The Lola Quartet, by Emily St. John Mandel
The thing about this novel is that none of the characters is likable.
There is no one to root for. The main character, Gavin Sasaki, is deluded, melancholy, and irresponsible. The others are not good people, or are not fleshed out enough to determine.
The plot involves a teenage pregnancy, a runaway, stolen money, a fired reporter's desire to track down his possible connections to the mother and the child, and the backstories on the high school times and musical interests of most of those involved.
Some of the details are overstated. Coincidences abound. For instance, Sasaki is fired from his newspaper job for what is made out to be a major scandal, but in reality is a mundane transgression.
Frankly, I was disappointed. I have read several of Mandel's other works, and found them to be unique, thoughtful, and consequential. This one did not measure up.
Still, the book is well written, with lines such as, "She moved like a ghost through the caffeinated hours." Mandel's literary style of alternating tales of various characters is intriguing, if sometimes jumbled. The stories come together at the end, though, and most everything makes sense.
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