Lies of the Saints [Paperback]

Erin McGraw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1996

This classic Chronicle book remains available as a print-on-demand title. You can purchase it from an online bookseller or by order from your local bookstore.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Marriage and parenthood, "grubby and desperate," are explored in nine short stories by Erin McGraw. With characters both good-natured and reckless, she paints a realistic, albeit difficult, picture of transcending everyday mishaps and difficult relations through perseverance and marital affection. From Gwen, the newly re-married radio talk-show host whose charming ex tries to woo her on the air, to the Neills whose tough times with money troubles, a wild-hormoned teenage son, an unwanted pregnancy, and looming infidelity challenge their commitment. For all the trials and mistakes her characters endure, they manage to keep stumbling into happiness. And this, as McGraw illustrates, is what makes family life so enticing.

From Publishers Weekly

McGraw (Bodies at Sea) is a master creator of oddball yet always believable characters. This collection of quirky narratives teems with endearing misfits and the slightly skewed communication with which people slide past each other's meanings. In "The Return of the Argentine Tango Masters," deejay Gwen's ex-husband repeatedly calls into her radio show and gains public sympathy, to the dismay of both Gwen and her current spouse. In "A Suburban Story," a mother is celebrated for having performed a modern-day miracle by making endless sandwiches with only two loaves of bread and a small ham, but her husband and children only see the event in terms of how it interrupts their own lives. The last three stories follow the same Catholic family: in 1958, mother "Mary Grace" is jealous of her son's French tutor, a young woman who works in her husband Russ's office; in 1968, pious youngest daughter "Saint Tracy" loves her rosary and the dog her father has bought her, which falls ill; and in 1991, Russ has died and, after Mary Grace recklessly purchases a piano, her granddaughter "Kate" shows up unexpectedly, a fugitive from a music conservatory. These stories lack some of the lightness of the earlier ones, but they compensate with a rich understanding of familial relations.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books; First edition. edition (April 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811813150
• ISBN-13: 978-0811813150
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,663,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, May 18, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Lies of the Saints (Paperback)

Lies of the Saints is a rich, wonderful collection of stories! Erin McGraw is a well published story writer. Several of the stories here first appeared in The Atlantic Monthly and for good reason. Each story is a separate gem, finely tuned, always surprising, and often very funny as well. Erin McGraw has deep affection for her characters, who range from a radio talk show host beseiged on air by the attentions of her ex-husband to a surburban housewife who inexplicably begins to perform miracles (to the dismay of her family) to a much misused divorcee who returns home to her drunken, unwelcoming father only to find personal freedom in a most unlikely place. Three of the stories are interlinked, relating a family history of sorts. These are highly readable, literary stories in which not one word is wasted.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man, oh man, is she good, August 1, 2002

By 

Ron Cowie - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lies of the Saints (Paperback)

Look, the world is full of writers or people who write. Erin McGraw is a notch above this fray. She is plain spoken in her style. She is sharp in her delivery. Her stories are great moments. You could learn a lot by reading her stories. The first thing you'd learn is what great writing looks like in book form.
It's dumb, base and so very Hemingway of me, but; when reading her stuff, I think about bullfighting. What's up with that? Read this book and tell me. I want to know.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Promising Talent, August 30, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Lies of the Saints (Paperback)

I randomly picked up this short story collection while browsing the "M"'s in the Fiction section of my local library. The title sounded intrigueing (I grew up Catholic) and I decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing and smiling through the first few stories, and before I knew it, I was drawn into the characters and Erin McGraw's sardonic and honest prose style. Then the last few stories--the title tryptich--nearly broke my heart. (I actually had to skim "Saint Tracy" and "Russ" for fear that I would start crying--I was on public transport at the time.) Although I didn't feel that all the stories were equally strong, the ones that I liked I really loved. The collection is well worth a read, and one hopes that Erin McGraw continues her unique brand of story-telling.