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A review by willowbiblio
Saint X by Alexis Schaitkin
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
"We see so little of people. We forget how much submerged darkness there is around us at every moment. We forget until we're forced to remember."
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This book continually surprised me. Both for the plot itself and the for the depth of self-examination and reflection it achieved in me and the characters. The way Schaitkin described such a complex and loaded power imbalance as vacation at a luxury resort on a tropical island was stunning. I love how she tied the gentrification of the island in Clive's flashbacks to a concurrent transformation of Brooklyn. I also thought Schaitkin's emphasis on the massive resources that were devoted to finding one missing white girl in a sea of other micro-aggressions and injustices was so poignant.
Claire's obsession with Clive becomes so total that she loses everything of importance in her life, and yet what she learns doesn't satisfy her. This is also a lesson about how to move forward when horrific things happen in your life and you don't get an explanation, something I am intimately familiar with. At some point, your life has to move on from that thing so it can stop consuming you. Schaitkin captured this experience well.
I think Clive's explanation also forced me to question why there were moments I too had thought he or Edwin were culpable. Instead, for him, the secret he was keeping was much more dangerous and life-shattering than assumed murder. It made me reflect about what growing up in different cultures means when these individuals are forced into the same scenario, and how that informs each of our perceptions. I also loved the minor character interludes. They added another layer of context and "truth".
Excellent book, strongly recommend this to everyone.
-----------------------
This book continually surprised me. Both for the plot itself and the for the depth of self-examination and reflection it achieved in me and the characters. The way Schaitkin described such a complex and loaded power imbalance as vacation at a luxury resort on a tropical island was stunning. I love how she tied the gentrification of the island in Clive's flashbacks to a concurrent transformation of Brooklyn. I also thought Schaitkin's emphasis on the massive resources that were devoted to finding one missing white girl in a sea of other micro-aggressions and injustices was so poignant.
Claire's obsession with Clive becomes so total that she loses everything of importance in her life, and yet what she learns doesn't satisfy her. This is also a lesson about how to move forward when horrific things happen in your life and you don't get an explanation, something I am intimately familiar with. At some point, your life has to move on from that thing so it can stop consuming you. Schaitkin captured this experience well.
I think Clive's explanation also forced me to question why there were moments I too had thought he or Edwin were culpable. Instead, for him, the secret he was keeping was much more dangerous and life-shattering than assumed murder. It made me reflect about what growing up in different cultures means when these individuals are forced into the same scenario, and how that informs each of our perceptions. I also loved the minor character interludes. They added another layer of context and "truth".
Excellent book, strongly recommend this to everyone.