In Sarah Dessen's (Along for the Ride) 12th novel, she offers a nuanced portrayal of a young woman who has always felt invisible and secondary to her blazing star of a brother. After he's incarcerated, she still lives her life in his shadow, and in finding her own path, she finds herself.
Sydney is accustomed to her brother Peyton's outsized personality. She has accepted his charm, his good looks and, later, even his tragic mistake, which lands him in prison for drunk driving and which has paralyzed a young boy. Unable to express her grief to her parents, Sydney remains quietly seething, feeling guilty for her brother's crimes, and increasingly uncomfortable with her brother's friend's advances. With the help of a new school, new friends and ultimately her first love, Sydney is able to find confidence, and begin healing herself and her fractured family.
Dessen's insightful characterizations have always been her strength. Sydney, a rather privileged teen who nevertheless is suffering, is unable to penetrate her parent's grief and their focus on her brother. The adults, too, suffer, and Dessen examines the pain of the whole family, even the brother in prison, who finally learns humility and remorse. Dessen portrays two families with different kinds of challenges, but shows the power and frailty within each of them. Without wrapping up the plot too neatly, the story ends on a hopeful note toward redemption.
For all those teens who feel like an outsider without a voice, Saint Anything will provide a satisfying story of forgiveness and acceptance. --Nan Shipley, literary scout