Saint Anything Review

Saint Anything
Sarah Dessen
Viking Juvenile by Penguin Press, Random House Publishing
Released May 5, 2015
Young Adult
Rating: 4/5
Quotes from the book: 

“I was used to being invisible. People rarely saw me, and if they did, they never looked close. I wasn’t shiny and charming like my brother, stunning and graceful like my mother, or smart and dynamic like my friends. That’s the thing, though. You always think you want to be noticed. Until you are.”
“He had a nice smile. Seeing it, I felt like I’d won a prize, because he was so sparing with them.”
“As I shut the door and started to walk away, I heard him say, “Hey. Sydney.”
“Yeah?”
“You had on a shirt with mushrooms on it, and your hair was pulled back. Silver earrings. Pepperoni slice. No lollipop.”
I just looked at him, confused. Layla was walking toward us now.
“The first time you came into Seaside,” he said. “You weren’t invisible, not to me. Just so you know.”
“For as long as I could remember, other people had either overshadowed me or left me out in the open, alone. But Mac, as Layla had said all those weeks ago, was always somewhere nearby. He left me enough space to stand alone, but stood at the ready for the moment that I didn’t want to. It was the perfect medium, I was learning. Like he was my saint, the one I’d been waiting for.”

“In every friendship, at some point comes a test. Never before in my experience, however, had it involved food.”

Saint Anything is a perfect summer read that you’ll never want to put down. Sarah Dessen never disappoints when it comes to tackling tough issues that teens go through. Her 12th book is about families, being invisible, and belonging. In my opinion, it’s a huge must read.
Sydney has always been invisible and in the background because of her brother Peyton. Her whole families lives are flipped upside down when Peyton is sent to jail for drunk driving and hitting a young boy and paralyzing him. Sydney is looking for a change so she transfers schools and begins looking for a place where she belongs. She ends up meeting the Chathams at the pizza parlor. There’s Layla, the quirky girl who calls herself a connoisseur of fries, older sister Rosie who loves ice skating, Mrs. Chatham who is sick but still manages to hold the house down, and the watchful and protective Mac.

Sydney is an incredibly easy character to relate to. Her feelings are very similar to how many other teenage girls feels and I love how honest Dessen creates Sydney to be. The most fascinating and unique character is definitely Layla. She’s a quirky character but she’s also a memorable one. I also love Layla’s mom and her fascination with reality TV. Sarah Dessen is great at having these weird yet lovable supporting characters that certainly manage to standout.

The relationship between Sydney and Mac goes down sooner than some of Dessen’s other books. We don’t have to wait until the last page but that’s also something that I enjoy. I think the bond between Sydney and Mac was obvious from the beginning and she didn’t have another boyfriend so there weren’t any huge obstacles between them. Mac is a sweet and caring guy and it’s impossible not to swoon over him. The little things that he does for Sydney throughout the novel are just so considerate and adorable.

Saint Anything stands out from other Young Adult books in the respect that it really explores how something bad that someone close to you does can come back on you just as hard. Yes, this has been done in many other books in the genre. However, I haven’t seen any of them that portray it in this same light. Sydney is taking responsibility for what her brother did, she lets the guilt just pile on her. I also think that how Dessen writes about Ames, her brother’s friend who comes to live with her family and is like a replacement son, is eerie from the beginning. She allows his bad vibe to progress gradually throughout the novel and I’ve never seen that done before.
I would recommend this to pretty much anybody who loves to read and doesn’t mind the occasional Young Adult book. This is one of those books where you don’t have to be a teen or even a die hard fan of the genre to love it. I also think that it doesn’t matter whether or not you’ve read any of Dessen’s previous works, this is a great place to start since it’s her at her very best.
Questions to answer in the comments:

• Who was your favorite character?
• Do you think Sydney was a good and strong protagonist? Did you relate to her?
• What were your initial thoughts about Peyton and did those change by the end of the book?
• Would you have visited David if you were in Sydney’s shoes? Do you think that’s even her responsibility to talk to him?
• Which member of the Chatham family was your favorite and why?