Saint Anything, by Sarah Dessen

There are some authors in the YA world who are like comfort food: mac and cheese, your favorite hot beverage, etc.  Or maybe in the case of Sarah Dessen, pizza and garlic knots.  (I wanted to eat ALL THE PIZZA after reading this book.  Nom nom nom).  That being said, just because I'm comparing Dessen to pizza doesn't mean her books per se are necessarily comforting.  Dessen always serves up YA lit that is both true and challenging.  Her characters experience real problems that aren't always resolved in a neat bow in the end.  I think this is probably what makes her novels still so popular in all the school libraries where I've worked. 

Saint Anything is a bit darker and grittier than some of her previous books.  We open on high schooler Sydney, whose family has been thrown in disarray after her brother, Peyton, has been sentenced to jail for drunk driving.  He hit a young man, causing the boy permanent paralysis.  Peyton's shadow hangs solidly over the prep school they both attended, and Sydney is in desperate need for a fresh start, so she transfers to the local public school where no one knows her family history.

Things are home aren't much better.  Her father is emotionally absent, not taking much of a role in anything.  Her mother, on the other hand, is living in supreme denial of Peyton's crime.  Her number one priority involves Peyton's phone calls from jail and keeping track of everything going on at his penitentiary.  At one point she even calls the warden over some trifle issue.  The way she goes on, one would think Peyton's at summer camp and not jail.  No one in the family shows any remorse or guilt over what happened to the victim of Peyton's crime.  No one - except Sydney.  She feels she must carry the burden of guilt because someone has to.

It was very difficult to get through parts of this book, emotionally.  The mother drove me CRAZY.  I wanted someone to shake some sense into her.  (Peyton does, eventually).  Dessen also introduces us to Ames, one of Peyton's friends who takes an unhealthy liking to Sydney.  He's creepy and uncomfortable.  The fact that Sydney's parents are so blind to his actions was infuriating.  I hope teens reading this book WILL TELL SOMEONE if they are put into a similar situation.  It was hard to believe that no adult did anything about Ames until the end of the novel.  Ugh.

Still, so much of Sydney's path to personal healing and reconciliation with her brother rings true.  She meets a group of students at school who embrace her and don't pass judgment on her family.  She slowly begins to fall in love for the first time.  She seeks advice from her friend Layla's mother, since her own mother is so emotionally absent.  She doesn't like talking on the phone to Peyton, until she discovers they both watch the same Real Housewives-esque reality show, and the ice begins to thaw between them.

I think Dessen tries a little too hard to wrap everything up neatly.  The ending felt a bit rushed and the conclusions forced.  Still, I have no doubt that this book will be snapped up by Dessen's fans, as it should be.