Saint Anything: A Review

Sydney feels unseen in the long shadow cast first by her older brother Peyton's charm, and then that of his ever-growing list of shenanigans, ones that get worse and worse. But no one can remain invisible forever, not when the keen eye of Layla is on the loose. So it's on her first day at a new high school when Sydney is finally seen, even if she doesn't realize it.

Saint Anything is a classic Dessen novel in some ways: it features a high school setting, an upset teen, familial turmoil, and uncovered dirt and secrets hidden around the homes of our main characters in the way that one may hide forbidden candy wrappers in their older sister's car. And yet, there is something impossibly fresh and new about this story, an element Dessen never fails to bring her readers.

Sydney's struggle is not only that she feels unseen, but in the midst of her invisibility, she feels as if she is the only one shouldering a burden that is not hers. As she drifts away from her brother and her relationship with her mother becomes increasingly strained, Sydney begins to take on more and more responsibility and guilt for a mistake that wasn't even hers to begin with. But as Layla and Mac draw her in, show her she is loved and will be listened to, she can begin to shed her extra baggage.

The beauty in Sydney's story is not only that she is seen, it is not only in the fact that she is suddenly taken in by a handful of people, but in the fact that it is not a boy or 'love' that makes her feel seen. It is in the fact that she feels seen in the solace of friendship. It's not the boy-next-door or the creepy, syrup-like attention from a family "friend" that makes her feel seen, nor the sudden attention her mother begins to give her about halfway through the novel that makes her feel noticed. It's just in the fact that she ran into a fun girl who is willing to just sit and be with her.

Life gets turned upside-down in the blink of an eye, but the disaster that everyone sees doesn't spontaneously combust. Dessen leads her readers through the litter of signs that lead up to these sorts of disasters; she shows them how those closest to the impending train wreck struggle to stifle it; and she shows us the trail through the aftermath - one that is just as messy as the path that led to the disaster in the first place.

Saint Anything isn't just the tried-and-true story of a seemingly invisible teen girl riddled with angst. It is the story of a young girl, wanting to be seen, wanting to be heard, but held back by the shackles of a mistake no one will call a mistake. It is the story of a young girl who steps up to take responsibility for that which everyone wants to turn their backs on. She toils through until finally, she sees a light: she sees the perpetrator take responsibility. And that frees her -- allowing her to finally break to the surface, to breathe, to be seen, to be heard.

Time and time again, Dessen shows her readers that to pull through our toughest times, often all we need is for someone to sit down next to us and just be with us, just make us feel seen and noticed. And I will argue forevermore that the message is not redundant. It's exactly what we need to constantly be reminded, because everyone makes themselves known and heard differently. And everyone listens differently. Sometimes we just need a little help to get there. And, I suppose, that's when our Saint Anything will lend a hand.

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