Lives of the Saints

This book is beautifully written. It clearly favors slice of life scenes over linear plot. She does a wonderful job of portraying the lives of the eccentric upper class in an eccentric city (New Orleans).

I loved this book (though did have to take a leap of faith and not just get irritated by her beginning words with CAPITAL letters to give them intensity...). It reminded me of the joy I felt as an adolescent reading all the Glass stories by Salinger.

Great writing made the pages of this book fly by! A slim novel with a fast, almost talkative pace, the book was as much about New Orleans and its eccentricities as it was about the two main characters. The Fiery Pantheon (her latest book) is a great read too. Long live (and long write) Nancy Lemann.

Nancy Lemann captures the rythmn and cadence of New Orleans in a marvelous first book. The dawlin' flawed hero and characters come to life with a drama that can barely be borne without your heart breaking or your stomach hurting from laughter. A delight to read and a must for anyone who has fallen in love with the French Quarter or intends to have their heart broken into a million pieces on the floor. I'm stilling searching for a novel to take its place.

There is more packed into this short novel than many writers pack into a lifetime of writing. Nancy Lehman has created a mini-masterpiece in this tale of yearning for a love that, ultimately, is never expressed to the beloved. This novel is set in New Orleans and, like the Confederacy of Dunces before it, Lives of the Saints draws the reader into a city that is so real it swirls around like the room after a good drunk. Lives of the Saints will make you gasp with delight. Read this book.