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A review by aksyring
Liars and Saints by Maile Meloy
4.0
A great, quick read. Maile Meloy is truly a great writer, an even better developer of characters. I loved each and every one of them, despite their many flaws. It seems like every author these days has to write about family disfunction - after all, how entertaining is a perfect family? - but I felt like this was a really original story. Sometimes when there are so many characters in so many different generations, I feel distanced from some of them, but they were all well-rounded, consistent, and sympathetic.
My only negatives... I felt like maybe it would have been good in first person. There seemed to be a wall up with the third person, where I could get only so close, but not IN it.
Also, I hated the ending when Yvette died. Or rather, how Yvette died. I thought it was ridiculous, a bit of a farce, and maybe even poking fun at Catholics. I thought it took away from Yvette's faithfulness, which was something I actually liked about her. It was a great character contrast to have someone like her in the family, and then to have Jamie and Clarissa, who were so anti-Catholic. I would have been fine if she had died or been murdered in a different way, but I thought her being murdered on the first day of her pilgrimage to Rome while going to St. Peter's to pray was awful.
My only negatives... I felt like maybe it would have been good in first person. There seemed to be a wall up with the third person, where I could get only so close, but not IN it.
Also, I hated the ending when Yvette died. Or rather, how Yvette died. I thought it was ridiculous, a bit of a farce, and maybe even poking fun at Catholics. I thought it took away from Yvette's faithfulness, which was something I actually liked about her. It was a great character contrast to have someone like her in the family, and then to have Jamie and Clarissa, who were so anti-Catholic. I would have been fine if she had died or been murdered in a different way, but I thought her being murdered on the first day of her pilgrimage to Rome while going to St. Peter's to pray was awful.