3.0
Trouble the Saints
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesTrouble the Saints Reviews
3.0
Lina
Created 5 months agoShare
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“I have so many feelings upon finishing this book that I feel like I need to read it again to get my thoughts in order and really appreciate what Johnson did with this. I went in expecting a typical dark fantasy novel (which I usually devour quickly) but this was so much more than that; while it was still dark fantasy, it was also an exploration of race, love, family, sexuality, power, and so much more.
At first, it’s hard to understand what’s going on as we’re thrown into what appears to be the end of Pea’s story but ends up being only the beginning. Things aren’t really explained, you need to work to understand them and puzzle out what’s going on and who everyone is which, though I found a little weird at first, really added to the charm and mystery of this novel; once I understood that the confusion was simply part of Johnson’s style, I found a new appreciation for it. It took me a long time to get through this book, much longer than I had anticipated, but that was because (other than the fact that the plot is a little slow) this was not a light read whatsoever; there are hidden meanings and things to reread and really think about which I absolutely loved and which seems to be rare in the present age of novels.
This book is separated into three consecutive parts all told by a different character; I was a little disappointed when Pea’s part ended and I realized that she wouldn’t be the narrator anymore but I ended up actually loving the separation of the story between the three narrators to learn more about each character and their roles in the story. Though Tamara was arguably the most unlikable and morally grey character, her part as the oracle and the exploration of the philosophical questions she has to wrestle with ended up making her part my favorite. It may have also been because her part is where we find out more about the origins and purpose of the “saint’s hands” and I thought that the exploration of that power was incredibly interesting and so well done.
There were slightly explicit sexual scenes and extremely explicit bloody scenes (including one of a quite detailed lynching) which were a little uncomfortable to read and the pacing was quite slow for the most part but the prose was quite honestly incredible and the abundance of meaning packed behind this story and the words Johnson used to tell it were enough to make this an enjoyable and touching read that I will continue to think about far past my reading the final page.
Overall this is a dark and yet beautiful story with so much meaning wrapped up into it; I will definitely be reading this one again and I would love to see what else Johnson comes up with as her prose was simply exquisite and her writing so thought-provoking that I couldn’t help but to take my time with it and really appreciate the skillfulness with which she crafted this novel.”
Elena Storle
Created 7 months agoShare
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StefStef
Created 8 months agoShare
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LatteReader
Created 9 months agoShare
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Amy 🍄✨
Created 9 months agoShare
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About Alaya Dawn Johnson
ALAYA DAWN JOHNSON has been recognized for her short fiction and YA novels, winning the 2015 Nebula Award for Best Novelette for "A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai'i," which also appears in
(2015), guest edited by Joe Hill. Her debut YA novel,
, was longlisted for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Her follow up YA novel,
won the Andre Norton Award in 2015. A native of Washington, D.C., Johnson is currently based in Oaxaca, having finished her masters degree in Mesoamerican studies at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
Other books by Alaya Dawn Johnson
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