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The Singer's Gun
Everyone Anton Waker grew up with is corrupt. His parents deal in stolen goods and his first career is a partnership venture with his cousin Aria selling forged passports and social security cards to illegal aliens. Anton longs for a less questionable way of living in the world and by his late twenties has reinvented himself as a successful middle manager. Then a routine security check suggests that things are not quite what they appear. And Aria begins blackmailing him to do one last job for her. But the seemingly simple job proves to have profound and unexpected repercussions.
287 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2010
About the author
Emily St. John Mandel
18 books25.6k followersEmily St. John Mandel was born and raised on the west coast of British Columbia, Canada. She studied contemporary dance at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre and lived briefly in Montreal before relocating to New York.
She is the author of five novels, including The Glass Hotel (spring 2020) and Station Eleven (2014.) Station Eleven was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, won the Morning News Tournament of Books, and has been translated into 34 languages. She lives in NYC with her husband and daughter.
She is the author of five novels, including The Glass Hotel (spring 2020) and Station Eleven (2014.) Station Eleven was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award, won the Morning News Tournament of Books, and has been translated into 34 languages. She lives in NYC with her husband and daughter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,109 reviews
December 30, 2020
”Afterward, every destination acquired a sudden glow of hellfire, every trip an element of thoroughly unwanted suspense. Escape has become a problem in itself. A travel book without danger----to the body, the soul or the future----is entirely out of time.
...We stand in need of something stronger now: the travel book you can read while making your way through this new, alarming world.”
Michael Pye
The New York Times, June 1, 2003
All Anton Waker ever wanted was a normal job. Not a normal low paying job, but a normal fairly high paying job. He was willing to exchange whatever brilliance he possessed in exchange for monthly remuneration. He has a Harvard diploma literarily not worth the paper it is printed on, but still it represents the world he wishes to live in.
He is trying desperately to escape his past.
In the world we live in now, no one is invisible, no one can ever truly start over. Your history follows you through the matrix. Your past arrives before you do.
Anton’s parents have a shop, a warehouse really, where things that have been “liberated” from other places. These items arrive to be cleaned, to possibly be repainted, and when ready they become objects d’art in people’s homes.
Anton finds the whole business distasteful. On the other hand, his cousin Aria takes to it like a duck to water. It becomes a training ground for her future shady career of providing documentations for those in desperate need to stay in the United States. Anton was in many ways as bright as Aria, but he didn’t possess that feral ability to survive at all costs. He helps her build her business, but the whole time he pines for a job, a job just like anyone else.
He does get this job complete with a secretary, Elena, originally from Inuvik (too far North to say where) Canada. Things are going fine
until Elena disappears one day.
Then a few days later he is moved from his office to a “larger” office on a lower floor near the basement with no explanations.
I started to feel the uneasy shading of a Kafka novel.
But then corporate America IS a Kafka novel.
His girlfriend Sophie is a cellist, a very neurotic, brilliant musician. She has agreed to marry him three times and called off the wedding after the invitations have been sent out twice. His best friend Gary offered him some insight. ”I don’t mean to state the obvious, but being in awe of someone’s talent isn’t really the same thing as being in love with them.”
Anton’s carefully manufactured life is starting to come apart at the seams.
Elena reappears, almost out of the mist, at a time when his life has reached a new all time low. He has always had a crush on her, but isn’t it so unimaginative to have an affair with his secretary? ”The worst thing about having an affair was that he was naturally good at it.”
Elena has a different view of having a normal job.
”I’ve been working since I was sixteen years old, except for that one semester at Columbia, and the initial shock of work hasn’t worn off yet. I still have these moment where I think, Come on, this can’t possibly be it. I cannot possibly be expected to do something this awful day in and day out until the day I die. It’s like a life sentence imposed in the absence of a crime.”
Here, here! A toast to the beautiful young lady from Northern Canada.
Anton swears that he will never work for Aria again, but then she knows things about him that would make any kind of future relationship with his wife nonexistent. He agrees to do one more job for her, on his honeymoon in Italy.
What could possibly go wrong?
I’m now considering changing my name to Jeffrey St. James Keeten. It certainly would lend weight and saintliness to my name. It seems to be working for Emily St. John Mandel, not that she needed any help. She has a clean, taut writing style that certainly reflects the Ernest Hemingway school of cut, cut, cut. Her observations of the current conditions that we exist under lend characteristics to her creations that had me identifying and even sympathizing with their plight. She had me concerned, as well, about a 4,600 year old pine tree, an aging water system in New York, and the gun in the purse of a singer in Naples.
I had heard great things about her new book Station Eleven and contacted a bookseller in Houston where she was about to appear for a signing. He said to me, “when we heard the book was going into a second printing pre-publication we ordered a stack of 1st printings.” Does the guy know how to tweak a collector’s interest or what? I’m investing in St. John Mandel and will be curious to see if her new book will prove as interesting as this voyage from Inuvik to New York to Ischia.
***4.5 out of 5 stars***
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
...We stand in need of something stronger now: the travel book you can read while making your way through this new, alarming world.”
Michael Pye
The New York Times, June 1, 2003
All Anton Waker ever wanted was a normal job. Not a normal low paying job, but a normal fairly high paying job. He was willing to exchange whatever brilliance he possessed in exchange for monthly remuneration. He has a Harvard diploma literarily not worth the paper it is printed on, but still it represents the world he wishes to live in.
He is trying desperately to escape his past.
In the world we live in now, no one is invisible, no one can ever truly start over. Your history follows you through the matrix. Your past arrives before you do.
Anton’s parents have a shop, a warehouse really, where things that have been “liberated” from other places. These items arrive to be cleaned, to possibly be repainted, and when ready they become objects d’art in people’s homes.
Anton finds the whole business distasteful. On the other hand, his cousin Aria takes to it like a duck to water. It becomes a training ground for her future shady career of providing documentations for those in desperate need to stay in the United States. Anton was in many ways as bright as Aria, but he didn’t possess that feral ability to survive at all costs. He helps her build her business, but the whole time he pines for a job, a job just like anyone else.
He does get this job complete with a secretary, Elena, originally from Inuvik (too far North to say where) Canada. Things are going fine
until Elena disappears one day.
Then a few days later he is moved from his office to a “larger” office on a lower floor near the basement with no explanations.
I started to feel the uneasy shading of a Kafka novel.
But then corporate America IS a Kafka novel.
His girlfriend Sophie is a cellist, a very neurotic, brilliant musician. She has agreed to marry him three times and called off the wedding after the invitations have been sent out twice. His best friend Gary offered him some insight. ”I don’t mean to state the obvious, but being in awe of someone’s talent isn’t really the same thing as being in love with them.”
Anton’s carefully manufactured life is starting to come apart at the seams.
Elena reappears, almost out of the mist, at a time when his life has reached a new all time low. He has always had a crush on her, but isn’t it so unimaginative to have an affair with his secretary? ”The worst thing about having an affair was that he was naturally good at it.”
Elena has a different view of having a normal job.
”I’ve been working since I was sixteen years old, except for that one semester at Columbia, and the initial shock of work hasn’t worn off yet. I still have these moment where I think, Come on, this can’t possibly be it. I cannot possibly be expected to do something this awful day in and day out until the day I die. It’s like a life sentence imposed in the absence of a crime.”
Here, here! A toast to the beautiful young lady from Northern Canada.
Anton swears that he will never work for Aria again, but then she knows things about him that would make any kind of future relationship with his wife nonexistent. He agrees to do one more job for her, on his honeymoon in Italy.
What could possibly go wrong?
I’m now considering changing my name to Jeffrey St. James Keeten. It certainly would lend weight and saintliness to my name. It seems to be working for Emily St. John Mandel, not that she needed any help. She has a clean, taut writing style that certainly reflects the Ernest Hemingway school of cut, cut, cut. Her observations of the current conditions that we exist under lend characteristics to her creations that had me identifying and even sympathizing with their plight. She had me concerned, as well, about a 4,600 year old pine tree, an aging water system in New York, and the gun in the purse of a singer in Naples.
I had heard great things about her new book Station Eleven and contacted a bookseller in Houston where she was about to appear for a signing. He said to me, “when we heard the book was going into a second printing pre-publication we ordered a stack of 1st printings.” Does the guy know how to tweak a collector’s interest or what? I’m investing in St. John Mandel and will be curious to see if her new book will prove as interesting as this voyage from Inuvik to New York to Ischia.
***4.5 out of 5 stars***
If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
I also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten
March 30, 2024
Anton Walker is bright, he’s a brilliant student at high school and dreams of one day holding down an ‘executive position’. His cousin, Aria, is displaced when her parents skip the country and abandon her. Aria steals things. How Anton is influenced by Aria and where this leads them both is at the core of this tale.
Told in her standard style, jumping around in time and place, Emily St. John Mandel places layers of the story on the page until it all knits together and makes sense. She is a master at creating a mood. This time it’s modern noir as the veil is gradually lifted on the shadowy life of the self-destructive Anton.
I'm tempted to say I preferred the style to the substance, but I think this would be a bit unfair to Mandel. Though I’d not truly consider this either a mystery novel or a thriller, in truth, it does tick both boxes. But it offers so much more: intriguing, complex characters whose story is told in snippets, flashing forward and back in time, and dialogue that is always crisp and authentic. It skillfully delves deep into the inner thoughts of the characters, giving them depth whilst providing the insight that allows us to appreciate the motives for the actions they take.
I rooted for Anton. I wanted him to find to find happiness, if not redemption. Whether or not he does you’ll have to read the book to find out – and read it, you should. It’s a very well written piece, as all of the author’s books are. If I have a criticism it’s that it lacks the edge of the seat tension I associate with the very best books of this type, but I believe the strengths of this book are sufficient for it demand a wide audience.
Told in her standard style, jumping around in time and place, Emily St. John Mandel places layers of the story on the page until it all knits together and makes sense. She is a master at creating a mood. This time it’s modern noir as the veil is gradually lifted on the shadowy life of the self-destructive Anton.
I'm tempted to say I preferred the style to the substance, but I think this would be a bit unfair to Mandel. Though I’d not truly consider this either a mystery novel or a thriller, in truth, it does tick both boxes. But it offers so much more: intriguing, complex characters whose story is told in snippets, flashing forward and back in time, and dialogue that is always crisp and authentic. It skillfully delves deep into the inner thoughts of the characters, giving them depth whilst providing the insight that allows us to appreciate the motives for the actions they take.
I rooted for Anton. I wanted him to find to find happiness, if not redemption. Whether or not he does you’ll have to read the book to find out – and read it, you should. It’s a very well written piece, as all of the author’s books are. If I have a criticism it’s that it lacks the edge of the seat tension I associate with the very best books of this type, but I believe the strengths of this book are sufficient for it demand a wide audience.
November 1, 2022
A very different book from Emily St. John Mandel.
While her second published book from 2010 has all of the qualities we are accustomed to in her writing, this one about a small-time crime family takes a different tone, and I liked it.
Fans of Mandel expect a book filled with colorful characters, shifting perspectives, eclectic timelines and thoughtful, introspective musings and this has all that.
One of the ways this was different is that it was told in a more linear fashion. Still bounces around and that’s fun, but this was told more straight than the others.
Also, the speculative fiction elements are minimal. While Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility have outright science fiction themes, and they all have some paranormal qualities, those subjects here are very understated.
Anton Waker is a successful Harvard graduate with a great job, expensive home in New York City, a beautiful fiancé, and all seems to be going swimmingly. Until a routine background check uncovers some hidden skeletons in the closet that changes everything.
Mandel’s prose is smooth and thought provoking as we explore Anton’s family, his past and then all of the other characters who surround him. And this was not a hard-boiled crime story, this was written by a nice person from Canada, and so the rigid edges are rounded off and the grit and gore of other crime novels are eschewed for a more pastel tone. The author does not leave out necessary elements, but she does soften the telling and her narrative is rich with meaning and meditation as Anton struggles with what is important to him and his life.
Excellent and I am off to find another of her wonderful books.
While her second published book from 2010 has all of the qualities we are accustomed to in her writing, this one about a small-time crime family takes a different tone, and I liked it.
Fans of Mandel expect a book filled with colorful characters, shifting perspectives, eclectic timelines and thoughtful, introspective musings and this has all that.
One of the ways this was different is that it was told in a more linear fashion. Still bounces around and that’s fun, but this was told more straight than the others.
Also, the speculative fiction elements are minimal. While Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility have outright science fiction themes, and they all have some paranormal qualities, those subjects here are very understated.
Anton Waker is a successful Harvard graduate with a great job, expensive home in New York City, a beautiful fiancé, and all seems to be going swimmingly. Until a routine background check uncovers some hidden skeletons in the closet that changes everything.
Mandel’s prose is smooth and thought provoking as we explore Anton’s family, his past and then all of the other characters who surround him. And this was not a hard-boiled crime story, this was written by a nice person from Canada, and so the rigid edges are rounded off and the grit and gore of other crime novels are eschewed for a more pastel tone. The author does not leave out necessary elements, but she does soften the telling and her narrative is rich with meaning and meditation as Anton struggles with what is important to him and his life.
Excellent and I am off to find another of her wonderful books.
December 20, 2021
The liberties an author takes with plausibility to create dramatic tension can at times be offensive to a reader's intelligence. This novel is loaded with lazy unexplained implausible plot devices. There's barely a character who is coherent psychologically. At key moments there's no reason for them doing what they do. They are all puppets for the author's plot. Obviously any character who wants to see another character dead is a foolproof tension cranking device. But the emotion has to be developed for it to become plausible. Otherwise you might as well give all your characters a loaded gun to crank up the tension. It's a cheap trick.
It's a shame because the writing was often good and there was a decent story buried behind the sloppy architecture.
It's a shame because the writing was often good and there was a decent story buried behind the sloppy architecture.
November 16, 2016
I have a message for Emily St. John Mandel. My message is, "Please write another book soon!". I've now read all four of her novels and they are all excellent.
She is an expert story teller. I guess a sort of "trademark" for her is that her stories jump around in time, but the details revealed are always perfectly paced and fit perfectly with the story without seeming forced. For example, in this book we read "Anton was drinking wine with two of his staff: Dahlia, who he would liked to drink with more often if he weren't already engaged, and Elena, his secretary, who he'd been secretly in love with since he'd met her under criminal circumstances two and a half years earlier.". Criminal circumstances? Who doesn't want to know more about that?
Other things are gradually revealed which I won't detail as it is best to discover them for yourself as you read the story. But we move around in time and slowly the pieces all come together. I love the pages where you think "Aha - that's why he did that half a book ago - it all makes sense". Such clever plotting and story construction.
The writing, too, is often very beautiful. It's not fancy, but it is very evocative. For me, although not for everyone according to some of the reviews, her characters are very real and believable.
I'm sure you could pick flaws in this book if you wanted to. But I enjoyed the story too much to want to waste energy doing that. So, 5 stars. Now I need to go back and re-read Station Eleven as I feel pretty sure I've under-rated that!
She is an expert story teller. I guess a sort of "trademark" for her is that her stories jump around in time, but the details revealed are always perfectly paced and fit perfectly with the story without seeming forced. For example, in this book we read "Anton was drinking wine with two of his staff: Dahlia, who he would liked to drink with more often if he weren't already engaged, and Elena, his secretary, who he'd been secretly in love with since he'd met her under criminal circumstances two and a half years earlier.". Criminal circumstances? Who doesn't want to know more about that?
Other things are gradually revealed which I won't detail as it is best to discover them for yourself as you read the story. But we move around in time and slowly the pieces all come together. I love the pages where you think "Aha - that's why he did that half a book ago - it all makes sense". Such clever plotting and story construction.
The writing, too, is often very beautiful. It's not fancy, but it is very evocative. For me, although not for everyone according to some of the reviews, her characters are very real and believable.
I'm sure you could pick flaws in this book if you wanted to. But I enjoyed the story too much to want to waste energy doing that. So, 5 stars. Now I need to go back and re-read Station Eleven as I feel pretty sure I've under-rated that!
January 26, 2025
Working my way back through Emily St. John Mandel's earlier work, I'm impressed, but not surprised, to see how consistent she has been as a writer and storyteller for so long.
This one is a more simple and smaller scale story of crime and retribution, of instability and fear in a society that teeters on the edge of collapse. What does it take to 'make it out'?: for Anton, that's out of the family business; for Aria, out of poverty and isolation; for Elena, out of her country and into a better life. These characters circle each other and make the moves necessary to get ahead in life, or at least get to where they want to be, beyond their current selves. Added into the mix is a detective we learn very little about, with her own ambitions and motivations.
It's a sort of noir/crime drama with Mandel's signature clarity and sophistication. Not your typical thriller, but thrilling nonetheless. It's clever, character-driven, but equally as compelling in form, with pacing that keeps you going with ease. A perfect book to get me out of my foggy head and focus on another life for a bit, and a lovely addition to the author's body of work.
This one is a more simple and smaller scale story of crime and retribution, of instability and fear in a society that teeters on the edge of collapse. What does it take to 'make it out'?: for Anton, that's out of the family business; for Aria, out of poverty and isolation; for Elena, out of her country and into a better life. These characters circle each other and make the moves necessary to get ahead in life, or at least get to where they want to be, beyond their current selves. Added into the mix is a detective we learn very little about, with her own ambitions and motivations.
It's a sort of noir/crime drama with Mandel's signature clarity and sophistication. Not your typical thriller, but thrilling nonetheless. It's clever, character-driven, but equally as compelling in form, with pacing that keeps you going with ease. A perfect book to get me out of my foggy head and focus on another life for a bit, and a lovely addition to the author's body of work.
July 24, 2014
I liked the structure of this book a lot, but I found myself not particularly involved. It left me feeling rather unmoved.
It was odd, really; it started off feeling like a thriller, but then those elements sort of dropped out and it became a more regular novel, as it were, but one that was built really well. I found myself appreciating the way the story was unfolding, intellectually, and thinking, "well, this is clever," but I kept feeling a bit detached from the characters themselves (even when one important scene took place on a block friends of mine used to live on).
I also liked the way the cat became a plot point. I know it's a longstanding joke in movie land (see Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need) but this wasn't just a cheap one-shot effect. The cat was important at various moments--as a genuinely loved pet should be, really.
Conversely, I didn't love the way Sophie, the fiancee, was portrayed; I have a better sense of the cat's personality than I do of hers. Right from the start she's described as difficult and high-maintenance, but there's no real explanation of why she's like that in the first place.
It was odd, really; it started off feeling like a thriller, but then those elements sort of dropped out and it became a more regular novel, as it were, but one that was built really well. I found myself appreciating the way the story was unfolding, intellectually, and thinking, "well, this is clever," but I kept feeling a bit detached from the characters themselves (even when one important scene took place on a block friends of mine used to live on).
I also liked the way the cat became a plot point. I know it's a longstanding joke in movie land (see Save the Cat!: The Last Book on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need) but this wasn't just a cheap one-shot effect. The cat was important at various moments--as a genuinely loved pet should be, really.
Conversely, I didn't love the way Sophie, the fiancee, was portrayed; I have a better sense of the cat's personality than I do of hers. Right from the start she's described as difficult and high-maintenance, but there's no real explanation of why she's like that in the first place.
October 17, 2022
My fifth Emily St. John Mandel novel and it's another five glowing stars -- just like all the others.
September 24, 2014
I'm a fan of this young author! Emily St. John Mandel is a talented writer. If people enjoy reading 'Tana French' --I think they will enjoy 'Emily St. John Mandel.
I still have her 3rd book yet to read...
I still have her 3rd book yet to read...
September 27, 2023
This was a palate cleanser. The novels of Emily St. John Mandel serve that purpose well for me. I always enjoy her prose and her voice. There is a haunted quality to her writing and her characters are lost in life or just lonely; her prose is clean and succinct. I have learned that her stories can vary widely, which is the unpredictable part of the experience, but I value that as well. In The Singer’s Gun Anton Waker is raised by parents he loves and who love him; the only problem is his parents are criminals. They acquire fraudulent objects, restore them and sell them. When Anton’s cousin, Aria, with whom Anton grows up, embarks on her own criminal enterprise, Anton joins, is successful and profits. But what he wants is what he sees so many others have: an office job and a normal family.
For me this novel had a couple of logic problems, developments that did not make sense or did not feel supported by preceding events, but otherwise, it was exactly what I needed. It cleared my head and left me with that enjoyable reading experience that allowed me to move on with excitement to something new.
For me this novel had a couple of logic problems, developments that did not make sense or did not feel supported by preceding events, but otherwise, it was exactly what I needed. It cleared my head and left me with that enjoyable reading experience that allowed me to move on with excitement to something new.
July 17, 2022
"Nothing is over yet, she told herself. The cat's still inside."
Actual Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I’m going to keep this review fairly short, as I’ve already spread my love for Emily St. John Mandel so many times before on this site, that I feel like I’m becoming a broken record. She stands out as one of my favourite writers of all time, with her absolute mastery over the art of language, structuring, character-work and story-telling as a whole. I love her knack for stories that feel so “reaching” and yet intimate in scope; her narratives and characters appear fractured over different places in time and space, which cements the sense of quiet isolation that’s present in all her work. Yet she also manages to thread all these lines together into an interconnected story, where all the elements and details just fall into perfect place.
The Singers Gun has all these elements in place, yet despite being I sold 4.5-star read, is still my least favourite Mandel thus far. It’s fully a matter of personal taste, as this particular story and characters were simply least appealing to me. Anton’s attempted escape from his criminally tied past, creates the perfect backdrop for Mandel to work her character-magic, but it’s simply a trope that I don’t tend to love personally.
If you want to get into Emily St. John Mandels work (which YOU SHOULD!), and are usually more of a thriller-mystery reader, I feel like this might be your perfect entry point. If you’re an established ESJM-fan like me, you already know what you’re in for. Don’t just stick to her latest works: the “older stuff” is (almost!) just as brilliant!
Actual Rating: 4.5/5 stars
I’m going to keep this review fairly short, as I’ve already spread my love for Emily St. John Mandel so many times before on this site, that I feel like I’m becoming a broken record. She stands out as one of my favourite writers of all time, with her absolute mastery over the art of language, structuring, character-work and story-telling as a whole. I love her knack for stories that feel so “reaching” and yet intimate in scope; her narratives and characters appear fractured over different places in time and space, which cements the sense of quiet isolation that’s present in all her work. Yet she also manages to thread all these lines together into an interconnected story, where all the elements and details just fall into perfect place.
The Singers Gun has all these elements in place, yet despite being I sold 4.5-star read, is still my least favourite Mandel thus far. It’s fully a matter of personal taste, as this particular story and characters were simply least appealing to me. Anton’s attempted escape from his criminally tied past, creates the perfect backdrop for Mandel to work her character-magic, but it’s simply a trope that I don’t tend to love personally.
If you want to get into Emily St. John Mandels work (which YOU SHOULD!), and are usually more of a thriller-mystery reader, I feel like this might be your perfect entry point. If you’re an established ESJM-fan like me, you already know what you’re in for. Don’t just stick to her latest works: the “older stuff” is (almost!) just as brilliant!
June 5, 2010
When I first read Last Night in Montreal I said to myself this (and books like this) is why I became a bookseller in the first place. Well, after having finished The Singer's Gun I have to say it again. When one finds a new author who writes a book you lose yourself in and follows it up with something as good or better, well, this makes life worth living.
Begining in a beaucratic hell worthy of Kafka, its turns into something wholely unexpected and surprising. To speak of the plot, I think, would deprive a reader something of the surprise one gets when the lives of these people unfold, revealing their pasts and their present occupations. Never-the-less, it is a wonderful book that I couldn't put down about people trying to find themselves a home, somewhere to belong. And they find it not in a place or a job but in a person and a cat.
The best books tend to reach out and speak to you and you alone and these people spoke to me. Their concerns about jobs and the soul destroying nature of the workaday world, their quiet desperation about what life has dealt out to them and the hope at the end struck a cord deep within me.
It is one of those quiet books that speaks loudly of the human condition and of two people caught up in it all.
Begining in a beaucratic hell worthy of Kafka, its turns into something wholely unexpected and surprising. To speak of the plot, I think, would deprive a reader something of the surprise one gets when the lives of these people unfold, revealing their pasts and their present occupations. Never-the-less, it is a wonderful book that I couldn't put down about people trying to find themselves a home, somewhere to belong. And they find it not in a place or a job but in a person and a cat.
The best books tend to reach out and speak to you and you alone and these people spoke to me. Their concerns about jobs and the soul destroying nature of the workaday world, their quiet desperation about what life has dealt out to them and the hope at the end struck a cord deep within me.
It is one of those quiet books that speaks loudly of the human condition and of two people caught up in it all.
February 18, 2021
3.5 rounded down
The Singer's Gun is similar in some ways to The Glass Hotel - both are multi-character narratives with a close focus on a couple of key characters, both focus on crimes and have characters deceiving others and some international element to the narrative.
As with TGH, I also found this to read very quickly, and it was something of a page-turner. That said, the novel did feel underdeveloped in some places (specifically Aria, Sophie and Elena's characters) which has meant I've rounded my rating down.
I'm still keen to check out The Lola Quartet and Last Night in Montreal soon (Station Eleven didn't really work for me, but maybe I'll give it another go some time).
The Singer's Gun is similar in some ways to The Glass Hotel - both are multi-character narratives with a close focus on a couple of key characters, both focus on crimes and have characters deceiving others and some international element to the narrative.
As with TGH, I also found this to read very quickly, and it was something of a page-turner. That said, the novel did feel underdeveloped in some places (specifically Aria, Sophie and Elena's characters) which has meant I've rounded my rating down.
I'm still keen to check out The Lola Quartet and Last Night in Montreal soon (Station Eleven didn't really work for me, but maybe I'll give it another go some time).
January 12, 2011
I needed to sleep on this one before commenting. When I read the very first review of The Singer’s Gun, I knew it was a book I wanted to read. Words like half truths, exploration of moral compass, suspenseful, were enough to add this to my TBR pile. Then The Singer’s Gun started showing up on some Best of 2010 lists and I knew I had to move it up on my list.
The Singer’s Gun was not quite what I was expecting. It is not a crime novel in the usual sense. Rather than sum up the plot let me tell you what for me was the strongest element of "like". The exploration of what makes someone good is the fundamental thought that I will keep from this read. I'd love to discuss what constitutes someone as being a good person, making this a good selection for book discussion.
The hype of book reviews, awards, etc. often makes it hard for a book to live up to my expectations. I liked this; maybe not as much as some but enough to seek out Mandel’s first book, The Last Night in Montreal.
The Singer’s Gun was not quite what I was expecting. It is not a crime novel in the usual sense. Rather than sum up the plot let me tell you what for me was the strongest element of "like". The exploration of what makes someone good is the fundamental thought that I will keep from this read. I'd love to discuss what constitutes someone as being a good person, making this a good selection for book discussion.
The hype of book reviews, awards, etc. often makes it hard for a book to live up to my expectations. I liked this; maybe not as much as some but enough to seek out Mandel’s first book, The Last Night in Montreal.
January 7, 2024
Add Emily St John Mandel to my list of favourite author who can do no wrong.
While her most popular novel Station Eleven is my least favourite of hers (3 stars, still liked it), I absolutely adored The Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility. A couple of weeks ago I heard one of my favourite podcasters including The Singer's Gun as one of her top 10 reads of the year, it reminded me that Ms Mandel still has a few titles in her backlist that I haven't gotten to. So, as I couldn't decide what to pick from my existing to-read pile, I decided on this one.
The Singer's Gun has more of a crime novel feel to it, in the way that crime was a part of The Glass Hotel. Despite a somewhat stilted beginning, due to alternating timelines requiring patience to settle into the story, once you're settled in the story flows beautifully.
The story revolves around Anton and Aria, two cousins involved in the family's dealings with stolen artifacts. They eventually branch out and start their own line of fraud. I won't divulge any more plot as it is best discovered in the reading experience. As are the locales: the story is set in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Italian Island of Ischia, which is so breathtakingly beautiful in the novel I now long to go there.
I was less enthusiastic about how the novel ended, but that doesn't really matter. I had this reading experience pegged at five stars for 264 out of 265 pages so I refuse to downgrade it just for that. And the fact that this was only 265 pages is a huge plus. Such a small time commitment but such valued time reading it.
I really love reading this lady.
While her most popular novel Station Eleven is my least favourite of hers (3 stars, still liked it), I absolutely adored The Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility. A couple of weeks ago I heard one of my favourite podcasters including The Singer's Gun as one of her top 10 reads of the year, it reminded me that Ms Mandel still has a few titles in her backlist that I haven't gotten to. So, as I couldn't decide what to pick from my existing to-read pile, I decided on this one.
The Singer's Gun has more of a crime novel feel to it, in the way that crime was a part of The Glass Hotel. Despite a somewhat stilted beginning, due to alternating timelines requiring patience to settle into the story, once you're settled in the story flows beautifully.
The story revolves around Anton and Aria, two cousins involved in the family's dealings with stolen artifacts. They eventually branch out and start their own line of fraud. I won't divulge any more plot as it is best discovered in the reading experience. As are the locales: the story is set in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Italian Island of Ischia, which is so breathtakingly beautiful in the novel I now long to go there.
I was less enthusiastic about how the novel ended, but that doesn't really matter. I had this reading experience pegged at five stars for 264 out of 265 pages so I refuse to downgrade it just for that. And the fact that this was only 265 pages is a huge plus. Such a small time commitment but such valued time reading it.
I really love reading this lady.
September 19, 2023
As I've come to expect from Mandel's writing, this was a wonderful adventure through a time kaleidoscopic... lots of moving forward and backwards from the starting point of the novel until everything starts to coalesce together into the final picture in the last few chapters. Pretty much all of the characters in this book were morally-grey at best, downright criminal at worst, but I still ended up deeply invested in understanding their stories and motivations.
February 7, 2017
Brilliant as always - Emily St John Mandel writes so beautifully, so perfectly, and the pacing and tone throughout is so poised and well thought-out. Her characterisation and the subtly of her writing is as strong here as in her other books - I highly recommend!
September 25, 2014
while not as accomplished as the superb Station Eleven which brought the author to my attention and made me get all her novels to date, The Singer's Gun is a page turner that one cannot put down, full of interesting characters - most notably Anton and his desperate quest for "normality", though cutting corners and having a troubled past may catch with him at any moment, and Elena, a Canadian illegal (!!) who also wants a regular life; the concerned US policewoman (ok State Dept investigator into smuggling of illegal aliens and fake id's) and the hard gangster Aria, cousin of Anton, are more cliched and a bit over the top, while the plot has way too many coincidences and stuff that seems a bit illogical (how his company treats Anton, the way the agent runs her investigation, why Elena who is a Canadian native, simply cannot reinvent herself in Toronto or Vancouver if her life falls to pieces here and she has to leave NY and the US, as it's not like Toronto is her native Northwestern Territories wilderness but a modern and accomplished city as almost any in the US, choice that undocumented immigrants from poorer places simply do not have), but that is par for the course for thrillers and one reason i rarely read them unless there are strong reasons like here.
The structure is also good, again not as accomplished and complex as in Station Eleven, but on the same lines, alternating past with present, slowly dripping revelations...
A very good ending - both open and close enough for satisfaction - and of course the writing magic itself and a book I again heartily recommend
The structure is also good, again not as accomplished and complex as in Station Eleven, but on the same lines, alternating past with present, slowly dripping revelations...
A very good ending - both open and close enough for satisfaction - and of course the writing magic itself and a book I again heartily recommend
July 3, 2022
My second or perhaps third reading, two of which before joining GR. Emily St John Mandel's first two novels, although written on a smaller scale than Station Eleven, Glass Hotel, and Sea of Tranquility are every bit as absorbing. No matter how unlikely her characters — and in The Singer's Gun no matter how despicable the main character — Mandel manages to invest them with emotional depth and nuance. I enjoy all Mandel novels, but I actually miss the narrower focus of her initial three. Unforgettable.
December 23, 2015
A New York yuppie, the only honest member of his dodgy family, is blackmailed into playing bagman for a cousin's shady deal while on his honeymoon on an Italian island. The marriage is the first thing that succumbs; other extinctions follow. There is considerable backstory, involving furtive love affairs, doomed relationships and federal investigations. I can't quite make up my mind about this book; it's reasonably entertaining, smoothly written, and menacing enough in the end. It's original and quirky, too, taking us down interesting byways in character and setting. So why didn't I like it more? Not sure. It takes a little getting used to because of multiple converging story lines and some chronological skipping around, but that's not really a problem. I think ultimately I wanted a hero, and there really isn't one in this book. And the title... A discussion would involve spoilers, so I will just say that I'm not sure it bears the weight the author evidently wanted it to. Anyway, not bad, but not really terrific, either.
February 13, 2021
i'm so obsessed with emily st john mandel's ability to tell stories. she can make the most tiny of details seem broad and important, and the biggest expansive stories feel intimate. it's really unique and she has such a lovely way of writing people as tangible and likeable. they feel like people i've met and know, and for someone as skeptical and cynical as myself that's remarkable.
April 2, 2020
While I loved Ms. St. John Mandel's "Station Eleven," this book disappointed me. The characters weren't engaging or interesting, I never cared about them and the story didn't go anywhere. I kept reading, thinking something exciting would eventually happen, but nothing ever did.
April 11, 2012
I just love this author! I wish she wrote more novels though of course I don't want to rush her. She is young and hopefully will get to keep publishing books for years to come. This is her second, after Last Night in Montreal. Her third, The Lola Quartet, will be released in May and I can hardly wait.
Both books so far have been essentially mysteries but Ms Mandel puts her own signature on the genre. In The Singer's Gun, a title which indeed does name the murder weapon, Anton is the son of criminals. He has gone straight but has the oddest relationship to his parents and a nefarious cousin. He is married to a deeply neurotic cellist and his criminal past will not let him go.
In less than 300 pages, the lives of these people are revealed in a manner as engrossing as any thriller. But what I love about Mandel's writing is her characters. They are the fractured, broken people so often found in contemporary literature yet by some authorly magic she makes me love them. I desperately want to know each one's story; what made them who they are. I know going in that none will have a truly happy ending but after two novels, I now know that she will allow an occasional character to escape his or her destiny, even if only marginally.
The Singer's Gun is awash in the various vicious crimes of today. By putting a face and a personality to the criminals, Mandel makes it almost possible to forgive them because of the forces that have driven them. The late John Gardner wrote pages about the role of morality in fiction, back in the 1970s when we thought morality had a chance and before he died while driving drunk on his motorcycle. Emily St John demonstrates that any chance of relying on a moral universe is long gone and that it is fairly random as to whether any sort of morality pays off.
Just before reading The Singer's Gun, I had been contemplating how identity, in my family, amongst my friends and associates, even in myself, is hardly ever what appears on the surface. I wondered how many people have anyone to whom they can reveal their true thoughts and emotions. Mandel's characters are examples of this disconnect, the vast gulf between the outward persona and the inward despair, sorrows, and depression of human beings. She is not Dostoesvsky (yet) but she comes as close as anyone I have been reading lately.
September 25, 2018
Ahoy there me mateys! I adored station eleven and so I thought I would read another book by this wonderful author. Jenny @ readingtheend stated in me comments section of me review of station eleven that “The Singer’s Gun is my other favorite of her books — it’s way way far behind Station Eleven in awesomeness, but it has a similarly intricate plot.” So I listened to Jenny and read this book.
And aye, I enjoyed it immensely. This was off the charts (i.e. a non sci-fi, fantasy, or YA title) and was described as a murder mystery. Well there is a murder and an investigator but this is not a who-dun-it tale. What ye do get is the same type of character exploration that made me fall in love with the author’s writing style in the first place.
This novel follows Anton Waker whose family is part of an organized crime scheme to sell stolen goods. All Anton has ever wanted was to clean up his act and have a normal job on the right side of the law. He is living this dream when his past comes back to haunt him and ruin his attempt at normalcy.
In watching Anton’s life dissolve, ye be introduced to an odd host of people. The story rambles in a delightful way wherein ye have no idea where the story is going, the people are kinda crazy and slightly unlikable, and yet it be mesmerizing. And of course, as Jenny says, it is an intricate plot. I loved how the strings were weaved together at the end.
Even though I was hesitant about all of the characters in the beginning, I eventually was won over enough to be happy for the consequences portrayed in the end. I found the ending more satisfying than I would have thought.
It was a quick read and I avidly turned the pages. I appreciate the detailed plot but it is the character portrayal that makes me want to read another book by this author. And the explanation for the title entertained me. I am glad I read station eleven first but am extremely grateful for me matey’s recommendation of this great book for me second read.
Side note: I still think the author’s name is delicious! Arrr!
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
And aye, I enjoyed it immensely. This was off the charts (i.e. a non sci-fi, fantasy, or YA title) and was described as a murder mystery. Well there is a murder and an investigator but this is not a who-dun-it tale. What ye do get is the same type of character exploration that made me fall in love with the author’s writing style in the first place.
This novel follows Anton Waker whose family is part of an organized crime scheme to sell stolen goods. All Anton has ever wanted was to clean up his act and have a normal job on the right side of the law. He is living this dream when his past comes back to haunt him and ruin his attempt at normalcy.
In watching Anton’s life dissolve, ye be introduced to an odd host of people. The story rambles in a delightful way wherein ye have no idea where the story is going, the people are kinda crazy and slightly unlikable, and yet it be mesmerizing. And of course, as Jenny says, it is an intricate plot. I loved how the strings were weaved together at the end.
Even though I was hesitant about all of the characters in the beginning, I eventually was won over enough to be happy for the consequences portrayed in the end. I found the ending more satisfying than I would have thought.
It was a quick read and I avidly turned the pages. I appreciate the detailed plot but it is the character portrayal that makes me want to read another book by this author. And the explanation for the title entertained me. I am glad I read station eleven first but am extremely grateful for me matey’s recommendation of this great book for me second read.
Side note: I still think the author’s name is delicious! Arrr!
Check out me other reviews at https://thecaptainsquartersblog.wordp...
November 17, 2020
Just the way it worked out, I read this fairly close to reading The Glass Hotel, and I think I see a little more now about what St. John Mandel is interested in. In both books, she shows us people who are trying to escape their pasts, people who cannot seem to follow the rules (and sometimes the law).
Here, St. John Mandel shows us a man who grew up in a family of 'architectural salvagers,' aka people who receive looted antiques from old homes, and comes of age selling passports and green cards to people who aren't, but would like to be, American citizens. When Anton discovers that someone close to his age with the same name graduated from Harvard, he seizes the opportunity to create a ticket for himself out of the shadowy margins and into a normal job with a normal wife. But of course nothing is ever that simple.
When I read that plot summary, its sounds like a thriller. But that's not what this is at all. It's more of an exploration of the kind of person who simultaneously longs to reinvent themselves and escape, but also consistently takes the easiest path open to them. I won't say a lot more about the plot, because I think it's better to go in knowing less, but I thought St. John Mandel did a nice job balancing plot and character development, and I feel like she did a great job exploring a type I don't often come across in literature. Certainly, a person with big dreams who lacks the wherewithal to realize them is a familiar figure, but this combination of longing and avoidance felt fresh to me.
There's a fair amount going on here, and the stakes are very real. If your main complaint with literary fiction is its slow plotting, this is a good one to pick up. But St. John Mandel does still give her characters a fair amount of room to breathe, so don't go into this expecting a thriller.
Here, St. John Mandel shows us a man who grew up in a family of 'architectural salvagers,' aka people who receive looted antiques from old homes, and comes of age selling passports and green cards to people who aren't, but would like to be, American citizens. When Anton discovers that someone close to his age with the same name graduated from Harvard, he seizes the opportunity to create a ticket for himself out of the shadowy margins and into a normal job with a normal wife. But of course nothing is ever that simple.
When I read that plot summary, its sounds like a thriller. But that's not what this is at all. It's more of an exploration of the kind of person who simultaneously longs to reinvent themselves and escape, but also consistently takes the easiest path open to them. I won't say a lot more about the plot, because I think it's better to go in knowing less, but I thought St. John Mandel did a nice job balancing plot and character development, and I feel like she did a great job exploring a type I don't often come across in literature. Certainly, a person with big dreams who lacks the wherewithal to realize them is a familiar figure, but this combination of longing and avoidance felt fresh to me.
There's a fair amount going on here, and the stakes are very real. If your main complaint with literary fiction is its slow plotting, this is a good one to pick up. But St. John Mandel does still give her characters a fair amount of room to breathe, so don't go into this expecting a thriller.
June 24, 2023
The Singer’s Gun was ESJM’s second novel and it’s very apparent how her style evolved over the course of her career. This book contains a lot of the elements of her later books, featuring the wilds of Northern Canada, NYC and a shipping theme.
As with all of her books, The Singer’s Gun is atmospheric, cinematic, moody and noir. Her characters are ever so slightly hazy as though hidden behind a gauzy veil. The story is fragmented and has the feel of a dropped phone call where only half the information has been imparted. Slowly, slowly, it comes together, all of the elements falling into place as though being moved by a ghostly hand.
In this one, Anton and Aria are cousins. Their family is involved in some shady business involving stolen goods, but Anton has always wanted a better life, striving to work in the corporate world earning an honest living. He gets mixed up in Aria’s murky business dealings and an investigator is (unbeknownst to him) on his trail.
Seeking to get away from Aria, he marries his long-term girlfriend Sophie and they honeymoon together on Ischia where Anton promises to do one last deal for Aria before extricating himself. It remains to be seen though, whether he can outrun his past.
Once again, I loved the writing; ESJM is so skilful in creating a shadowy atmosphere. On this occasion (as with her debut), I felt the pacing was a little off and the story lacked the requisite tension to really grip the reader. Some of the scenes in the office were repetitive. A worthwhile read for fans of her work and I can imagine this one translating very well on to the big screen. 3.5/5⭐️
As with all of her books, The Singer’s Gun is atmospheric, cinematic, moody and noir. Her characters are ever so slightly hazy as though hidden behind a gauzy veil. The story is fragmented and has the feel of a dropped phone call where only half the information has been imparted. Slowly, slowly, it comes together, all of the elements falling into place as though being moved by a ghostly hand.
In this one, Anton and Aria are cousins. Their family is involved in some shady business involving stolen goods, but Anton has always wanted a better life, striving to work in the corporate world earning an honest living. He gets mixed up in Aria’s murky business dealings and an investigator is (unbeknownst to him) on his trail.
Seeking to get away from Aria, he marries his long-term girlfriend Sophie and they honeymoon together on Ischia where Anton promises to do one last deal for Aria before extricating himself. It remains to be seen though, whether he can outrun his past.
Once again, I loved the writing; ESJM is so skilful in creating a shadowy atmosphere. On this occasion (as with her debut), I felt the pacing was a little off and the story lacked the requisite tension to really grip the reader. Some of the scenes in the office were repetitive. A worthwhile read for fans of her work and I can imagine this one translating very well on to the big screen. 3.5/5⭐️
December 23, 2010
We are told early on in The Singer’s Gun that everything is holy. Anton’s mother told him that, “God is the universe,” and from then on Anton looked at the trees, the stars, the train stations all as holy places of creation. Emily St. John Mandel is such a phenomenal writer that I started to see everything in her novel as holy as well.
The Singer’s Gun is book that only could have been written now, after 9/11, after the war on terror, after the breaches by our government in order to keep us “free”. Anton Waker gets caught up in all of this. He reminded me of Jay Gatsby-searching fruitlessly for the American Dream that was never created for someone like him.
On an allegorical level, I completely bough into the plot of The Singer’s Gun. On the literal, however, there was one part that still bothers me. Without giving too much away there is one section where blackmailing became involved in the story. I found some of the characters’ reactions unbelievably and obnoxious. Still, in a book as beautifully written as this one, that seems like a small price to pay.
In the end Mandel created a book that simultaneously shows a world that is holy and unholy, truthful and full of lies. The Singer’s Gun is a book that I will not soon forget, and it is one that I wish I had picked up sooner.
The Singer’s Gun is book that only could have been written now, after 9/11, after the war on terror, after the breaches by our government in order to keep us “free”. Anton Waker gets caught up in all of this. He reminded me of Jay Gatsby-searching fruitlessly for the American Dream that was never created for someone like him.
On an allegorical level, I completely bough into the plot of The Singer’s Gun. On the literal, however, there was one part that still bothers me. Without giving too much away there is one section where blackmailing became involved in the story. I found some of the characters’ reactions unbelievably and obnoxious. Still, in a book as beautifully written as this one, that seems like a small price to pay.
In the end Mandel created a book that simultaneously shows a world that is holy and unholy, truthful and full of lies. The Singer’s Gun is a book that I will not soon forget, and it is one that I wish I had picked up sooner.
March 28, 2016
3 1/2, rounded up to 4 because of her always top notch writing and because I'm a fan girl. This is the 3rd (of 4?) ESJM books I've read, and I adored it just a little less than the other two. I'm not sure where this falls in the chronology of her novels. Her distinct style is there, and her writing is lovely as ever, but there was less certainty in the plot and not as much depth in the characters as in her other work. I still recommend it, and I still plan to read The Lola Quartet. She's become a favorite since I first discovered her through Station Eleven and I hope she keeps up the pace. I can't wait to see what she does next.
February 10, 2020
What took me so long to pick this up?!? I loved it. Brilliant structure, brilliant story-telling. Mandel has a way of beautifully humanizing even very morally squishy characters. (And there’s a great cat character in it too.)
May 25, 2022
Emily St. John Mandel is easily my favorite author right now. I love how she intertwines quiet drama with mystery and thriller. The storytelling in The Singer’s Gun kept me on the edge of my seat and the entire story is truly thought provoking. So well done!
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