The Singer's Gun by Emily St. John Mandel is a novel that delves into the life of Anton Waker, a man trying to escape his family's criminal past but is pulled back in by his cousin Aria for one last job. The story unfolds through multiple perspectives and timelines, weaving together themes of love, crime, and moral complexity. The plot moves between New York, the Arctic Circle, and an Italian island, exploring the characters' struggles with identity and the consequences of their past actions.
The writing style of Emily St. John Mandel in The Singer's Gun is praised for its ability to create complex and believable characters, shifting timelines that illuminate rather than confuse the story, and a subtle yet suspenseful narrative that keeps readers engaged. The book is described as having a melancholic feel, with a mix of eerie existential thriller elements that add depth to the storytelling.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings include themes of illegal activity, moral ambiguity, and complex family dynamics that may be distressing to some readers.
Has Romance?
The novel includes romantic elements, particularly in Anton's relationships, though romance is not its central focus.
From The Publisher:
From the award-winning, bestselling author of Station Eleven and The Glass Hotel, "a gripping story, full of moral ambiguities, where deception and betrayal become the norm, and where the expression 'a riddle wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma' is lifted to new heights" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
Everyone Anton Waker grew up with is corrupt. His parents dealt in stolen goods, and he was a successful purveyor of forged documents until he abandoned it all in his early twenties, determined to live a normal life, complete with career, apartment, and a fiancée who knows nothing of his criminal beginnings. He's on the verge of finally getting married when Aria-his cousin and former partner in crime-blackmails him into helping her with one last job.
Anton considers the task a small price for future freedom. But as he sets off for an Italian honeymoon, it soon becomes clear that the ghosts of his past can't be left behind so easily, and that the task Aria requires will cost him more than he could ever imagine.
Look for Emily St. John Mandel's new novel, Sea of Tranquility, coming in April 2022!
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1 comment(s)
In
The Singer's Gun, Emily St. John Mandel seems to be writing about "one last job" for a criminal turned straight. Anton Waker grew up with parents who sold stolen goods, and began selling social security cards and passports to illegal immigrants right out of high school with Aria, his cousin, as his business partner. After he decides to go straight, get a job in an office, and marry his beautiful cellist girlfriend, Aria blackmails him into doing one last job for her. Just deliver one package on your honeymoon and it will be over forever.
But the book, in my mind, is really about the movement of women's bodies. During flashbacks we see Anton meeting with customers to exchange passports for cash, and they are almost always women; Elena, originally his customer and later his lover, is one of them. These women want to secure their places in America, often describing the far away places they've come from in depressing terms. Aria drives a brand new Jaguar, moving herself around New York in luxury as a grown up, after being abandoned their by her parents as a child (they moved back to Ecuador).
Then there is the titular singer, who pops up in the middle of the book for a few brief scenes. She claims to have moved herself from Mexico to Italy under sketchy circumstances, and moves around the nightclub scene on the island with different names and backstories.
Of course, while passports and SSNs help women "become" Americans, there are more physical ways to move bodies into the country, and this is the crime circling the plot: human trafficking, "helping" immigrants (according to Aria) become Americans. Because what is there for them back home? When a Ukrainian girl does not survive her trip in a shipping container, she has no ID and none of the other women can identify her because they shared no language; she will likely never be identified and will be buried as a Jane Doe on American soil.
Is it possible to reinvent yourself with a few new papers? Or is it possible to lose the person you once were? Investigators in the book say there is always a paper trail, but the Ukrainian girl is a silent witness that maybe there isn't.
What can you read after
The Singer's Gun?
About the Author:
EMILY ST. JOHN MANDEL's five previous novels include The Glass Hotel and Station Eleven, which was a finalist for a National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and has been translated into thirty-two languages. She lives in New York City with her…
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