The Revelation of Saint Bruce [Hardcover]

Tres Seymour (Author), Deborah Lanino (Author)

Book Description

Series: Venture-Health & the Human Body | Publication Date: October 1998

When high-school senior Bruce Wells inadvertently snitches on his friends, he learns painful lessons about being true to himself and different from his classmates.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Squeal. Snitch. Rat. Whatever you call it, teens have always regarded the betrayal of peers--by giving incriminating information to the authorities--as the ultimate moral crime. Even dedicated nonconformists like cynical Ellis, sharp and witty Jack, brilliant Carrie, and wannabe Teresa are shocked when Bruce, the trusted fifth member of their outsider posse, answers a teacher's questions about the day the other four shared a bottle of Jack Daniel's in a schoolroom where they had been left alone on their honor.

Bruce is appalled when his friends are suspended from school and banned from graduating. They blame him for the harsh punishment they receive--and eventually, so does the whole student body. He is ostracized and left alone to ponder his crime. But while Bruce regrets what happened because of his actions, he can't apologize. For him, truth is the only way there is. True to his uncomfortable nickname--Saint Bruce--he is moral simply because it's his nature. "Why?" his friends keep asking. But how much are they to blame? Should Bruce have lied to win their approval? And shouldn't the teacher who protected her job by betraying Bruce's confidence bear some of the guilt?

Wisely, Tres Seymour brings this short and intense story to a satisfying conclusion, but leaves the ethical dilemma unresolved. Teens will be fascinated with the novel's delicate and intricate examination of a moral issue that has real meaning for them, and savvy parents and teachers will find it an open door to some provocative discussion. (Ages 12 and older) --Patty Campbell

From Publishers Weekly

Bruce's friends call him a saint because he is so upstandingAbut that's before he rats them out. The story begins with Bruce and his Latin Club buddies and their distaste for organized sports and pep rallies ("Never have so few been so deafened by so many in so short a time for so little reason"). They think they should be excused from pre-game assemblies to "study." After petitioning the principal, they are allowed to miss the rallies and remain in the Latin room with their sponsoring teacher, Mrs. Atwell. All goes well until the fateful day that both Bruce and Mrs. Atwell are absent from school. While the rest of the school is cheering on the Carthage North football team, the Latin Club clique gets drunk instead of hitting the books. Whether or not Bruce is justified in telling the manipulative Mrs. Atwell becomes the central dilemma of the story. Bruce's "saintliness" seems automatic and not the result of any deliberate philosophy, with the result that he is more a vehicle than a character. The breeziness of Seymour's (Life in the Desert) writing, however, and his characters' wry summations in particular, prevent the book from becoming heavy-handed, and its questions about conformity and forgiveness will engage readers. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Orchard Books (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0531301095
• ISBN-13: 978-0531301098
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,196,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Living What You Believe., February 7, 2004

By 

tvtv3 "tvtv3" (Sorento, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Revelation of Saint Bruce (Hardcover)

How is a person to live ethically and keep his or her morals in an unethical world? What about "teenagers"? A lot of people say that they're going to do everything anyway so why try to stop them. Issues like these are what THE REVELATION OF SAINT BRUCE deals with. Bruce Wells is for the most part an ordinary person struggling through adolescence. He gets nervous around girls he likes, he wants to be liked, and he's struggling to find his place in the world. However, Bruce is a little different from everyone else because he has a strong ethical and moral code which he not only believes in, but lives out in his daily life. He gets upset at his best friend, Jack, for taking quarters from a pay phone. Bruce doesn't lie. He doesn't cheat or steal. He lives the life that Christ called him to live. People notice and they start calling him "Saint Bruce".

Like most people with strong convictions, Bruce has a group of close friends: Jack, Carrie, Theresa, and Ellis. Ellis is the wild card of the bunch and there always is. Bruce thinks that the group has allowed them to be a part of their lives. What he doesn't realize is that the group is really following him and not vice versa. Bruce has a strong charisma and he doesn't even know it. His friends start calling themselves the "Disciples of Saint Bruce".

Anyway, Bruce ends up home sick for a day and while he is gone his friends do some drinking in school. Later they offer to tell him what they did. Bruce asks them not to, but they do anyway. When confronted by a teacher about what he knows, Bruce tells the truth and his four friends end up suspended from school for the rest of the semester. For the next five months Bruce is constantly abused. People stop talking to him. They start pulling practical jokes on him. Some tougher students physically beat him occassionaly. His own sister tells him he was wrong to tell the truth. Hardly any one seems to understand. The semester ends and another one begins and life becomes even more interesting for Bruce.

THE REVELATION OF SAINT BRUCE is a great book. It has a great story and raises some very important moral and ethical issues that are relevant not only to those in adolescence, but to adults as well. The book illustrates just how difficult it can be to actually live what you believe. There are some who might say the book isn't very realistic and that a student like Bruce Wells would never exist. This isn't true because I was a student like Bruce Wells and I experienced some of the same things he did in this book. It's not always easy to live what you believe, but it is more than worthwhile.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard questions, no clear answers, May 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Revelation of Saint Bruce (Hardcover)

Bruce Wells is a lost student in a large high school in this book. Bruce has a small group of students that he hangs out with but he doesn't really fit in. He has a strong moral code that none of them understand. In one chapter, Bruce believes that Jack is wrong, when Jack takes quarters from a broken pay phone. The rest of the group envy Jack's luck. Because of Bruce's beliefs, the rest of the kids start calling him Saint Bruce. He struggles with this title but not enough. The others do not realize what is involved in Sainthood. "The Disciples of Saint Bruce" get into trouble and expect Bruce not tell. But it is not in his nature to lie when asked to tell the truth. The "Disciples" suffer dire consequences from Bruce's confession, but so does Bruce. Who is right? Who is wrong? There is no clear cut answer. This is a thought provoking book. Several of the characters have trouble fitting in at school and kids today will relate to this. To make matters fuzzier, faculty members do not help in this story. Most are more concerned about keeping their jobs than helping the students. This book will make kids think which might make some readers uncomfortable.

3.0 out of 5 stars The Adventure of Bruce, March 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Revelation of Saint Bruce (Hardcover)

A review by Trevor

Bruce is a goodie to shoes that doesn't do anything wrong. He has 3 good friends named Jack, Carrie, and Theresa. Jack is a little on the wild side, Carrie is a goodie good also. Theresa is like jack. His 3 friends and a kid named Ellis get drunk at school. Bruce was absent over this time and when he comes back they tell him. A teacher finds evidence of the 4 drinking and Bruce rats on them. The four won't talk to him and in the end of the story his 3 friends leave Ellis and become friend with Bruce again.

The characters in the story were believable but did some things that wouldn't happen. I liked Bruce but he got in a crash and didn't get hurt at all. Then he walked the rest of the way to school, this wouldn't happen. Jack was my favorite character in the book because he was daring and dangerous. Carrie was very boring and wasn't talked about much. Theresa was cool because she was the first to start talking to Bruce. The subject didn't really appeal to me. It might have sounded like it was real. I don't really like hearing about people's problems. The author says the story very fast, but to where you could understand it. I wasn't relieved at the end of the story because I was never worried. The story was perfect length and easier to read.

I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, I had too much detail. I think eleven or twelve year olds would enjoy it because the people in the book are that age.