| Title | : | The Patron Saint of Liars |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1841150509 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781841150505 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1992 |
The Patron Saint of Liars Reviews
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The story of Rose, a habitual abandoner, who finds herself in a home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. The story is about the place almost as much as the people--a place where people come for a brief, but life-altering, time and then move on. It is also the story of the people who stay there--Rose, with all her secrets, her daughter, the nuns and the groundskeeper. I loved the story of the place and I thought the writing was quite good. It held my interest and there were a few really lovely moments where a theme would repeat itself through time and generations, recalling other beautiful moments. I think, however, that I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if it was not for the main character whom I just didn't like. I didn't understand her at all. She seems to act with no motivation or thought. I didn't understand why she did things, and I don't think she did either, but the author seems entirely sympathetic to her, which frustrated me. I loved all the other characters, but Rose, on whom everything hinges, annoyed me.
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I have mixed feelings about this particular Patchett novel. I didn't want to put it down but I wasn't happy when I finished.
I was totally sucked in by the story's opening but then the tone changed and the character depth faded a bit. The turmoil the main character feels is never discussed once she finds her way to St. Elizabeth's, yet it drives the remainder of the novel. Just as the story picks up steam again, it's over. Given the story line and the characters I thought the story could have been much deeper. It's almost like an editor came in and paired things down.
I think it's worth reading and I'll likely give it a second go. Was I just missing something? I hate finishing a book and feeling like I might have just missed the whole point. -
It’s fair to say….
….I like Ann Patchett….
I’ve read….
Bel Canto, The Dutch House, Commonwealth, State of Wonder, This is A Story of a Happy Marriage, Truth and Beauty, The Magician’s Assistant, Run, Taft, These Precious Days,
and …..now
“The Patron Saint of Liars”, (debut - first published in 1992)
It’s also fair to say….
….I wasn’t expecting “The Patron Saint of Liars” to be more than average - I wasn’t expecting to be fully absorbed….
But wrong….
THIS IS A VERY ENGAGING- *TOUCHING*, thought-provoking -debut novel
Rose was pretty.
Her mother told her ‘pretty girls’ had challenges that less pretty girls didn’t.
Mother knew -from experience -about the ‘pretty-girl-challenge’ - given she too was a pretty girl.
But….
I want to slap this 1960’s mom for talking to her daughter about such tasteless nonsense.
I wanted to slap Rose a few times too…..
Yet….
that Ann Patchett knows how to gently push our buttons and get readers immediately engaged….
….speaking of engaged…???…
…..before this novel was barely up and running, Rose was engaged, then married to Tom Clinton.
…..a hope-skip-and-a-jump….
three years go by….
Rose realizes she didn’t love her husband.
…..so Rose bolts -
drives from San Diego to Kentucky ….
to a home [St. Elizabeth’s] for unwed mothers.
This story gets deliciously messy…..(how can it not with nuns of various attributes - those to trust - those to avoid….and ‘many’ pregnant women under one building)….
It’s a compelling novel for sure, funny, agonizingly sardonic at times — with several flawed characters (three narrators: Rose, Son, Cecilia) …..
…..each yearning for love, all carrying secrets.
Each has a desire to belong.
Each have made choices that are a combination of puzzling and understandable.
The supporting characters are well developed …
A few I liked more than the main characters.
We feel the loneliness—
—question the characters choices and lies.
The struggles and conflicted relationships were sad…
but sometimes moving.
In the land of fiction storytelling….Patchett showed us her talent from the beginning of her writing career.
I’m glad I didn’t dismiss.
this affecting debut.
Better than expected!
A minor criticism….
Although I understand the meaning of the title…..it’s not memorable.
Another title might have been more complimentary.
Two outstanding sentences jumped out for me…..(apparently Amazon endorsement-writers were of the same mind.
The excerpts are:
…..”People think you have to be going someplace, when in fact, the ride is plenty”.
Note… there was a great driving scene - from California to Kentucky where Rose gives a ride to a young guy named Billy. (endearing)
…..”There was is a difference, I knew, between being pregnant and being a mother. I was pregnant”.
I’ve run out of Ann Patchett books to read ….
Waiting patiently for her next new release.
I ‘do’ plan to read “These Precious Days” again this November- as a Thanksgiving tribute -
Ann Patchett’s debut novel, The Patron Saint of Liars, is a beautifully written story about people, secrets, and lies. The book’s title intrigued me; “Patron Saint of Liars” – a conflict between virtue and dishonesty. Patchett’s writing is quiet and compelling as she shares the story of Rose Clinton, and how her lies affected her life and the lives of those around her.
After three years of marriage, Rose Clinton finds herself pregnant. Unsatisfied with her life, and questioning her love for her husband, she runs away leaving just a short note of apology to her unsuspecting husband and mother. She ends up in Habit, Kentucky at St. Elizabeth’s Home for Unwed Mothers.
Of course Rose isn’t “unwed”, but the book is about lies and liars. Most of the residents at St. Elizabeth are liars. They are hiding their pregnancies, so that they can give up their children for adoption and then slip back into their lives.
Unlike the other girls at St. Elizabeth, Rose does not give up her baby. In the end, she marries Son, the home’s handyman, and keeps her daughter Cecelia (Sissy). Rose, Son and Cecelia live on the grounds of St. Elizabeth where Rose takes over the role of cook with Sister Evangeline.
Sissy grows up believing that Son is her father. Rose is a distant mother, but Sissy has the Sisters at St. Elizabeth’s and the residents as surrogates. It is a strange life – one where people are transient, moving in for this secret part of their lives and moving on after their babies are born.
The novel is told in three segments; the first narrated by Rose, the second by Son, and the third by Cecelia. Through their distinct voices we learn about them and their secrets. I won’t go into plot details. The plot seems almost a delivery device for a character study, and by quietly sharing the characters experiences, the reader is given a glimpse into their being.
This is not a story about Rose, or Son or Sissy. It is not a story about a family; the reader will find that Rose, Son and Sissy do not live as a close family unit. It is a story about truth and lies; about taking responsibility and about running away from it. It is a story about how our actions and our shame control our futures. Neither Rose nor Son lives the life they imagined. Each is held captive by their secrets and their losses.
Patchett writes with grace and restraint. She weaves metaphors and symbols into her story without using them to smack the reader on the head. She doesn’t provide a nice tidy ending where everyone lives happily ever after, but she does leave us with a sense of hope and a sense of healing.
This review is intentionally vague. I don’t want to tell you about the book, I just want to compel you to read it. It is, in my opinion, a beautiful piece of literature. I think that because of its subject matter The Patron Saint of Liars will appeal more to women readers than to men, but I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a quiet and thought-provoking character study. -
This is my third Ann Patchett novel. The first one I read was her miraculous gem of a book, "Bel Canto." The second was the solid, beautifully cadenced tale of a Boston family called "Run." When I discovered that "The Patron Saint of Liars" was Patchett's first novel, I assumed that the two books I named above, which came later and which I both adore, would be better crafted, more intricate, more resonant. Turns out her first novel is the one I love the best. And that's saying something. Patchett is an extraordinary writer, able to capture characters like no one else writing today. Every word her characters utter sounds authentic, every thought the reader is allowed to witness rings true. These people are so fully realized and so wholly three dimensional that by the end of the book you are certain you know them and, oddly enough, you feel they might even know you. This is not even a book you read; it is a book you feel.
First, let me just say, please do not be frightened away by the subject matter. Especially the men out there. Yes, this is a book about a home for unwed mothers, the same way "The Cider House Rules" is a book about an orphanage or "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is a book about a mental institution. It is and it isn't. No, Patchett's book is not a sweeping saga or a morality tale or a complex and didactic puzzle. It is also not "chick lit." I become very disturbed by the fact that virtually every book written by a woman runs the risk of being marginalized as some sort of fluff. If a man had written this book - or any of Patchett's books, for that matter, it would be heralded as a marvel of modern literature. And it is not that, either. It is merely a book about three people. Three brilliantly fleshed out people. And all of the other souls who come and go in the lives of those three people during the time we are allowed to spend with them.
I rarely dogear books, but every now and then an image or sentence will capture a moment so perfectly, I have to remember where it was. The first time I did this was when Rose, the first character we meet, has just discovered she is pregnant and has run away from her home in California, abandoning her young husband, to go to a Catholic-run home for unwed mothers in Habit, Kentucky. As she enters a room full of pregnant girls, she describes the experience as "a gathering of distended abdomens, overinflated balloons from which small wisps of girls were attached. I felt that surely I had come to the wrong place, that whatever these girls had was not what was wrong with me." Rose, we come to discover is someone always itching to leave. She drives for no reason, collecting maps, studying routes. When conflict arises, her inner voice says, "Flee." She becomes fascinating to the reader because of the temporary nature of her presence. One never knows when she might disappear again, and always for good.
The second character we meet is Son (short for Wilson), and I have to say he is now easily one of the finest characters I have ever met. The way I feel about Son is only slightly less intense than the way I feel about Atticus Finch. They were definitely cut from the same cloth, but Son would be the poor man's Atticus Finch, with a few more demons in his past. In Rose, we fear the fleeting nature of her promises, while in Son we fear for his permanence. He is the one who will always be there to hold everything together, even if it may not be what's best for him. Like Rose, he too initially fled a bad past, but when he landed in Habit, Kentucky, his legs took root, and his presence becomes as strong and comforting as an oak tree. In the dynamic between Rose and Son we learn about the way secrets shape people, what makes some people stay and what makes others run.
Our third character, Cecilia, is a child growing up at a home for unwed mothers, doted on by pregnant girls and nuns, the Scout to Son's Atticus. Her life is a motif of continual loss (all the girls who have their babies and eventually leave), and her musings on the loss of a beloved person in her life strikes a chord with anyone who has ever lost someone - or feared losing someone. At one point she says, "She was lost, like a ring you swore you'd never take off but did, put it in your pocket, and the next thing you knew it was gone. The places to begin looking are as many as the breaths you took in a day. More than that. She could be anywhere, and by the time I got there, she could be someplace else again." Cecilia becomes the bridge between two disparate themes, the need to leave and the desire to stay. Her relationship with her father is so perfectly written, their daily interactions so natural, I couldn't help but feel nostalgia. At one point, when Son is injured, there are passages that describe that terrifying feeling you have when, for the first time, you realize your father is getting old, that you may have to be the one to care for him, that he may need your help and you may not know how to help him. I'm not one to cry easily at books or films, but several times the scenes were so achingly real and so mindful of those people I have known in my own life, feelings I have had exactly the way the characters experience them, that I felt a tear or two roll down my cheek. I'm not proud. I admit it.
On a side note, there are several characters in the book who are nuns. As a girl who was raised as a Catholic, went to parochial school for a time, and had a great aunt who was a nun (a beautiful energetic little sprite of a woman), I can guarantee that these characterizations were absolutely perfect. I have known several nuns who resemble those in the book, and the most lovely of those, Sister Evangeline, the nun who runs the kitchen and has a gift for clairvoyance, able to predict the sex of all the babies and a few of the machinations of those in her circle, reminded me so much of my own grandmother with her sweetness and understated ways, I caught my breath at times.
This is the brilliance of Ann Patchett's characters. They come from all walks of life, they inhabit places we may never have been, they live lives unlike our own, but we know them. They remind us of our own families, our own neighbors and friends, they remind us of our pasts, and our demons and our dreams and our secrets and our lies and our sacrifices. And they say to us, "What would make you run and what would make you stay? What are the secrets that haunt you and what would you do to protect the ones you love?" For me, Son captured the essence of the book's themes when he said, "People die. Terrible things happen. I know this now. You can't pick up and leave everything behind because there is too much sadness in the world and not enough places to go." -
The Patron Saint of Liars was the debut novel by one of my favorite contemporary writers, Ann Patchett. And it was a beautiful book that spoke to faith, love, mother-daughter relationships, and what constitutes family, but most important is the sense of miracles that is woven throughout this beautiful tale.
At the core of this book was what happened in 1906 in a back pasture owned by George Clatterbuck in Habit, Kentucky as the first bit of water broke through creating a hot spring that was already a steady stream at the time of its discovery. Following there were a series of misfortunes suffered by the family, the worst being the fever-ridden illness suffered by his daughter June. As she was slipping away, George remembered the miracle effects that the sulphorous water in the spring that had manifested themselves in his ailing livestock. So George left in the middle of the night with a mason jar to bring back the spring water, first taking a big sip himself and then poured the rest of the water down June's throat. The next morning June had fully recovered. Tales of what had happened spread by word of mouth people coming from all over.
Of those who flocked to the Clatterbuck's spring was a horse breeder from Lexington, Kentucky, Lewis Nelson and his wife Louisa who had severe rheumatoid arthritis. After regaining full use of her hands after visiting the spring, Louis Nelson, a devout Catholic saw the hand of God in the spring and thought the thing to do was build a grand hotel in the back pasture. With the Clatterbuck's permission, architects came followed by the builders and the gardeners and the beautiful and lavish Hotel Louisa opened its doors in 1920 where people flocked from Atlanta, Chicago and New Orleans. Unmatched by any hotel in the south, the Hotel Louisa guests ate with real silverware and drank champagne smuggled from Canada. At five o'clock everyone went out and stood on the front porch to drink bourbon and soda.
But alas, it all came to an end shortly after the crash of 1929 and the great drought that came over the land. Word eventually came that the Nelsons had made a gift of the Hotel Louisa to the Catholic Church putting the fear of God in the surrounding Baptist community. At first the Hotel Louisa became Saint Elizabeth's, a rest home for the nuns but they were miserable. But in a couple of years the nuns were back, this time with young pregnant girls. And this is where the heart of the story lies as their tale is told in the voice and perspective of three narrators, Rose Clinton Abbott, her husband Wilson Abbott and their daughter Cecelia. This is a lovely book and an amazing work for a debut novel. -
"Bel Canto" was sooo amazing (drop-everything-&-read-now fantastic)I just had to review the writer's earliest work (just as I did with M. Chabon). "The Patron Saint of Liars" is a bit tepid, about a place for pregnant girls that used to be a hotel and miracles and family secrets. Ann Patchett is religious and tries to inject this, her first work, with lots of godly goodness and extra (not extraneous) sensitivity. & her characters, though fully-fleshed and complete, have seemingly simple psychologies. This is an okay start for a great contemporary writer.
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Oh, Ann, this was really sub-par. I was initially interested in the set-up, but your lack of deeper exploration into the implications of it made me bored and disappointed. This book contains a potentially great premise (life for pregnant women in a home for unwed mothers, and life for a family who works there), and in my opinion completely falls flat. The book contains selfish characters whose reasons for being so are woefully unexplored. Main question: WHY does Rose always feel the need to leave places? - Her mom was amazing and her life was fine! Give me a reason and I'll be okay with it! I get that she felt stuck by religion and trying to do the right thing, but if that's the main/only reason, then that wasn't explored enough either. And the ending (or lack thereof), are you kidding me? Cecelia and Thomas don't find out the truth!?! That was the only part I actually perked up for, as I thought there might finally be some minor payoff. The only character I liked and had slight depth was Sister Evangeline. The head nun was just a characature, and no one else was explored deeply at all. Not the worst book ever - I was somewhat interested most of the time, and didn't *hate* the process of reading it - but definitely sub-par.
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Yeah, so I actually didn't love this book like I was expecting to. It was kind of depressing, and there wasn't an overarching moral lesson or something that made the unhappy ending worth it. Don't get me wroing, I loved Bel Canto, and that didn't end happily either, but I actually thought this story would have been better for a different kind of ending. At least a redemption of sorts. But no luck.
My biggest complaint, and this is kind of silly, but I thought the whole point with the healing springs story at the beginning was that the springs were going to heal the protagonists "broken" way of thinking. But we never came back to those springs, which was really confusing to me. Did I just miss something? That's how I felt when I finished, like I had missed something I was supposed to have caught. I'd love for anyone reading this review to clue me in.
Secondly, I'm all for people acting selfishly and irrationally if they have their own reasons for it. But I never got a feeling of the protagonist's (sorry, I can't remember her name) reasons for just plain denying herself happiness. It didn't make sense and it was frustrating. If she really had a compulsion to be miserable, her thoughts on the matter should have been laid out better, rather than just watching everyone around her suffer because of her selfish and self-destructive choices
I was going to add more, but those are my major complaints. Un-happy ending, not following through with the foreshadowing, and a stupid protagonist.
All that aside, I still gave it 3 stars because there are worse books out there, and it did give me something to think about. -
yes, i've read exactly one ann patchett book. yes, i would give my life for ann patchett.
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The Patron Saint of Liars is a story about a young woman who leaves her life to head to St. Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers on the other side of the country. The story is told in three parts, in chronological order: first by Rose, the young woman, then by Son, the groundskeeper at St. Elizabeth's, and finally, by Rose's daughter, Cecilia.
I enjoyed Rose's portion the most, although the likability of her character waned for me as the story progressed. Her portion was engaging and got me hooked into the story, but I also felt it was hard to connect with her, as a character. Perhaps the vagueness surrounding her was intentional (for sure to an extent some of it was), but there were so many unknown elements about her. Son's portion was ok for me and Cecilia's was good (better than Son's), but not as impactful as Rose's.
"People think you have to be going someplace, when, in fact, the ride is plenty."
The story ended differently than I was expecting it to, but I didn't dislike it. For a good portion of the "middle" of the book, I wasn't sure where exactly this was headed, but the outcome of the story, although a bit glum, was satisfying enough for my liking.
The Patron Saint of Liars is the third Ann Patchett book I've read. I liked this more than Bel Canto, but not as much as Commonwealth, one of my favorite fiction books. Patchett is a wonderful writer and I look forward to reading more of her work! -
I didn't finish this one because there are just too many books calling me right now and this one isn't winning out in the fight! Anyhow, I will put it on a new shelf of Come Back to books rather than DNF. DNF for me are those books that I don't want to finish. This is one I'd like to get back to some day.
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I needed the name of a place to go, someplace far away, where women had babies and left them behind, like pieces of furniture too heavy to move. . . I was going to Saint Elizabeth's."
Rose Clinton was unhappy with her life. The thing she really loved was to drive, and she dreamed of escape from a marriage to a nice guy who she did not love. When she found she was pregnant, Rose went to Saint Elizabeth's with the intention of giving up her baby, but fate intervened.
"The Patron Saint of Liars" is told from several characters' points of view, including Rose, Son (the handyman at Saint Elizabeth's), and Rose's daughter. Sister Evangeline had a special gift where she could foresee the futures of the pregnant girls that came into her kitchen. Saint Elizabeth's Home is sheltering girls who have secrets, and Rose shares a small part of her past with Sister Evangeline. Rose is beautiful and mysterious, and tends to ignore the feelings of others. Are the characters being directed by messages or signs from God? We wonder what the future will bring for her and several other characters as the book ends.
I enjoyed Ann Patchett's writing with its religious symbolism and complicated characters. However, the ending was so abrupt that it left me wanting more of the loose ends tied up. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. -
I just read this entire book in one sitting. The title is what caught my eye, such a wonderful title. It is beautifully written, and reminded me of the trance that Alice Hoffman books put the reader into, even though this book did not have the mystical, magical imagery that Hoffman infuses her books with. This is a story of Rose, a young woman that marries twice to men that she does not really love, and though she spends her life helping others, never really finds the unknown thing that she is searching for. I can understand her in the beginning, driving for the pure sake of driving because she only feels free when she is driving. I do that when I am uneasy or feeling lost about something. This book is sad and a bit uneasy itself, with all its themes of alienation and yearning. There are some wonderful characters, especially Son, the second husband, and Cecilia, Rose's daughter, and Sister Evangeline, who serves as grandmother (and saint?) to Cecilia. The setting in a Catholic home for unwed mothers is poignant and a bit of a heartache in and of itself. I'm not sure why I'd recommend this book since it is sad and feels sort of unfinished, but then, perhaps, that is the moral of the story... that that no one really ever is completely content except through your own will to make it so. This is a book that I wish I could discuss with other people who've read it.
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Occasionally I select a book with a strong reputation that I have never heard of. I did this with Ann Patchett’s "The Patron Saint of Liars"— it wholeheartedly surprised me. One of the best I've read in the past year.
The plot line is very engaging. It surrounds St. Elizabeth's home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. Unlike most books about institutions of this sort, this book offers a fair appraisal of the service St.Elizabeth’s offered.
The absolute strength of this book is the way the characters Rose, Son and Ceclia were sculpted with tenderness and care. Unafraid to have her hold back, we are treated to emotions and feelings like loneliness, pain, fun, and a myriad of life-affirming feelings.
Ann Patchett’s writing is tops. I loved this book! This female-lead cast of characters portrayed women with strength, intelligence and passion.
Highest recommendation. -
I hate books like this. Ones that start out so promising, and then crap out halfway through. Like they get lost in the swirl of it all and then just flush themselves down the toilet in despair.
At it's most basic, The Patron Saint of Liars is about leaving. The blurb on the back cover of the novel is misleading. It makes it seem like Rose is the main character, when in fact, we lose touch with her halfway through, when she becomes a shadow of the character we've been reading about for 165 pages. It's 1963. She has come to Habit, Kentucky to a home for unwed mothers run by Catholic nuns, because she has found herself pregnant, but unlike the other girls in the home, she's married. She doesn't love her husband, and only truly realized it when she found herself pregnant with his child. So she leaves. She tells no one where she's going and drives halfway across the country. At St. Elizabeth's she falls into a new life, mostly by accident. I very much liked the Rose part of the novel. She was a troubled character, but in the first person POV, she was understandable. Restless. And the book leads you to believe she's found some kind of peace.
Until halfway through, when Rose's character loses all coherence. Seen through the two other POVs in the novel, she becomes one of those cliched, disaffected characters who are never satisfied with anything and are constantly leaving and hurting the people they love just because they can't help themselves. I hate these characters. They always seem shallow and self-obsessed when viewed from the outside, and that's definitely what happens here, even though
There are a lot of things that I could point to here for why I'm so frustrated with this book. It's incohesiveness. The threads brought up earlier in the book that were never touched on again. The fact that , and that there is practically no resolution at all. And to top it all off, this incomplete, frustrating package of a story is told in lovely prose, so I was compelled to keep reading despite myself.
If you're going to read this book, I recommend stopping after Rose's section, or at least midway through Son's, after the baby is born. You'll sleep better at night if you do. -
ON SALE TODAY FOR $2.99.... get it if you like darkish, quirky characters where lies (obviously, as in the title) play their own role.
It's been forever since I read this, so forgive the short shrift. The story is set primarily at a home for unwed mothers out in the countryside. Nuns run the show with the help of a groundskeeper and others who are as important to the story as the girls who spend several emotional months here, delivering life and then leaving.
Hiding pregnancy and hiding paternity are lies that have been spun for millennia, but as in many of her novels, Patchett examines what the definition of family really is and how those fabrications impact it. She does so in off-kilter ways that sets the reader (at least this reader) thinking. There is also a touch of the mysterious in her story.
I'm not a Catholic, so if it hadn't been for some cheesy horror movie from 20+ years ago, I would not have recognized stigmata. But it is in here! Is this a saintly occurrence, the sign of a reconciled liar, or something entirely else? A spring of healing waters ties to Catholic lore, and having read (and adored)
The Loney recently, it makes me want to go back and reread this one by Patchett.
Not for the average reader, but if you're a book buddy of mine, chances are you are not average at all! 5 stars. -
This is the third Ann Patchett book I've read. Of the other two, the novel I really disliked, and the memoir I found only so-so. They weren't enough to put her on my do-not-read list, but for authors that I only like a bit, I tend to figure that if I don't like them by the end of the third book, it's not going to change, and I can gratefully set them aside. That's where we were starting this book. I was expecting this to be my last. Now she has a reprieve.
Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision
here.
In the meantime, you can read the entire review at
Smorgasbook -
3.5 🤰🤰🤰🤰
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3.5 stars.
The Patron Saint of Liars is my third book by
Ann Patchett, and I find her novels tend to hold me fast while I am reading them but sometimes leave me wondering what it was all about when it is over. I enjoyed reading this story about a young pregnant woman who flees her home in California for an unwed mother’s home in Kentucky. What makes her unusual is that she is not unwed, she has a husband who is good to her and loves her. To the very end of the novel, I could not ever grasp exactly what caused Rose to want to run away or come to grips with her willingness to cut ties with her mother who was good to her and loved her. This flaw made her unrelatable to me, and in this particular novel, not being able to understand or relate to the main character seems to me to be a weakness.
That weakness aside, what ensues is a rather interesting tale, with a unique and interesting setting--a luxury hotel that has been turned over to a group of nuns to be used as a home. The background stories of the other characters are interesting, the nuns are believable and one is very endearing, the unusual circumstances that arise after Rose comes to the home also create some tension and curiosity.
There are certain novelists from which I do not expect anything profound. I am looking for a good story that will hold my attention, and I get that from Ann Patchett. I will read her again. -
The Patron Saint of Liars is Ann Patchett's debut novel. It is a novel about people, an intriguing places and full of secrets and lies. This well written novel is told through the eyes of three characters. Firstly, Rose who is an expert at leaving, even through she is with you, Son (Wilson), the handyman who marries Rose and Cecilia the daughter. I enjoyed this story but did not become engaged or understand Rose and her actions. Maybe the author wanted Rose to remain mysterious to the reader.
"Her life was like a deck of cards." -
How did I never get around to reading this before? What a mistake, on my part. I've read (and really enjoyed) almost all of Patchett's work over the years (OK, for whatever reason, The Magician's Assistant didn't speak to me, but that was the exception), even since becoming enamored with Bel Canto.... I wish I'd found this and read it sooner. I found it to be ... just about perfect ... and well constructed ... and emotive ... and ... rich ... and sparse but elegant ... and ... sad and poignant, yet, in its way, uplifting and transcendent. Nicely done, indeed!
Having read so many of her books ... and viewing her through an entirely different lens since I read Truth and Beauty (in part because it was non-fiction and in part because one of my offspring attended Sarah Lawrence) ... I find it remarkable that this was her first novel. It is mature beyond its years, and it reads like it was written by a master of her craft. (I admit that I'm intrigued that it's not more popular, but, hey, it is what it is.... And, for that matter, I'm fascinated that, while she's well read, my sense is that Patchett is often under-appreciated, but I digress.)
Special kudos to Patchett, here, for effectively and efficiently delivering her story in three (equally compelling and credible and internally consistent) voices or, I dunno, through three lenses. It worked nicely for me.
Random tidbit: At my (splendid, small, but extremely well managed) neighborhood public library, the used books for sale shelf is opposite the water fountain and restroom. During a recent library visit, I spied this (alas, coming out of the restroom), and, when it caught my eye, I couldn't remember why I'd never read it (nor can I now), but ... for under a dollar, I picked it up and threw it in my suitcase on my last trip, and began reading it on the plane home. What a treat. And, again, three cheers for the public library! -
I stopped after about 50 pages ... it is very well written but the characters and the story were of no interest to me ... many people, including my wife, loved it
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3 stars
This is one of my lessor liked novels of Ann Patchett. Her writing is always good, however this story line just seemed to fizzle out -all the way into a rather bad story ending. I felt the first third or so of the book was the best. Once the story started changing narrators I found it less interesting and less enjoyable.
Married Rose runs away when she finds out she is pregnant and ends up across the country in a home for single mothers. We meet the maintenance man, Son, and learn his life story - first love, military service and how he ended up at the home for unwed mothers. We then meet and listen to Cecelia's story. Cecelia is Rose's daughter.
For me this debut book of Patchett's was less than stellar. Besides losing the main character of the story, which we had followed for a third of the book, I did not feel that much was really told in the story. Changing characters as narrators seemed elusive and distracting. Unless I missed something important along the way, it seemed nothing was really fleshed out throughout the story. It felt like I was left hanging at different points without the explanations that I needed.
Luckily I read Patchett's debut book this late in the game. I have read other novels of hers that I simply adored, so I know she only got better as time has gone on. One mediocre book will not prevent me from reading her again... and again. -
First half of this book was good, I got pulled In, then the second half fizzled, stalled and left this reader unfulfilled and disappointed at the end.
The premise of a disenchanted young woman, Rose who lives in California. She is unhappy, disenchanted with her husband, her life. She feels freedom when she is alone and driving. One day she decides she’s just going to drive and drive she does. She does not tell her husband she’s leaving or where she’s going - leaving him to wonder for years (!) where she is, how she is, why she left, is she alive? He does not know when she left, that she is pregnant with his child. Obviously in reading about their courtship and marriage, there are severe relationship/communication issues.
There is so much more to this story involving a Roman Catholic home in Kentucky, run by Sisters, for unwed mothers. Habit, Kentucky, is where Rose lands and where she stays - she stays, for years. She is neither unwed nor a mother at the time of her arrival. I really liked reading about the location, the nuns snd the people in this little rural community. The written description of it and the Sisters and unwed mothers, was very real.
Most of Rose’s actions in life are sad, pathetic, selfish, and self-centered. She is a good liar. She runs away from conflict. She has secrets. She has perfected a way of keeping herself aloof and untouchable, unreachable, even later on to her new husband and child. Would one say she is unable to or does not want to connect with others or love others for fear of knowing too much, getting in too deep and/or getting hurt? She was an absolutely very difficult character to figure out her actions or thoughts. She was a very difficult person to like or to even have empathy for.
The ending floored me and I so disliked what she carelessly up and did to her loved ones; more than anything else she had done previously in her life. It was a cowardice, selfish act that gave no one else any closure, including herself. Including myself and any future readers. So run, run away, Rose.
Overall rating: 3 stars -
3.5 stars rounded down because, despite loving the writing, I absolutely hated the ending of the book, which I will not give away in this admittedly short review.
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Ann Patchett is probably best well known for having written Bel Canto which I am best known for not having read. But I was browsing in Borders one day and happened upon Patron Saint and was finally moved to purchase a book after several months of not having bought any really. The story centers around St. Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers in Kentucky in the 1960's. One night, a woman named Rose enters the home, unwilling to share her secrets, stating that her husband has died and she will give her baby up for adoption. However, St. Elizabeth's is perched on the site of a dried up spring that produced miraculous healings, and when Rose's time to deliver approaches, she finds that she cannot go through with her plans to give away her baby and leave.
The book is peppered with a cast of interesting characters, including the nuns who run the home, Rose herself, Son the caretaker, and the other expectant mothers who come in and out of the home. It was a compelling read, not only to discover how Rose's past will rectify itself, but also how her years of story telling affect the life her daughter ultimately will lead. Rose is not, to me, a particularly sympathetic character, but I did find her compelling. The book ended a bit abruptly for my tastes, but definitely no neat happy ending on this one, which made up for the quilting book. I read this one at a more leisurely pace than some of the others, and I enjoyed it a lot. Solid chick lit, so if you're into that, give it a try. -
What a wonderful book, simply wonderful. Ann Patchett's, "The Patron Saint of Liars," is beautifully written, superbly crafted and structured, with a cast of unforgettable characters.
The Novel, written in first person narrative, is told by three individuals, Rose, the mother, Wilson Abbort, the father, and Cecilia, the daughter.
It takes place in Habit, Kentucky at Saint Elizabeth's Home for unwed mothers. It is run by Catholic nuns, and the Home was originally a very fancy hotel who the owner left to the Catholic Church.
The story mostly takes place in the 1960's and 70's when abortions weren't so commonplace, so young ladies who did not want to keep their babies went to Homes like the one in this book where they stayed, free of charge, during their entire pregnancy and once they had given birth at a nearby hospital they were very seldom seen again, and their babies were handed over to families that were looking to adopt a baby.
Rose was one of these girls, but she decided in the end that she wanted to keep her baby, and marries the caretaker of the Home, Wilson Abbort...also known as Son. Rose works in the kitchen, with the lovable Sister Evangeline. Over the next fifteen years she becomes an expert cook, never taken a penny from the nuns.
This is a story that explores so many human emotions, from the beginning of pregnancies to the time the mothers give birth. It's a reminder that one's past can never be totally neglected, and that love is complicated, and that caring is not a weakness but a strength. I highly, highly recommend. -
This book frustrated me. It had an interesting premise and characters that engaged me, however it never went anywhere.
I'm sure there are many who would disagree with me and obviously there are exceptions, but when I read a story I need to know how it ends. And if not all spelled out, at least some really great hints, or at worst - an idea.
This overall depressing book, which admittedly was well-written for the most part, just simply ended. Everyone had ends that were loose and sad and unfinished. I wanted more. I needed more. I could not believe that it was the final page. It felt like a waste of time spent when it could have given me a totally opposite reaction so easily. I read for the story, for the thought-provoking ideas and inspiration and emotional roller coaster, and yes, sometimes an escape. This offered almost none of the above.
It was OK, but I really wanted there to be more to it than there was, I need a reason for things, or at least resolution. So, I am sad this turned out so disappointing. Maybe, you will like it better than I did. -
Excellent, well written but not uplifting. I found the story line very interesting and it kept me intrigued, until the end. It did not like how she left it.
