The Saint (Kindle Single) [Kindle Edition]

Oliver Broudy (Author)

Book Description

“This is going to be an adventure,” James says presciently. “I have a feeling both of us are going to be very different after this.” And so it proves, as one jaded New Yorker is swept by a spiritually radiant revolutionary on a journey of transformation, from the narcissistic bubble of New York City to the sweeping vistas of the Dhauladhar mountains in northern India. Along the way the mismatched duo cross paths with rogue Chinese agents, the incensed descendents of Mahatma Gandhi, and ultimately the Dalai Lama himself. A gripping blend of action, intelligence, and insight.

"This small, extraordinary book has more to say about life, disappointment, New York, Tibet, India, the holy, and the profane, than most other books could say in ten times as many pages. Oliver Broudy's astounding, funny, harrowing, and finally quite sad experience with a millionaire philanthropist and arch eccentric--a man as saintly as he is demonic--is conveyed in prose as startling as cold water. This is a book I deeply envy, a book I will read again--probably immediately."
—Tom Bissell, author of Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter

"With the intrepidity of a classic explorer, Broudy journeys to the border between India and Tibet to demarcate the fine line between saintliness and selfishness. 'The Saint' abounds with intelligence and insight, mapping a uniquely memorable route on the never ending quest for personal fulfillment."
—Myla Goldberg, author of Bee Season

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

New Yorkers occasionally suffer from a unique and unlikely loneliness, despite the frenzy of cultural activity that surrounds them. Call it "center-of-the-world ennui." Attempting to combat his own bout of the Gotham blues, author Oliver Broudy is looking for an escape when a routine journalism gig lands him the project of his life: namely, one James Otis, idea man, collector of Gandhi-related memorabilia, and wealthy devotee of the great Mahatma. So begins a truly great adventure that drags Broudy halfway around the world and through a whiplashing gauntlet of emotional crests and troughs, forcing him to play friend, protector, fixer, PR agent, and a host of other duties on Otis's behalf. Luckily for readers, Broudy maintains an intelligent open-mindedness--if not throughout, at least in the recall--in the face of lies, danger, and significant self-discovery. (He also assembles as rich a working definition of sainthood as any I've comes across outside of canonical hagiography.) The Saint succeeds on all levels: as profile, as travelogue, as a tale of true adventure. Highly, highly recommended. --Jason Kirk

Product Details

• File Size: 190 KB
• Print Length: 85 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B004SBPSJ0
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,390 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #20 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Reporting
  • #26 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Page-turning Narratives
  • #29 in Kindle Store > Kindle Singles > Memoirs

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 84 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Effacing the Boundaries between People March 24, 2011

By David Hopkins

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

Apart from the author's wonderful way with words and his evocative imagery, what struck me most were his insights into boundaries, boundaries between countries, yes (his protagonist was intent on breaching them), but especially boundaries between people. The author describes in a poetic way how great cities make us all feel insecure, and how this insecurity spurs us to be wittier, more energetic, more clever, more attractive than the next person. But, ultimately, this striving for status or recognition leads us to wall ourselves off from others and the world around us, creating a kind of well-appointed private prison.

The lead character, James Otis, the Saint, seems to offer a way out, through an emotional expansion that brooks no resistance, for it connects him with others everywhere. But in the end, as you will see, emotional expansion alone is too facile of a solution.

The author explores this dilemma of all modern men and women and in the process tells a great story, full of vivid and exquisitely drawn characters.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A page turner, a short read. An intellectual style of writing that flows well. May 19, 2011

By Pleased

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A nice inexpensive and short read for your kindle or similar device... I would call this a novelette. It is a page turner, a crisp intellectual style that flows well -- no other writer like Broudy. He's found a way to push intellectual-type fiction into mainstream accessibility. Looking forward to his next book.

UPDATED 5/21/11: Holy moly, I've just been informed this is a work of nonfiction. This changes the whole tone. The main character of the book James a real-life baby Gatsby living in his own fantasy world, made only possible by inherited wealth, freely manipulating people as if the were playthings to entertain himself. I interpret James' innocence as a sham, self delusional or not. Wow, I can't believe these people are real. What a great story. Congrats on the author for having the balls to go on this adventure wherever it took him and sharing it with us.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A journalist's modern 'Candide' for a modern reading medium May 11, 2011

By Stephanie

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

In "The Saint," Oliver Broudy takes on the complicated task of following the eclectic, millionaire non-violent activist, James, around as he globe-trots, people-pleases, starves himself, and argues with an ever-present smile. The character is a contradiction--a modern-day Candide who is naive but cultured, who desires to feed the hungry but refuses to eat, he wants to help the poor but doesn't seem to care whether his money is spent tactfully or not, he is at once selfless and selfish, honest and a liar. Within James' faults, Broudy discovers his own. As a journalist, he lets his character sweep him off his feet and must desperately try to regain his footing by the end of the story.
In a way, Broudy's work is almost unjournalistic. He whisks us off on this crazy journey with people Broudy himself hardly knows and before you know it we are all over Asia. The writing can be confusing--if you zone out while reading, by the time you regain focus, James could be your friend, then your enemy, then your friend again. However, this is how Broudy intends it. While all he can do is let his character speak for himself, he wants to let us know the disappointment he has in James, the faith James can inspire, the charisma a leader of his kind can carry, leading even the most critical of people on a goose chase. "The Saint," isn't really about James in particular. It is, but it isn't. With philosophical thinking and religious theology interspersed throughout the story, Broudy's piece is more about what influences people and why. As the author critiques the imperfection in his "Saint," as well as his own flaws, we learn a little about why the conflict in Tibet and China remains how it is, why everyone in the world can't just cut military spending simultaneously and why naďve thinking is attractive but ineffective.
The fact that this piece is published for Kindle, I think, grants Broudy more stylistic freedom. He is not limited to the stylistic expectations of a magazine or newspaper nor encouraged to drone on forever in order to transform his research into a book. This freedom is important and you can see in his first person writing that he tries to use the freedom well. However, I think that Broudy actually faulted on staying too close to magazine format. He could have done more research on the Tibet-China conflict at the time in a way that informed the reader without boring him or her. Because Kindle Singles are fortunate enough to not be forced to conform to newspaper or magazine formats, they should try to converge the two types of journalism, or at least build a hybrid. The truth should always be the first priority with journalism, so I also think Kindle and Amazon could do a lot more to give the buyer information on the writer he is about to read with a bio or something near the summary of the story. As sad as it is for people who are trying to break into the world of journalism, who you are reading is almost if not more important than what you are reading. Without the backing of a publication name, Kindle Singles writers are going to need to sell their own name.

More About the Author

Oliver Broudy is a National Magazine Award finalist, a contributing writer with Men's Health magazine, and the ex-managing editor of The Paris Review. He has written on bodybuilding in Afghanistan, traditional cooking in rural China, and anarchism in Missouri. His work has appeared in a variety of online and print publications.