Saba [Sā-bə]

by Kyle G. Roesler

Aaron and Erin Sandkuhler visit exotic Saba. There they have the Perfect Day: the weather, the diving, the food, everything is perfect. When they return to Washington D.C. and find life lacking they decide another vacation is in order - a permanent vacation. They move to Saba to live in paradise. Of course, not even the Garden of Eden met such lofty expectations.

Genres: Fiction

274 pages, Paperback

First published March 20, 2010

About the author

The author Kyle G. Roesler began using the pseudonym Mary Jane when he was a freshman at Harvey Mudd College and started writing a weekly column for the student paper, "The Muddraker." Being a shy, reserved youth, he felt he would be more forthright using a pseudonym. Since 80% of the students were male, a woman's name garnered more attention. And, the name Mary Jane seemed nicely disreputable. The rest is a brief footnote in history. Kyle has gone on to write screenplays, stage plays, and four novels ("Fate," "Saba," "Keep Austin Weird" and "The Navel of the World," all in print on Amazon). He is probably the greatest living American writer no one has ever heard of.

Reviews

[Laura de Leon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, with some very nice pieces to it. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.

There wasn't so much a plot as an arc to the book-- we follow Aaron and Erin (husband and wife) through their journey to change their lives.

Saba alternated between their points of view, with a very occasional other person thrown in, usually for comic value. I felt this allowed me to get to know Erin better, but Aaron was simply a very shallow character. I think he was intended to be a person without depth, as opposed to an interesting human with a portrayal that lacked interest. It doesn't matter, I never really connected with him as a person or a character.

We meet Erin and Aaron at the end of their vacation, a visit to the small island of Saba. They have a perfect day, followed by a perfect night, then return home to their normal lives.

Aaron runs a tanning salon. He likes this job because he gets to ogle pretty women and has lots of time to read on his Kindle.

Erin is a middle school math teacher. She mostly enjoys her classes with the advanced students, but the "Practical Math" classes with the less academically motivated kids are less fulfilling. One student finally drives her to the breaking point, and she retreats home to examine her options.

The option she chooses, and convinces Aaron to try as well, is to move to Saba.

The rest of the book covers their attempts to settle into life on the island. Neither of them adjusts easily, but it's a chance to grow. They each take a different path, consistent with their personality.

Some parts of Saba show signs of loving craftsmanship, of being written and rewritten until each word is perfect. These are some of the spots where the words pulled me out of my enjoyment of the story. I'm not a person who reads for the words, I want the words to deliver the story for me.

This book was a quick read, and I enjoyed it, primarily for the humor and the character of Erin, as well as for the island of Saba itself.

[Alice · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an OK novel about two people growing apart, but it has some serious shortcomings. 1. Saba seems to be part of the US the way it's described - everyone speaks English all the time (though it's part of the Netherlands), there are no black people (at least, nobody other than Americans and British people are described enough for the reader to know what they are), only the fact that's it's tropical and an island makes it any different than small-town USA. 2. The male lead is really, really shallow. 3. Saba's culture is completely missing from the novel - why does the female lead fall in love with the place? Apparently only because it's tropical. 4. I get the impression the author had a dictionary open next to her when she wrote this - she uses so many "big" words (only once each time) that really don't seem appropriate or natural. The first chapter was particularly bad this way (I almost didn't make it through that chapter, but it does get better after that).

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked the story line of how you fall in love with a location on vacation and find out living there is not the same. Or at least the husband found that out. The wife, Erin, seemed to still really love the place. The location seemed to be one of the causes of marital strife....among other reasons.

Beautiful place. good story.