Rating: 
Summary: Not Feast of Love, but Baxter is still superb...
Review: Baxter's Feast of Love is simply a masterpiece. This book, as most do in comparison, falls short. Neverthless, it is a beautifully written and sometimes fascinating account of a marriage, a family, and a community in these changing times. The story does not always satisfy, but it is much like life in that way. Baxter's eye is incredible and writing is often lyrical. The story may not feel complete, but I think that may well be the intent. Well worth the read--particularly if you don't have to pay full price.
Rating:
Summary: Not Feast of Love, but Baxter is still supberb...
Review: Baxter's Feast of Love is simply a masterpiece. This book, as most do in comparison, falls short. Neverthless, it is a beautifully written and sometimes fascinating account of a marriage, a family, and a community in these changing times. The story does not always satisfy, but it is much like life in that way. Baxter's eye is incredible and writing is often lyrical. The story may not feel complete, but I think that may well be the intent. Well worth the read--particularly if you don't have to pay full price.
Rating: 
Summary: Quiet Triumph
Review: Charles Baxter delivers yet again with a remarkably heartfelt and disturbing novel. Baxter easily crafts a blend of both the everyday and extraordinary into a witty exploration of the human condition. The detail is flawless, the dialogue is exceptional, the experience of Saul and Patsy almost unmatched by any other writer (with the exception of perhaps William Maxwell). Through twists and turns Saul and Patsy turns into a haunting ghost story that will resonate with readers of today's society. Another amazing achievement from one of our finest writers.
Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable Book With Rich Characters
Review: Charles Baxter is a writer whose books I have seen in bookstores, but until recently I had not read, with perhaps the exception of one of his short stories. Friends suggested some of his books, particularly THE FEAST OF LOVE, and I purchased a few titles, including his most recent novel SAUL AND PATSY. I had heard from some of these friends that SAUL AND PATSY was not as good as some of his other works, but now that I have started THE FEAST OF LOVE, I think I am seeing that "not as good" Charles Baxter is better than much of what is available.
Readers who enjoy strong character based novels should enjoy SAUL AND PATSY. The plot revolves around a young couple Saul and Patsy who reside in a Midwestern town. Neither are locals and the two have to adjust to a different way of life. We see the couple transition from enjoying the freedom of being a young married couple still in love to the responsibilities of parenthood. We see Saul's somewhat neurotic manner as contrasted to Patsy, who in general is freer to be herself. Saul is aware of prejudices about his Jewishness, even if the prejudice is somewhat disguised. While their lives should change drastically when their first child is born, a series of bizarre events involving a troubled young man are what really change the two.
There are some characters in the book that could probably be deleted, and at times can be somewhat distracting, but in the end they do help us come to know Saul who is the strongest character in the book. Readers who enjoy plot-driven novels should be aware that the pace of the novel is probably its weakest point. In the hands of other writers, the tension would probably have developed earlier, and the resolution would be somewhat clearer. Yet of the action of the novel was faster paced, the richly developed characters would probably be less developed.
Rating: 
Summary: Un Remarkable
Review: Charles Baxter is one of my favorite authors. He has a gift for portraying human frailty with comedy and grace. And this book is no exception. It is, however, an average read at best.
It's basically about a Jewish high school teacher (two more things I'm not) and his wife and what happens when one of the students goes a little nutty (the publisher's review above gives away too much in my estimation--I hope you haven't read it). It's part love story and part commentary on the human condition. It moves a bit slowly and veers almost into fantasy land about midway. I didn't expect, or like that. I also didn't like the insult directed at our current President by Patsy on page 52. I did, however, really enjoy Chapter 27 (the last chapter). Moderately recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: OUT OF HIS ELEMENT
Review: Charles Baxter's forte is the short story, and he has written some good ones. In this novel he is using characters he has written about previously in short stories, namely the titular Saul and Patsy, and unfortunately when expanded to novel length the characters just don't ring true. This is particularly true of the main character, Saul Bernstein, an East Coast university professor transplanted, via academia, to a midwestern college town. To me, Saul's character is cardboard and one-dimensional - the sort of character a writer might concoct after reading the works of far superior Jewish writers such as Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow, and Phillip Roth, and then trying to create his own pastiche of a troubled "Jewish man" confronting a sometimes alien, sometimes hostile, sometimes frightening world. In comparing Mr. Baxter's creation with the works of the forenamed authors, I'm afraid the highest rating I can give his new novel is one star out of five.
Rating:
Summary: A "hard to put down" book whose characters will draw you in
Review: Charles Baxter's new novel, SAUL AND PATSY, may be the longest short story ever written.Based on two of his previous stories --- "Saul and Patsy are Getting Comfortable in Michigan" from THROUGH THE SAFETY NET and "Saul and Patsy are Pregnant" from A RELATIVE STRANGER --- the novel greatly expounds the title characters' lives and further explores themes of irony and sentimentality across more than 300 pages, yet by virtue of its vivid characters, incredibly targeted prose and insights into married life, SAUL AND PATSY asks to be read like a short story --- in one sitting. It lacks any suspense, but it is still hard to put down. And reading that last page is akin to saying good-bye to old college friends, who stopped by for an all-too-short visit. Saul Bernstein, a Jewish history teacher originally from Baltimore, and Patsy Carlson, a dancer from Chicago, have recently moved to the town of Five Oaks, Michigan --- one of the many "dusty, luckless midwestern cities tucked away inside the folds of the map" --- out of Saul's youthful idealism: he wants to bring high education to the plains of rural America, to reverse the simpleness of middle-class life. It's an unrealistic, outsized, almost elitist dream, but it's also one of the few things about which he feels sincerely. Yet, as a well-educated Jew in a small midwestern town, he feels hopelessly out of place and unable to relate to his students or even his neighbors. For the novel's first chapter, Baxter reworks and updates "Saul and Patsy Are Getting Comfortable in Michigan," which ended with an ambiguous car crash, leaving readers with no sign of whether or not the couple survived. In fact, they walk away more or less unscathed to build a home together and begin a family, gradually growing increasingly, if not perfectly, comfortable in their adopted hometown. When Saul is assigned to teach a remedial writing course, a student named Gordy Himmelman develops an odd fixation on him and Patsy, yet his intentions are unknowable, his motivation a mystery. "On Gordy, blankness had a certain eloquence," Baxter writes. "The boy was profoundly blank." Yet he passively propels the novel's minimal plot, first as a curious stalker who stands under a tree in their front yard for hours at a time, then as a ghost who inspires rebellion in the town's susceptible teenagers. As this story unfolds, Baxter also introduces us to Saul and Patsy's friends and neighbors --- the McPhees, a couple just out of high school who seem to thrive on "midwestern earnestness"; Saul's widowed mother, who has a scandalous affair with a younger man; and his handsome brother Howie, a tech millionaire whose life may not be as blessed as Saul assumes. All of these characters pop in and out of Saul and Patsy's life, but the one thing that remains constant is its setting. SAUL AND PATSY is a Midwestern pastoral: Baxter evokes a Michigan whose flatness holds a "sensual loneliness" and whose cities are losing their personalities through the ups and downs of the industries that created them. Like Terre Haute, Duluth, Flint, Grand Forks, or dozens of other similar --- and actual --- municipalities, Five Oaks is one of those "cities you had heard of but couldn't quite picture, cities that called nothing in particular to mind except for an eagerness to be larger and more prosperous than they were, and an all-consuming late-stage boosterism that was mostly insecurity and worry masked by bluster." Even as Saul and Patsy get comfortable in Michigan, Michigan is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable place to live. Even though he intends this novel to register on a state and even regional level, Baxter maintains the story's focus on its title characters and on their "plain old married love." It has an amiably small, domestic scope, which certainly is no limitation, especially in the hands of a writer who is as fearlessly playful and fiercely intelligent as Baxter. Rather, SAUL AND PATSY is wonderfully and magically life-size. --- Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner
Rating:
Summary: A "hard to put down" book whose characters will draw you in
Review: Charles Baxter's new novel, SAUL AND PATSY, may be the longest short story ever written. Based on two of his previous stories --- "Saul and Patsy are Getting Comfortable in Michigan" from THROUGH THE SAFETY NET and "Saul and Patsy are Pregnant" from A RELATIVE STRANGER --- the novel greatly expounds the title characters' lives and further explores themes of irony and sentimentality across more than 300 pages, yet by virtue of its vivid characters, incredibly targeted prose and insights into married life, SAUL AND PATSY asks to be read like a short story --- in one sitting. It lacks any suspense, but it is still hard to put down. And reading that last page is akin to saying good-bye to old college friends, who stopped by for an all-too-short visit. Saul Bernstein, a Jewish history teacher originally from Baltimore, and Patsy Carlson, a dancer from Chicago, have recently moved to the town of Five Oaks, Michigan --- one of the many "dusty, luckless midwestern cities tucked away inside the folds of the map" --- out of Saul's youthful idealism: he wants to bring high education to the plains of rural America, to reverse the simpleness of middle-class life. It's an unrealistic, outsized, almost elitist dream, but it's also one of the few things about which he feels sincerely. Yet, as a well-educated Jew in a small midwestern town, he feels hopelessly out of place and unable to relate to his students or even his neighbors. For the novel's first chapter, Baxter reworks and updates "Saul and Patsy Are Getting Comfortable in Michigan," which ended with an ambiguous car crash, leaving readers with no sign of whether or not the couple survived. In fact, they walk away more or less unscathed to build a home together and begin a family, gradually growing increasingly, if not perfectly, comfortable in their adopted hometown. When Saul is assigned to teach a remedial writing course, a student named Gordy Himmelman develops an odd fixation on him and Patsy, yet his intentions are unknowable, his motivation a mystery. "On Gordy, blankness had a certain eloquence," Baxter writes. "The boy was profoundly blank." Yet he passively propels the novel's minimal plot, first as a curious stalker who stands under a tree in their front yard for hours at a time, then as a ghost who inspires rebellion in the town's susceptible teenagers. As this story unfolds, Baxter also introduces us to Saul and Patsy's friends and neighbors --- the McPhees, a couple just out of high school who seem to thrive on "midwestern earnestness"; Saul's widowed mother, who has a scandalous affair with a younger man; and his handsome brother Howie, a tech millionaire whose life may not be as blessed as Saul assumes. All of these characters pop in and out of Saul and Patsy's life, but the one thing that remains constant is its setting. SAUL AND PATSY is a Midwestern pastoral: Baxter evokes a Michigan whose flatness holds a "sensual loneliness" and whose cities are losing their personalities through the ups and downs of the industries that created them. Like Terre Haute, Duluth, Flint, Grand Forks, or dozens of other similar --- and actual --- municipalities, Five Oaks is one of those "cities you had heard of but couldn't quite picture, cities that called nothing in particular to mind except for an eagerness to be larger and more prosperous than they were, and an all-consuming late-stage boosterism that was mostly insecurity and worry masked by bluster." Even as Saul and Patsy get comfortable in Michigan, Michigan is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable place to live. Even though he intends this novel to register on a state and even regional level, Baxter maintains the story's focus on its title characters and on their "plain old married love." It has an amiably small, domestic scope, which certainly is no limitation, especially in the hands of a writer who is as fearlessly playful and fiercely intelligent as Baxter. Rather, SAUL AND PATSY is wonderfully and magically life-size. --- Reviewed by Stephen M. Deusner
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful novel
Review: Charles Baxter's SAUL AND PATSY is the best novel I've read in a long time. It's sophisticated, beautifully written, wry, emotionally rich, and funny. Loved it, and highly recommend the book to those readers who enjoy gentle irony and nuanced language, and who long to read a book that satisfies on every level.
Rating:
Summary: see pg. 52
Review: I really enjoyed this witty, character-rich novel, and I especially appreciated "the insult directed at our current president by Patsy on pg. 52."
Thank you, and God bless America, where fictional characters and regular folks like you and me are (as of this writing) still free to insult politicians without fear of reprisal.
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