The Patron Saint of Liars: A Novel
by Ann Patchett
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Read in January, 2007
recommends it for:
women
Ann Patchett’s debut novel, The Patron Saint of Liars, is a beautifully written story about people, secrets, and lies. The book’s title intrigued me; “Patron Saint of Liars” – a conflict between virtue and dishonesty. Patchett’s writing is quiet and compelling as she shares the story of Rose Clinton, and how her lies affected her life and the lives of those around her.
After three years of marriage, Rose Clinton finds herself pregnant. Unsatisfied with her life, and questioning h...more
After three years of marriage, Rose Clinton finds herself pregnant. Unsatisfied with her life, and questioning h...more
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Read in March, 2008
The Patron Saint of Liars is the first novel of Anny Patchett. The story starts in San Diego, California and moves across I-40 to Habit, Kentucky. Martha Rose is the main character of the novel, which is split into three parts and has three narrators. The second and third narrators are Son, Rose's second husband and Cecilia, Rose's daughter. Despite the additional narrators, the entire story centers around Rose.
Rose began her life as Martha, a traditional Catholic name. In the Bible...more
Rose began her life as Martha, a traditional Catholic name. In the Bible...more
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Read in July, 2007
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Read in August, 2008
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Read in April, 2007
Favorite Quotes:
"I'm making it sound like it was easy, when in fact it was not. It was sad enough to change my life for good, to make the blood reverse the course of its flow in my veins."
"I looked at her name for a while, tried to remember what I had been thinking that night. I loved her. I loved her even as she was swimming away from me, even as I was hating her. That's the way it is, when you love somebody your whole life. It's like a direction you go in, even when you do...more
"I'm making it sound like it was easy, when in fact it was not. It was sad enough to change my life for good, to make the blood reverse the course of its flow in my veins."
"I looked at her name for a while, tried to remember what I had been thinking that night. I loved her. I loved her even as she was swimming away from me, even as I was hating her. That's the way it is, when you love somebody your whole life. It's like a direction you go in, even when you do...more
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Read in March, 2006
Yeah, so I actually didn't love this book like I was expecting to. It was kind of depressing, and there wasn't an overarching moral lesson or something that made the unhappy ending worth it. Don't get me wroing, I loved Bel Canto, and that didn't end happily either, but I actually thought this story would have been better for a different kind of ending. At least a redemption of sorts. But no luck.
My biggest complaint, and this is kind of silly, but I thought the whole point with the healing sp...more
My biggest complaint, and this is kind of silly, but I thought the whole point with the healing sp...more
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Read in July, 2008
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Read in January, 2007
This was the first novel I've read by Ann Patchett, but it felt strangely familiar and I kept wondering if I'd read it before. I don't think I had, but maybe I'd read another book set in a home for unmarried mothers. Or maybe it is that I've read a number of books where a character walks out on family and home because s/he decides they are living the "wrong life", as Rose does here. (I'd just read another novel, Kate Atkinson's Behind the Scenes at the Museum, where a central character...more
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Read in April, 2007
Ann Patchett is probably best well known for having written Bel Canto which I am best known for not having read. But I was browsing in Borders one day and happened upon Patron Saint and was finally moved to purchase a book after several months of not having bought any really. The story centers around St. Elizabeth's, a home for unwed mothers in Kentucky in the 1960's. One night, a woman named Rose enters the home, unwilling to share her secrets, stating that her husband has died and she will giv...more
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Read in July, 2008
This was my second reading. My first time I had it on loan from the library back in April 2007, and in that review I said that it was well-written, except the last page was "insulting." It's a bitter letdown when an author ends an otherwise exceptional novel with a character's parting words of "Don't ask me why, but I had this sudden picture of..." followed by the final paragraph of the work simplistically detailing her future.
I went on a date with my husband last week,...more
I went on a date with my husband last week,...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
fans of Alice Hoffman novels, people who yearn, Oprah's book club
I just read this entire book in one sitting. The title is what caught my eye, such a wonderful title. It is beautifully written, and reminded me of the trance that Alice Hoffman books put the reader into, even though this book did not have the mystical, magical imagery that Hoffman infuses her books with. This is a story of Rose, a young woman that marries twice to men that she does not really love, and though she spends her life helping others, never really finds the unknown thing that she is s...more
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Read in February, 2008
This book was beautifully written, and from a writer's perspective also quite interesting in that the narrative is told in first person by three different characters (and their voices are unique and convincing).
However, I have some reservations about the book too. It was slow for me to get into, though that could have just been my mindset; it often takes me a while to get into a book. But it starts with a third person description of the history of St. Elizabeth's/Hotel Louisa where the stor...more
However, I have some reservations about the book too. It was slow for me to get into, though that could have just been my mindset; it often takes me a while to get into a book. But it starts with a third person description of the history of St. Elizabeth's/Hotel Louisa where the stor...more
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Though I think Bel Canto is my favorite thus far of Patchett's(an interesting story where music is in a way, the main character), I really enjoyed Patron Saint of Liars. A bit on the story…the book is written in three parts. The first introduces you to Rose, a bit of a free spirit not to be tied down that finds herself married and then pregnant. She decided to leave her husband and go to a Catholic home for unwed mothers. This first part is all about her relationships with the other young moth...more
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Read in February, 2007
Rose, a woman in her 20's, finds out that she is pregnant. Unsure that she can be a good mother to this baby she leaves her husband and her own mother behind (and in the dark) as she drives cross country from California to Kentucky to St. Elizabeth's a place for unwed mothers who are giving up their babies.
St. Elizabeth's used to be the Hotel Louisa when it was originally built. Built in Habit, Kentucky next to a healing spring, people from all over used to travel to this town known for it's...more
St. Elizabeth's used to be the Hotel Louisa when it was originally built. Built in Habit, Kentucky next to a healing spring, people from all over used to travel to this town known for it's...more
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The story of Rose, a habitual abandoner, who finds herself in a home for unwed mothers in the 1960s. The story is about the place almost as much as the people--a place where people come for a brief, but life-altering, time and then move on. It is also the story of the people who stay there--Rose, with all her secrets, her daughter, the nuns and the groundskeeper. I loved the story of the place and I thought the writing was quite good. It held my interest and there were a few really lovely mo...more
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Read in January, 2008
I like Patchett's more recent books (Bel Canto, Truth and Beauty) better, but this was a good novel that showed her talent for weaving together many different characters' stories into a whole.
It's the story of Rose, a woman who leaves her husband in California to have her baby in a home for unwed mothers on the other side of the country. But when she gets there, she isn't sure whether she wants to go home. A third of the way through the book, the point of view changes from Rose's to her hu...more
It's the story of Rose, a woman who leaves her husband in California to have her baby in a home for unwed mothers on the other side of the country. But when she gets there, she isn't sure whether she wants to go home. A third of the way through the book, the point of view changes from Rose's to her hu...more
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Read in May, 2008
I really enjoy Ann Patchett's writing style. She is easy to get caught up in, and I really like that in a book.
When Rose seeks refuge at St. Elizabeths, a home for pregnant girls in the 1960's, she finds herself caught up in the emotions of motherhood and what it would mean to seperate herself from the unborn child. This home offers a chance for Rose, but you can never hide from the consequences that so desperatly follow you. In pursuit of finding herself, Rose will heal and hurt the ...more
When Rose seeks refuge at St. Elizabeths, a home for pregnant girls in the 1960's, she finds herself caught up in the emotions of motherhood and what it would mean to seperate herself from the unborn child. This home offers a chance for Rose, but you can never hide from the consequences that so desperatly follow you. In pursuit of finding herself, Rose will heal and hurt the ...more
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Read in April, 2008
I really wanted to like this book – unwed mothers, nuns, a young woman faced with a tough decision – it all sounded great. In reality, it was a dreary story and the main character (Rose) was a bit of a train wreck.
I spent most of time pitying the poor people who got in the way of Rose’s hurricane-like existence. At first I thought it was because she was young and stifled, but she didn’t really get better as she aged. I guess if you build your entire life on lies, it would be hard...more
I spent most of time pitying the poor people who got in the way of Rose’s hurricane-like existence. At first I thought it was because she was young and stifled, but she didn’t really get better as she aged. I guess if you build your entire life on lies, it would be hard...more
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Read in January, 2007
I LOVED this book, although I would be hard pressed to articulate exactly why . . . it is dark with foreboding and, as Thoreau once said about Cape Cod in the winter, "sublimely dreary."
I was most fascinated by the protagonist's propensity to leave. She initially leaves her husband to take up residence in a home for unwed mothers, where she decides to keep the baby she had planned to give up. The reader is lulled into a false sense of security as she remains at the home for a num...more
I was most fascinated by the protagonist's propensity to leave. She initially leaves her husband to take up residence in a home for unwed mothers, where she decides to keep the baby she had planned to give up. The reader is lulled into a false sense of security as she remains at the home for a num...more
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This was puzzling. There must have been a point I missed about why this woman's story was worth telling. She was looking for a reason, a love, a vocation, for her life, and when she realized it wasn't her marriage, she left without explanation. Then she was an unloving mother and again unloving wife but did take care of and took responsibility for a stand-in mother, an elderly nun. Huh? I'm seeing no joy in life, just duty to an unpaid job. As this is the week a daughter is worrying about an...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.68 (2001 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.60 (231 ratings) number of reviews: 271popular shelves
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