Bland on the run
Emily
St. John Mandel’s slim debut, an elegy for a broken relationship,
leaves a greater impression in memory than it makes in reading. Lilia
is a chronic runaway, constantly on the road since she was seven,
leaving behind a trail of memories and broken hearts in each temporary
home. Eli is Lilia’s latest casualty, a nice boy who follows her trail
from New York to Montreal. Also in pursuit is Christopher, an obsessed
private investigator who leaves behind his own daughter. As the title
implies, the novel dwells in the past. It’s a road novel through time,
its morose protagonists sketched in spare, impressionistic prose. The
atmosphere is better than the characterization. Mandel has an
impressive command of the language of longing, but the lovers
themselves feel more like rough drafts than human beings. Still, the
pages fly, and the final period leaves a palpable sense of loss.