Saint Maybe

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Summary: Tyler with a normal twist - sort of
Review: This is something new. Instead of writing about weirdos, Anne Tyler peoples Saint Maybe with ordinary people who rise to extraordinary heights as a result of tragedy. The cheerful Bedloe family is plunged into despair when suicide rears its ugly head. Ian, the teenage boy who was perhaps the cause of his brother's suicide, seeks redemption at the Church of the Second Chance and subsequently drops out of college to care for the three children orphaned as a result of his unthinking statement that began the whole tragic series of events. Redemption and forgiveness eventually come in a very satisfying ending.

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Summary: Another gem from Anne Tyler
Review: Saint Maybe is a thoroughly enjoyable book with especially interesting characters. The hero of the story is Ian Bedloe, a 17 year old boy who must deal with the guilt he feels after he- as he believes- causes the death of his brother. Searching for forgiveness, Ian finds religion at the Church of the Second Chance, and he is able to bring meaning to his life. The story is an interesting examination of organized religion, faith, and the roles they play in one's life. I particularly liked the characters' examinations of religion- from Agatha's skepticism to Ian's almost blind faith. Although all of Anne Tyler's books are virtual masterpieces, choose to read this one if you like to think about religion, faith, and all the questions which have no answers.

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Summary: Perhaps Tyler's Best - A Joy to Read
Review: It is hard to believe that this book is a more than a decade old-but then again, it is perhaps a measure of its usefulness to all seeking Christians that what was fresh and new in 1991 remains so today. A modern classic both as an American novel and as an exploration of the interrelationship of faith and life, SAINT MAYBE is perhaps the greatest work by this acclaimed contemporary novelist.

Born in Minnesota, reared in Raleigh (NC) and infused with a slice of America mid-Atlantic milieu, Anne Tyler is the author of more than a baker's dozen of novels, and all have the ring of truth about them-from BREATHING LESSONS (awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1988) to THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST. Here, the setting is Baltimore, the scene is a once-fashionable, now down-at-the-heels cul de sac, which serves every bit as well as the more oft-used device of an English market village for exploring what makes her extraordinarily real ordinary characters tick.

The story centers around a multi-generation family on this street and the others whose lives intersect their own. Chief among them are what seem to be an offbeat, storefront church group of Christians who are having all too good a time following Jesus. Dubbed by its founder as "The Church of the Second Chance" this congregation (with members who get as much of a kick out of forgiveness as they do picnics) can serve as a plumb line for any other church you've known or know.

Anne Tyler has created a lively read, but much more. She has turned the idea of "church" slightly askew, and having done so, perhaps given us all an idea of how to set things right where we worship now. If this is not enough to make you want to read this book (or reread it)... Well, give it a look because it is by one of the best living writers in the English language. And then, of course, you will want to read everything else by Tyler, too.

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Summary: A Satisfying Taste of Reality
Review: Anne Tyler's brilliant and heart-felt novel, Saint Maybe, has surely touched readers of all generations. The thoughtful analogies and individualization of characters familiarizes a person with this Baltimore family of 1965. The magnified details that the author provides are immaculate and transform the reader into a participant rather than just an audience in the emotional roller coaster of the Bedloe family. In this compelling story, Bee and Doug Bedloe have three aspiring and hopeful children. Their middle child, Danny, meets a woman at his place of work and soon after has a beautiful baby girl, Daphne, with her. Ian, the youngest child, conveys his opinion about his brother's marriage and child and of the dishonesty on his wife's behalf. Ian and his parents' lives will forever be burdened and complicated with the effects of his choice of displaying his notions. After a change of heart and spirit, Ian is enlightened, yet confused as to his purpose in the world. Anne Tyler brings to life the everyday occasions that may seem so insignificant to a person. Although the story was dull on a few elements, the majority of the novel was notable and also eloquently depicted. Dedicated and patient readers will ultimately enjoy Saint Maybe.

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Summary: saint maybe
Review: One of my Favorite,Nov,24,2003
Rewiewe: Jacqueline Ballestas from West Hartford Conn
Ann Tyler really makes you feel so connected with the Chareacters in this story.I originally read this bacouse It was assigned to me for a book report at school. I wasn't to thrilled about that...but it just happened to be the best school assigment ever. Saint Maybe is just a Womderful book. I was very upset when it ended, because I felt so in tune with the tone of the book and it's characters.
Ian, the main character, has some tramatic events that happend to him his life forever changes after that.

I highly reccomened this book! to any body even young kids between 12 and up.

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Summary: Slow reading but good story
Review: I like the characters and the story, but the author takes too much time with details and the pace is slow.

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Summary: One of my Favorites
Review: Anne Tyler really makes you feel so connected with the Characters in this story. I originally read this because It was assigned to me for a book report at school. I wasn't to thrilled about that...but it just happened to be the best school assingment ever. Saint Maybe is just a wonderful book. I was very upset when it ended,because I felt so in tune with the tone of the book and it's characters.

Ian, the main character, has some tramatic events that happen to him and his life forever changes after that.

I highly reccomend this book!

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Summary: Wonderful and insightful
Review: Anne Tyler is, I think, one of the best American writers working today. She does an amazing job of showing the internal and secret lives of ordinary people (or people who simply appear to be ordinary as they are our neighbors, our friends and our co-workers).
Ian, the hero of Saint Maybe, is one of Tyler's best creations ever. When his older brother dies, the adolescent Ian takes on the care of three children---all of whom are unrelated to him (altho' there is a slightly possibility that the youngest child is his niece). The story follows Ian's attempts to raise the children---but also to find out who he really is.
Tyler's writing is lyrical and the characters are memorable and very real. There is something in Ian's search which has parallels in everyone's search to discover who they are and what they think is important.
I can't recommend this highly enough!

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Summary: A Captivating Book
Review: Anne Tyler's "St. Maybe" is a captivating book. She writes in the omniscient point of view, giving the reader a good understanding of all of the characters, not just Ian (who could be considered the main character). Her use of this point of view keeps the reader involved in the book, always begging for the next piece of information, which Tyler almost always delivers quite smoothly. The story left some questions unanswered for me, but other readers may disagree, and say that the answers are given through the story's finish. Overall, this book is recommended and like other readers, I plan on reading other Anne Tyler books in the future.

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Summary: A beautifully bittersweet tale of a family
Review: Anne Tyler has written many excellent novels, but I think this is her masterpiece. It's an involving story, played out over many years, with appealing characters who grow and evolve. It also provokes thoughts about so many things: religion, redemption, the randomness of life, but above all, the nature of family. A tragedy shatters the traditional, nuclear, apple-pie-perfect Bedloe family, but the family rebuilds into a nontraditional grouping in which blood matters less than love--and love is not automatic but grows through years of familiarity. And the family-building is driven more by chance than choice--as, the characters learn, most of life is; very little turns out how they had planned, but they make the best of what they're dealt. For Ian, the "Saint Maybe" of the title, the driving force of life is the Church of the Second Chance, which shows him a way to channel his guilt over complicity in the family tragedy into a constructive effort: being the caring guardian of three children. The church could be deemed fundamentalist, but really it's a kinder, gentler fundamentalism: the minister doesn't preach hellfire and damnation to nonbelievers, but rather tells his flock to lead exemplary lives; doesn't rail against gays or feminists, but instead forbids members to consume caffeine or sugar. Tyler's treatment of religion is evenhanded; she presents Ian's piety (and his occasional frustration with all that's expected of him) seriously and respectfully, but also lets other characters voice skepticism. With Tyler's technique of presenting various parts of her story from different characters' viewpoints--something she also did effectively in "Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant"--we get a range of opinion on a lot of things in the Bedloes' lives, and we get to hear characters say things they wouldn't if they knew the whole story. The primary characters are well-drawn and memorable, especially Ian, nieces Agatha (a driven, opinionated type) and Daphne (a bohemian and a drifter), sister-in-law Lucy (who changes everyone's life as she struggles to cope with her own), and family friend Rita (who changes Ian's life when he least expects it). Supporting characters leave a lasting impression too--the geeky but gentle and well-meaning Reverend Emmett, the embittered deaf carpenter who employs Ian, the revolving cast of foreign students living down the street. Tyler's sense of time--the mid-'60s to about 1990--is keen as ever, as is her sense of place--Baltimore, naturally. And while many sad things happen in her narrative, so do a lot of happy ones; unlike the too-sweet TV adaptation, the novel is bittersweet, just like life. It doesn't always--or even usually--turn out as we wish; bad things happen to good people; but somehow--with the help of our blood and chosen families, and our belief systems--we go on.