Saint Anything

by Sarah Dessen

[Katie King]

**3 stars**

In my review of Just Listen, my first Dessen novel, I said I wouldn't be seeking out more of her books. While Just Listen had exceeded my expectations, I pretty much thought that her books were a "seen one, seen them all" kind of thing. But then I went camping and wanted something really light to read, so I picked up Saint Anything.

I have an older brother, specifically a 7 years older brother. We're so far apart that we're often going through major milestones at completely separate times. I just got engaged, well he's been married for 5 years and just had his second child. When we were younger, it was worse. He got married, I had just gotten my driver's license. He got his driver's license, I was in 4th grade. Everything I do, he's done long before. It's a little weird, and to be honest, it's a little bit of a barrier to us being close. In a way, I do live in his shadow, but not to where our parents play favorites. It just simply is the way things are.

Sydney lives in her older brother's shadow. Before, he was one of those beautiful, bright people that everyone is drawn to. One choice ruined everything, and now, his only fans are his family. The star fell from grace, but not in the eyes of his parents. Sydney struggles with her brother's choices, but her parents make excuses. Sydney aches to have a life, but her parents are too focused on her brother to care. Her parents aren't only blind when it comes to her brother, but also to his friend from rehab that they've taken under their wing. Problem is, he's taken a little too much of an interest in Sydney.

Saint Anything and I have a weird relationship. On one hand, I can really appreciate the message. She basically doesn't exist in her family anymore since her brother went to prison. Her mom spends all her time worrying about her brother or working on his appeals or visiting him. Her dad is pretty emotionally distant about the whole thing. She just moved to a new, much larger school where she doesn't know anyone and all her old friends are too busy. The only person that does see her is her brother's creepy friend from rehab, Ames, who has basically taken her brother's place in their family. He comes over and hang outs with them, eats dinner with them, and even moves in for a while. While the plot largely revolves around the guilt Sydney feels for what her brother did and her trying to be her own person, the subplot with Ames was what really caught my attention. With a book like this, you know she's going to deal with the guilt and her family would come around, but I was a little worried that things with Ames would go too far before that happened. Thank god they didn't. But the MAIN plot didn't capture my interest so much. I knew from the beginning that things would work out, which makes caring about how Sydney gets through things pretty hard.

I did like Sydney's relationship with Mac and her new friends. I loved Layla and totally understood her obsession with fries. I wish we could be friends! Mac developed a relationship with her that had a pretty slow burn, which felt more realistic to me. A lot of books I read have the innocent MC having sex like 2 days after their first kiss which is really hard to believe. Mac was there for her, but not like in a "I'll die for you" way off the bat, which again is in a lot of books. I'm glad that Sydney had the Chathams for support. While her family was sucking, Sydney really needed them. At a few points when I was getting really frustrated with Sydney's mom, I found myself wishing she could just join their family instead. Because seriously, her mom was pretty bad.

On the other hand, I don't know how well executed the plot was. There wasn't really a big moment where everything turned around in Sydney's life. It just slowly got better at the end. When I read, I expect the climax, because while real life isn't like that, books should because they're entertainment. The lack thereof just felt like reading a real diary that no one took the boring parts out of. It might be really interesting at first, but how many times do you need to read that someone just went to school or did homework that day? That wasn't in Saint Anything, but you get my point. Without that big moment, you're just like....oh, it's over. It doesn't engage your attention as much.

I read a few reviews before writing this one and it seems like this is an exception to Dessen's books. Usually they are more traditionally structured. I guess she took a break in the middle of writing it too, so that might explain some of the issues it has. Overall, I think it was a good book, and anyone who can relate to trying to live up to a sibling would enjoy it, but it definitely was not GREAT material. Maybe my next read of hers will be better.