A Story of Guilt, Fear, and Everything in Between: Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Busted. How do you feel when your role model, the sunshine in your world, gets caught for a crime that should not have happened?

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen follows Sydney Stanford as she grapples with the prison sentence of her older brother, Peyton. Being the shining star, Peyton was the perfect example of what Sydney should become. He was a high achieving student, good at almost everything, and he turned heads just by being in the room. Living in the shadow of her flawless brother, Sydney grew accustomed to being second until he ended up in jail. Sydney and her parents had viewed Peyton as flawless, but this flawless act, however, was broken by a series of small offenses. As these small offenses soon morphed into major crimes, including a drunk driving accident that landed him in prison, Peyton receives even more attention, or rather, concern.

As Sydney’s mom is in denial and her father is distancing himself, Sydney is left to bear the guilt that her parents refuse to withhold. After all, is she the only one who is concerned about the victim of the crime, David Ibarra, who is now paralyzed forever? In efforts to hide the sins of her brother, Sydney transfers to the public high school, Jackson High, and meets siblings Layla and Mac Chatham, whose family owns a pizzeria. Finally, for the first time in her life, Sydney is noticed and appreciated. No longer is she second, but rather, she finds the spotlight. However, as Sydney is living in this new change, she meets tough choices followed by more choices. Things become complicated with her brother when he decides to push his family out of his prison life. But unwilling to let go of Peyton, all Sydney’s mom ever wants to do is talk and visit him. Added on top of that, creepy Ames, Peyton’s best friend and a good family friend, always happens to be at Sydney’s house when her parents are out of town. Something is up with this “friend” and Sydney does not like it.

Of course, no young adult novel is complete without a romantic plotline. As Sydney becomes best friends with Layla, she finds her gaze constantly drifting towards her older brother, Mac. Mac Chatham, just a year older than Sydney at the age of 17, was similar to her own brother, turning heads just by being in the room. However, Sydney must keep this a secret with a fear that Layla will find out. But as the story progresses, more complications arise and Sydney needs to decide between her family and friends. 

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen was a well-written book. It had a much different scenario compared to other young adult books, hence the prison sentence. The characters in this book were very well developed; it was almost as if I knew these characters in real life. However, having wonderful characters almost made up for the component that was lacking the most, plot. While the plot should come naturally with well-developed characters, I wished there was more structure to the book. Reading this book, I was entranced with the characters and their lives, but I kept thinking over and over again, where is this all going? Sure, there are small conflicts that arise throughout the book and need to be solved, but there is no overarching conflict. Saint Anything was a great book, and it provided a glimpse into the life of a girl with a background similar to many readers. Sarah Dessen is such a proclaimed author that I was disappointed as I reached the end of the book. What happened to all those pages? Overall, I would recommend this book if you enjoy reading about food and realistic fiction with a slight twist. After all, not many of us have siblings that are currently in prison. On the bologna scale, I would give this book 10/13 bologna slices.