Liars and Saints [Import] [Hardcover]

Maile Meloy (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd; Large Print Ed edition (April 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1843957604
• ISBN-13: 978-1843957607
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (50 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Maile Meloy is the author of the story collection Half in Love and the novel Liars and Saints, which was shortlisted for the 2005 Orange Prize. Meloy's stories have been published in The New Yorker, and she has received The Paris Review's Aga Khan Prize for Fiction, the PEN/Malamud Award, the Rosenthal Foundation Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She lives in California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Believe the hype, June 21, 2003

By 

"mwn52" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Liars and Saints (Hardcover)

Although I'd read and enjoyed Maile Meloy's short story collection, Half in Love, I was skeptical that her first novel would live up to the praise lavished on it by reviewers. I was delighted to discover that the reviewers were right. This is a remarkable book. In clear, unadorned prose Meloy offers a compelling family saga that spans more than four generations, three continents and almost sixty years. And she does it all in barely more than 250 pages. If you don't read this book you will say it's impossible, but she pulls it off with grace, empathy for every one of her flawed characters and powerful insight into the human mind and heart. As a writer of fiction myself I am in awe of her talent. Like all great novels, this one has the power to transform the way you look at the world.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Liars and Saints, June 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Liars and Saints (Hardcover)

With a matter-of-fact, curt style of writing, Maile Meloy succintly tells the story of four generations of a catholic family from California. Despite the brevity with which she writes the novel, Meloy still manages to explore the fears, thoughts, and emotions of her characters in an insightful and intelligent manner. By covering so many generations and telling the story from each person's perspective, she allows for the reader to gain an understanding of the overall dynamic between the characters. It is an extremely engaging, easy to read story that thoughtfully explores the lives of a superficially normal but deeply complex family.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick & To The Point, August 27, 2003

By 

Brett Benner (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Liars and Saints (Hardcover)

The title of my review is referencing Maile Meloy's ease at getting to the heart of an emotion without alot of wordy excess.
This is a multi-generational story of a Catholic family growing up between World War II, and present day. She jumps chapter to chapter from siblings to parents, to grandparents, and down to great grandchildren, each having their own impressively distinct voice and journey.
What's so great about this book is that it moves at such a wonderful pace leaving you with each character for just long enough, before shifting focus and making you want to find out even more about the person you just left. I just found them all fascinating and so interesting. Even the few that were slightly less developed Meloy still managed to make you feel empathically connected to. This is an emotionally honest novel with some surprising turns, and a satisfying conclusion.One of the better books I've read this year.