"Hysterically funny, beautifully written. . . . Warming and endearing, brilliant."-Anne Tyler, New Republic After four years of college in New England, Louise Brown is back in New Orleans, steeped in society's "wastrel-youth contingent" yet somewhat detached, observing it all. From one lush, sweltering event to another, Violent Love, Breakdowns, Moods, laconic speech, and drunkenness reign, inscribing the South's hallmarks of defeat and refuge in a group of people as intense and adrift as one could encounter. At the center (in Louise's eyes) is Claude Collier, rumpled, accident prone, supremely sweet-and desperate. For Claude, Louise is his steadying focus; for Louise, Claude is the only man who can break her heart "into a million pieces on the floor." By turns elegiac and eccentric, Lives of the Saints is the debut novel that marked Nancy Lemann as a rising literary star. PRAISE FOR THE BOOK "A lovely nutty book about a lovely nutty girl. . . . Hilarious, haunting, poignant."-Walker Percy "Spikily comic. . . . This is how Blanche DuBois talked before the lampshade was torn away and life became lit with a naked bulb." -James Wolcott, New York Review of Books Nancy Lemann is also the author of Sportsman's Paradise, a novel, and The Ritz of the Bayou, an account of the trials of Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards. She lives in San Diego.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Highly recommend, but not as a romantic tale of lost love.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lives of the Saints (Voices of the South) (Paperback)
This is an odd little book. While I was not "blown away" or captivated by the characters, I have been thinking about LIVES OF THE SAINTS a great deal since I finished it. Perhaps I am too practical (or too northern), but I kept wishing that Claude would get professional help. The secondary characters were fascinating and the book is well-written. I felt that Louise was a good narrator but a weak character. Byron and Mary Grace, however, were personal favorites. I highly recommend this book, but don't expect a romantic tale of lost love because I don't think that that's what this gin-soaked book was really about. Rather, I see Claude as a metaphor for the lost dreams/opportunities of the "South" wrapped in the mannerisms and odd brilliance of a gentleman. A good, thought-provoking read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life in New Orleans,
By River (Akron, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Lives of the Saints (Voices of the South) (Paperback)
This book is beautifully written. It clearly favors slice of life scenes over linear plot. She does a wonderful job of portraying the lives of the eccentric upper class in an eccentric city (New Orleans).
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It charmed me,
By A Customer
This review is from: Lives of the Saints (Voices of the South) (Paperback)
I loved this book (though did have to take a leap of faith and not just get irritated by her beginning words with CAPITAL letters to give them intensity...). It reminded me of the joy I felt as an adolescent reading all the Glass stories by Salinger.
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