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March 15, 2020

Book Review: The Singer's Gun

The Singer's Gun, by Emily St. John Mandel


First off, this is a good book. It's well written, and its story hits all the strong points -- family, love, crime, and travel.

Yet, it has a couple of failings. Some of the characters' actions make you wonder what they -- or their creator -- were thinking. Mandel's characters tend to be passive kettles for the actions of others. For instance, Anton Waker, the protagomist in this book, seems to go through life accepting that things just happen to him. He may not like them; he doesn't really want them to continue, but he seems unable or unwilling to do anything about them.

The book also contains gaping plots holes that make you look askance, twist your face into a quizzical grimace, and ask, "what the ???" Story arcs seem contrived to further a dilemma, but the easiest solution is ignored. Important decisions are pre-ordained, despite a character's disinclination to take that route. Even when the original problem is resolved, the character continues on the ill-chosen path, with severe consequences.

The novel tells the story of Waker, the Brooklyn-born son of an immigrant couple who traffic in stolen artifacts. The parents are minor characters in the tale, but their adoption of a niece left behind when her parents are deported give them a benevolent sheen over their criminality. 

The niece, Aria, starts out as a street-wise urchin, but turns into a woman who runs her own criminal enterprise, which involves Anton more or less against his will. Anton finds a temporary way out, but Aria wants to drag him back in, and he feels forced to go along. 

Thus we wind up in Ischia, a tiny tourist village on a small island off the coast of Naples. A good part of the story occurs here, and the setting is beautiful. We understand why Anton feels compelled to stay.

But we fail to understand his hemming and hawing, his refusal to make a decision, and his inclination to just wait until something happens. When it does, we are neither surprised nor sympathetic.

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