Book Review: Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Sydney has been used to being invisible her whole life.  Her brother, Peyton, is the one with the gravitational pull in her family.  Everyone is drawn towards him and Sydney is ok with being in the passenger seat.  Things seem perfect in their family until Peyton changes and begins getting and more and more trouble with the law.  Saint Anything starts after Peyton is sentenced for an action that haunts Sydney and shatters her family as she knows it.  She changes schools to try to start fresh and through time, new friends and garlic knots she works through her grief and learns more about who she is.

This is, hands down, the best Sarah Dessen book I have read.  I found myself reading this book over and over (and over!).  All of the characters in this book feel real and like people you could run into in your own lives.  Each character was strong and broken in their own way and each page made me glad to be part of their world.  The story drew me in as well.  The idea that we may feel invisible to those around us but are not invisible to everyone is one I was drawn to.  As a twin whose brother has always been seen as exemplary I could relate to Sydney’s struggle with this.  Her experience of it sometimes being easier to open to stranger is one that I, and I bet many of us, have experienced.   The whole book feels real and Dessen has done a great job (again) of having the characters, and their situations, feel real.  

I found this review difficult because I wanted to get it right.  This book did to me what all great books do; it drew me and allowed me to view those around me more complexly.  I have pre-ordered two copies of this for my classroom library and I CANNOT WAIT to have students share their thoughts on this story with me!  There are multiple students who have been pestering me for weeks to see if this book has come in.  I strongly recommend this book to those looking to become immersed in a great story that will make you connect with the characters and apply what you learn from them to your life.  FANTASTIC READ!

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.