Saint Maybe

by Anne Tyler

Book Overview

Saint Maybe is the rich and absorbing story of a young man's guilt over his brother's death and his struggle to atone for the wrong he feels he has done. On a quiet street in Baltimore in 1965,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0449911608
• Release Date: August 1996
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.2"

Customer Reviews

I'm good for about one of these every ten years

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.

Words Fail Me

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 beautifully bittersweet tale of a family

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.

Ordinary lives, extraordinary lessons

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.