Scan barcode
A review by writervid
Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen
5.0
4.25-4.5/5 (I'm unsure, bear with me.)
Whoa. I'm still reeling from the climax of the book, which put tears in my eyes and made me feel super breathless (and also raised the rating of this book. The fear I felt was palpable). But I'll try to recover and get this review on the road.
Sarah Dessen is an expert in Chekhov's Gun. Everything that was set up earlier in this story arced perfectly to a conclusion and was promptly set off. The buildup to certain events--the use of the recording studio, Ames, delivering pizzas, the hospital visits--was all incredibly well done, and done in a much more dramatic way than I'd previously seen in a contemporary, while simultaneously being 100% realistic. EXTREMELY down with well built conflict and well written Easter eggs. Your reaction might be: well, isn't that just good writing? Answer: yes, but not many authors a) pull it off and b) are able to so effectively weave those elements together so different elements trigger different points of growth for characters.
I loved the question this posed about families of those who commit crimes. How do they react? Do they condemn, or do they smother? I've seen pieces that have relatives excuse crimes, so it was refreshing to see a book where the crime wasn't viewed as okay by the main character, or by the character who committed the crime. This set up a clear character arc for almost all of the characters in the story, which were well done. There was also so much depth applied to so many of the side characters, although there were a few that were criminally lacking it.
Points off for a rather abrupt beginning and friend group assimilation, as well as for not developing some side characters beyond basic characteristics (I'm looking at you, Irv). I know some people weren't the biggest fans of the romance, but I liked that this was easier and calmer (although I think the Kimmie Crandall thing was a weird way to add conflict, because I just wanted Layla and Sydney to! communicate!). I think Sarah Dessen hits on the importance of feeling at home and completely comfortable with a person here. Ultimately, Sydney didn't need sparks to fly, she needed to have people she was comfortable to break down around, who felt safe and who saw her after she felt so invisible. And that was what was important.
This was absolutely great. I'm not sure if anything could top this, but I know Just Listen and The Truth About Forever are supposed to be the true Dessen standouts. Maybe if I'm lucky the library will have them available.
Whoa. I'm still reeling from the climax of the book, which put tears in my eyes and made me feel super breathless (and also raised the rating of this book. The fear I felt was palpable). But I'll try to recover and get this review on the road.
Sarah Dessen is an expert in Chekhov's Gun. Everything that was set up earlier in this story arced perfectly to a conclusion and was promptly set off. The buildup to certain events--the use of the recording studio, Ames, delivering pizzas, the hospital visits--was all incredibly well done, and done in a much more dramatic way than I'd previously seen in a contemporary, while simultaneously being 100% realistic. EXTREMELY down with well built conflict and well written Easter eggs. Your reaction might be: well, isn't that just good writing? Answer: yes, but not many authors a) pull it off and b) are able to so effectively weave those elements together so different elements trigger different points of growth for characters.
I loved the question this posed about families of those who commit crimes. How do they react? Do they condemn, or do they smother? I've seen pieces that have relatives excuse crimes, so it was refreshing to see a book where the crime wasn't viewed as okay by the main character, or by the character who committed the crime. This set up a clear character arc for almost all of the characters in the story, which were well done. There was also so much depth applied to so many of the side characters, although there were a few that were criminally lacking it.
Points off for a rather abrupt beginning and friend group assimilation, as well as for not developing some side characters beyond basic characteristics (I'm looking at you, Irv). I know some people weren't the biggest fans of the romance, but I liked that this was easier and calmer (although I think the Kimmie Crandall thing was a weird way to add conflict, because I just wanted Layla and Sydney to! communicate!). I think Sarah Dessen hits on the importance of feeling at home and completely comfortable with a person here. Ultimately, Sydney didn't need sparks to fly, she needed to have people she was comfortable to break down around, who felt safe and who saw her after she felt so invisible. And that was what was important.
This was absolutely great. I'm not sure if anything could top this, but I know Just Listen and The Truth About Forever are supposed to be the true Dessen standouts. Maybe if I'm lucky the library will have them available.