Customer Reviews

Saint Maybe

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(25)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I don't know how women can read books like this on a regular basis. I was sobbing like old yeller had been shot for about half the book. It may've been routine for the fairer sex, but for me it plumbed emotional depths and psychological pain I prefer to leave repressed. That said, it was more than just cathartic, it was a hopeful, warm, and even funny look at the simple-complex lives of a family, and at just how quickly life can change.

Without giving much away, a teenage boy feels compelled by a guilty conscience to become a guardian/father of some kids. I won't say whose, even though it occurs early in the book. The novel then follows the boy as he very quickly becomes a man, and a man so different from his peers that he quickly takes on almost alien qualities. The day by day payoff of such tragic sacrifice is the overriding strength of the story, and it is a payoff for the reader to watch not only his life, but the lives of his friends and family unfold. I never saw the movie made from the book; I hope it did it justice, because while it looks like about a million weepy romance novels, it reads like a modern classic.

This is my all-time favorite book from my all-time favorite author. The ending of this book will stay with me forever--it captures so eloquently the precious fragility of life, of relationships, of family.

If you're looking for action packed melodrama, look elsewhere. But if you're looking for insight into the day-to-day details of what it is to be human, you've hit the jackpot here.

A young man (Ian Bedloe) believes he has caused his brother to commit suicide, as a result of which his brother's wife also commits suicide. Weighed down by guilt, he encounters a little congregation, The Church of the Second Chance, which changes the whole trajectory of his life. If this book weren't by Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler, the plot summary might fool us into believing this is inspirational Christian fiction: it's not. Tyler shies away from simple conclusions: the church certainly transforms Ian's life, but the end result is complex and fascinating.

Although the first part of the book is from Ian's perspective, Tyler eventually shifts and tells the story from the viewpoint of various key characters. I missed Ian's perspective further on, but we receive a rounded view of this fascinating family (Ian, his girlfriend, his parents, his brother's children). As Ian's family seeks to deal with his intense, newfound religiosity, I was reminded of Nick Hornby's How To Be Good (although Saint Maybe is much better), which explores the question of what it means to be good, just as Tyler here explores what it means to be forgiven.

Tyler does a wonderful job of capturing family life, interpersonal relationships, and internal struggle. The book took too long to get to the first pivotal event (the suicides), but after that, I couldn't put it down. Jay Parini, in his New York Times review, concluded with these remarks: "In many ways [Saint Maybe] is Anne Tyler's most sophisticated work, a realistic chronicle that celebrates family life without erasing the pain and boredom that families almost necessarily inflict upon their members. Ian Bedloe, for his part, sits near the top of Ms. Tyler's fine list of heroes. Exactly how she makes us care so much about him remains a mystery to me. That is, perhaps, the mystery of art" ("The Accidental Convert," 25 August 1991). And in his review of Tyler's most recent novel, The Washington Post's Ron Charles claims Saint Maybe as his favorite Tyler novel (no small feat, given that there are 17) ("The Roads to Home," 30 April 2006).

This book would be an excellent read for a Book Club. After finishing it, I spent a long time discussing it with the friend who gave it to me.

This is the first time for me to read Anne Tyler's book in English. I have read her three books in Japanese ("Breathing Lessons", "A Patchwork Planet", and "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant".), and it took just a half of a day to read one book each, as they are so gripping and I just could not put them down.

Then I purchased this book from amazon.com to see her original writing style in English, although I am not sure if I can read through this, because I am not a native speaker in English. It turned out that it took me just a week for finishing this book. Again, simply I cannot put it down.

This book provoked a mixture feeling, so I cannot describe this book just like "This is fun." or "This is depressing." or whatever you would like to say in a hurried manner.

What I liked very much is her description of children who still do not learn to speak very much, especially in the 2nd Chapter where Agatha tries to change Daphne's diaper, Thomas still attaches to his favorite doll, and Daphne only speaks "Oho! Oho!"(I do not know how to pronounce it, though). They are so lovable and cute. Anne Tyler effortlessly juggles those children who do not have any logic in their behaviours. Just amazing.

Also character development of Ian is almost magical. Some might find his life tragic, but I believe many do not. I am convinced that his life is what he chooses intrinsically. Of course, others might get another interpretation.

Interpretation is wide open.

Anne Tyler has written many excellent novels, but I think this is her masterpiece. It's an involving story, played out over many years, with appealing characters who grow and evolve. It also provokes thoughts about so many things: religion, redemption, the randomness of life, but above all, the nature of family. A tragedy shatters the traditional, nuclear, apple-pie-perfect Bedloe family, but the family rebuilds into a nontraditional grouping in which blood matters less than love--and love is not automatic but grows through years of familiarity. And the family-building is driven more by chance than choice--as, the characters learn, most of life is; very little turns out how they had planned, but they make the best of what they're dealt. For Ian, the "Saint Maybe" of the title, the driving force of life is the Church of the Second Chance, which shows him a way to channel his guilt over complicity in the family tragedy into a constructive effort: being the caring guardian of three children. The church could be deemed fundamentalist, but really it's a kinder, gentler fundamentalism: the minister doesn't preach hellfire and damnation to nonbelievers, but rather tells his flock to lead exemplary lives; doesn't rail against gays or feminists, but instead forbids members to consume caffeine or sugar. Tyler's treatment of religion is evenhanded; she presents Ian's piety (and his occasional frustration with all that's expected of him) seriously and respectfully, but also lets other characters voice skepticism. With Tyler's technique of presenting various parts of her story from different characters' viewpoints--something she also did effectively in "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant"--we get a range of opinion on a lot of things in the Bedloes' lives, and we get to hear characters say things they wouldn't if they knew the whole story. The primary characters are well-drawn and memorable, especially Ian, nieces Agatha (a driven, opinionated type) and Daphne (a bohemian and a drifter), sister-in-law Lucy (who changes everyone's life as she struggles to cope with her own), and family friend Rita (who changes Ian's life when he least expects it). Supporting characters leave a lasting impression too--the geeky but gentle and well-meaning Reverend Emmett, the embittered deaf carpenter who employs Ian, the revolving cast of foreign students living down the street. Tyler's sense of time--the mid-'60s to about 1990--is keen as ever, as is her sense of place--Baltimore, naturally. And while many sad things happen in her narrative, so do a lot of happy ones; unlike the too-sweet TV adaptation, the novel is bittersweet, just like life. It doesn't always--or even usually--turn out as we wish; bad things happen to good people; but somehow--with the help of our blood and chosen families, and our belief systems--we go on.

The first book of Anne Tyler's I read was The Accidental Tourist, and I was really taken with that. The idiosyncratic characters and their unique world views made me laugh. So I think I got into this track where I considered Ms. Tyler to be "good." But after having read several of her books over the years, and having now just finished Saint Maybe, I wonder if I had on overly rosy view. Oh sure, she's won a Pulitzer Prize and all, but ...

Let me think this through: I love her use of language to draw pictures of scenes, moods, or characters. She has an affectionate view of humanity that charms me. Here's what disappoints me - the way she lets her characters and their lives fade from vivid color to drabness.

A quibble specific to Saint Maybe is that Danny's sudden suicide was never satisfactorily explained, and yet most of the story's premise hinged on that act.

Anne Tyler mines the lives of an ordinary, middle-class Baltimore family and achieves extraordinary effects in Saint Maybe, arguably her best novel.

Saint Maybe traces the subtle, yet complete transformation of Ian Bedloe, a genial 17-year-old paralyzed with guilt after he plays a role in the "accidental" death of his older brother. Searching for relief, Ian discovers the Church of the Second Chance, a new purpose for his life, and eventual redemption.

Like many of Tyler's previous works, including The Accidental Tourist and the Pulitzer-Prize winning Breathing Lessons, Saint Maybe examines how unpredictable events jolt even the most mundane lives. In the aftermath of domestic tragedy, the Bedloe family declines and rallies in ways that are occasionally shocking, yet completely logical. The depiction of Ian's evolution is especially masterful; while his transformation is both radical and extraordinary, never once does it seem unrealistic or strained.

The joy of reading Saint Maybe lies largely in its endearing, familiar characters: as in other Tyler novels, they are sometimes foolish, frequently eccentric, and always thoroughly human. Even minor players get their turn in the spotlight: the awkward foreign graduate students who live near the Bedloes; the overeager yet supportive parishioners at the Church of the Second Chance. In this novel, every character, however bumbling or marginal, has important lessons to deliver.

Therein lies Tyler's greatest strength: the compassion and humor with which she examines both her characters and the mundane world in which they live. She finds lyricism and meaning everywhere: in her capable hands, musty linen closets, spiritless summer camp, and even a late night trip to the grocery store become imbued with significance. Saint Maybe is both luminous and sublime: a beautiful tribute to the drama of the commonplace.

This story is about, and for, people who have good intentions but who don't know how to carry them through.

This book is about me.

If you've ever found yourself in a dilemma where you told yourself that you didn't know what The Right Thing to Do was, while suspecting in the back of your mind that you really did know what you should do but just couldn't admit that you did, then this story will strike a responsive chord, or several.

Most books have lead characters who are either clearly heroes or villains. In better books these characters are humanized and believable, but they're still either heroes or villains. This book has a hero/villain too; the difference is that his 'villain-ness' is part of his 'heroism'! No one but Anne Tyler could have pulled this off, but she does so brilliantly.

If you've ever doubted yourself, wondered about your motivations, confessed your sins to yourself and then absolved yourself of them-- then reading this book will be like staring deeply at youself in an ash-colored mirror.

In "Saint Maybe" Anne Tyler focuses again on her favorite subject, people - a seemingly average family, the Bedloes.

Bee and Doug Bedloe live with their three children in a small town, on Waverly street, where everyone has their place - there are the newlyweds, the foreigners, the old lady... The Bedloes are the Happy Family. The ideal family. Average, so that they do not make others jealous of their achievements, but no scandalous behavior: the parents are happily married, the daughter, Claudia, is also happily married off and a good mother, the older son, Danny, works at the post office, and the youngest, Ian, is in high school. Everything is in balance, everything is just so. Until Danny suddenly decides to marry Lucy Dean, a perky divorcee with two children, who came out of nowhere and nobody knew anything about her. The speculations rise, and culminate in the birth of the baby, Daphne, just 7 months after Lucy's and Danny's wedding. Ian, who is the central character in the novel, decides to share his suspicions with Danny, who dies a moment after hearing the news, starting the chain of irreversible events which forever change Ian's and the whole family's life.

Danny's death and Lucy's sleeping pills overdose shortly after make Ian feel terribly guilty. This guilt and its consequences are really what "Saint Maybe" is about. The events I described above, leading to the tragedy, are only the beginning (that is why I do not consider the description a spoiler). The novel is, in this respect, anti-climactic - everything happens at the beginning and the most dramatic event is only a starting point. The real subject is the analysis of guilt, atonement and despair, and a profound change in Ian Bedloe's life after his brother's death. Ian feels burdened with responsibility and decides to take up the upbringing of Lucy's children - Tommy, Agatha and Daphne. He feels weak and at a loss, but perseveres despite his doubts and difficulties. His path is very much influenced by the Church of the Second Chance, a small congregation of slightly peculiar views...

"Saint Maybe" is not a novel with a rich plot or surprising turns of events and no straightforward answers are given to the obvious questions, which may pop into the reader's head as suggested at the beginning (Was Lucy really cheating? Is Daphne Danny's daughter?), so do not look for them. Instead, this novel is a great study of painful, lifelong guilt and coming to terms with it. The questions answered are more universal. The characters are stereotypical, they are supposed to be so (that's why I am surprised to see the criticism of "foreigners" in some other reviews - these are not real people; these are foreigners how the neighbors from their small town, for example Doug Bedloe, see them). Only towards the end, marked by experience, they finally come to life.

Anne Tyler wrote a very good book, solid and lifelike, tackling a real problem and managing to get to its core with humor, sadness, hope and love.

This was a pretty good story. I admit that I even shed a few tears here and there. My only qualm was with the development of the protaginist. He seemed at times to be more of a 'fly on the wall' rather than a participating character in the family. Further more, throughout the personal changes he underwent I feel that the reader is somewhat excluded from much needed inner dialogue that could have made his development seem more natural. All we get to see are the external incidents that affect him, withoutseeing enough of 'how' they affected him, aside from the changes in his behavior. Probably my favorite theme for any writer or director to deal with in a story is the seeking of redemption. This novel presents an exceptional plot for such a theme, but left me hungering for more of the internal conflict that should accompany the protaganist. That being said, I have to recomend this book on its more finer merits, such as realistic dialogue, detailed sensitivity to family dynamic, and several geniunely heart warming moments.