I read 'Station Eleven' a few years ago and LOVED it - I couldn't understand why I'd never heard anyone talk about Emily St John Mandel's work before and was completely enthralled. However, it is a bit end-of-civilization-due-to-a-virus dystopian-y, so I wouldn't recommend reading it right now unless you're feeling pretty secure with pandemic panic. The Lola Quartet is the second book I've bought by the author and whilst I sort of enjoyed it, I don't feel it came even close to Station Eleven.
Written on a dual timeline, this book follows Gavin Saseki who, ten years after high school ended, suddenly finds himself not only separated from his wife, but curious about what happened to his high school girlfriend, who left without much of a goodbye. Disgraced in his career, he moves back to his home town with his sister to try and start afresh, but when she sees a child that she thinks might be the source of all those rumours back in the day about Gavin's girlfriend being pregnant, he finds himself ensconced in the past. Ten years in the past, we follow Anna, the old girlfriend; a teen mum who stole money from a drug dealer and is forced to go on the run.
I liked the idea of this story (I'm always up for a dramatic YA read), but I struggled to get to grips with this one. I found that I couldn't really connect with any of the characters, which made the drama seem less intense. I did find that as the book went on I became quite invested in the mystery and really wanted to know what Anna was doing, whether her daughter was Gavin's, and how he was going to get his life back on track, but it felt dragged out even for a short novel.
I gave this book 3 stars because I was interested in the story line, but the characters weren't well-developed enough for me.
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