I really enjoyed, besides the completely unique characters, was that the plot continually rotates, changing viewpoints, so that you can observe scenes through another characters eyes and thus see their own justifications. It complicates the drama and adds tension. The author subtly weaves little threads of foreshadowing here and there to add another dimension. Some seemingly unrelated minor events appear that actually serve to rough up and texture the identities of the characters. My only minor irritation was that the character Elena kept "looking at her reflection" in the window over and over...I don't know why I got hung up on that but in most of the scenes she appears in, there is some sort of comment on her looking at the glass. I thought it was a nod to something about her character, something that would present itself later, but I don't think it did. It was just a phrase that seemed to get overused in an otherwise perfectly written story.

I had heard raves about the author before: now I know why! I spent most of today's unusual heat wave parked in front of a fan with The Singer's Gun, and was sad to see it end. I should have savored it more! This one would be ripe for a sequel, because the moral ambiguities can never be completely resolved.

Publisher's Weekly is crazy, this book is fantastic!

Anton Waker wants to live a different life than the one he grew up in. So he creates one. But when that doesn't work out, he has to make new plans.

That's about all I can tell you with out ruining the story. I loved this book. I loved her first one, Last Night in Montreal, but I think I loved this one more. Hard to tell, they are both so great. The Singer's Gun gives us Anton Waker, who I found to be a fascinating character. He is low key, yet a character I could discuss at length. But I can't do that here or I will ruin the book for you.

Mandel's work stands out against others as it is so well-written and perfectly told. This is a writer who does not drag her story or manipulate emotions. She is an unsentimental writer who writes beautifully and really lets you decide for yourself about her characters. Of course, I love them all.

my rating 5/5

Anton Wakers life falls apart almost overnight. A successful businessman, newly married, finds himself harshly reeled back into his unsavory past. A past filled with illegal activities laced tightly together between his family and himself.

A blackmailer insists he pull off one final job. Meanwhile, he is being investigated for fraud and other questionable activities by the government. Anton must make a heart wrenching decision. I flew through the pages to find out what it was and if he made it out intact.

Highly Recommend. Beautiful, intelligent writing throughout.

Elkinson-wiseowl 2010

I really enjoyed this book. The author's description of the settings

takes your right to where she is. This book has it all right from the

beginning, mystery and intrigue. You cannot wait to turn the page

to find out what will be next.

I highly recommend this book, it is not loaded down with alot of

characters which I really like in a book.

I didn't find this book interesting or compelling. As another reviewer said, there isn't one likeable character. I'd put it slightly differently - there isn't one character for whom I felt the slightest empathy, although it's easy to feel empathy for even the least honest or decent character in some books. I only gave it a second star because the theme is worthy - the inescapable pervasiveness and acceptance of criminality in our culture.

The protagonist, Anton, is another of those modern fictional characters who drifts through life practically in a fugue state. I wanted to shout, "Anton, stand up! Say no! Confront this person or that person and demand answers!" Maybe an avowed feminist shouldn't put it this way, but I wanted to say, "Anton, be a man for once!" Over and over he lets other people make decisions for him, or push him into decisions, most of which are bad. Presumably this was the author's intention, but it made for a boring and frustrating main character. And, as I said, it seems to have become standard operating procedure for modern protagonists. Yawn.

I absolutely didn't believe that he and Sophie would really choose to remain in the same room with one another (and they don't, actually), much less live together or get married. I didn't accept for a minute that Elena had any reason to throw herself at him. When he is blackmailed by another character, it wouldn't really have been that hard for Anton to confess that what he had done was wrong, and to accept the consequences.

On the plus side, the writing can be quite nice. But the mood and atmosphere are maddeningly vague, and there are many places where some research and a few details would have helped a lot. I do think the author has potential; maybe I'll take a look at her work again two or three books down the road.

Mandel salts her unusual novel with equally odd characters, a man who sells passports and social security cards to immigrants, a family that lives on the shady side of the law and all that entails, a Canadian willing to take the risk of a new life in America and a self-contained, unpredictable musician who balks, but finally commits to marriage and a honeymoon on Ischia. When Anton Maker and his bride, Sophie, arrive on the island, it should be the beginning of the next chapter of their lives. But Anton has consented to one more job for his cousin, Aria, and Sophie cannot fathom the strange behavior of her new husband. To say that Anton has been less than honest with Sophie is an understatement, but Anton is not at his best, his future in corporate world threatened by a series of interviews that have revealed his Harvard diploma as a sham, only the tip of an iceberg. A State Department investigator is quietly closing in on Anton's past.

The crux of this novel is found in the contrast between the real and the false, the moral ambiguity between white and black, even menace diluted on the breeze of a Mediterranean island where a cloudless blue sky and infinite ocean promise only serenity. The looming danger is barely tangible, swept away by the mournful notes of Sophie's music or the solitary musings of a man who has lost his way. A subtle tension hums as Anton remains on Ischia to perform his final task. And as the stories of various characters are revealed like whispered secrets that blur the lines between right and wrong, it is clear than Anton's dishonesty is not the only cause of an escalating situation. The search for love and connection drives a confused protagonist who hopes to trick fate with good intentions but learns that nothing can be purchased on the dreams of others but pain.

From corporate New York to a city apartment filled with the piercing notes of a dedicated musician and a sleepy one-eyed cat, from a dedicated investigator who worries that her perseverance takes her too far from the needs of family too often to the secret love affair of a secretary with her boss and the cargo ships that deliver desperate immigrants packed in shipping containers, Mantel mixes the normal with the criminal, hope with risk and the choices that skirt the law with unintended, if predictable consequences. A pied piper who leads the way with deft touch and elegant prose, the painful truth of this novel is revealed in the denouement, where happiness can only be purchased at a tragic price. Luan Gaines/2010.