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Impossible Saints
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Review
Dangerously close to perfection (KATE SAUNDERS, INDEPENDENT )
Reaffirms Michele Robert s' position as one of Britain's best novelists (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
Violent and exquisite, fantastic and sardonic (SUNDAY TIMES )
Reaffirms Michele Robert s' position as one of Britain's best novelists (INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )
Violent and exquisite, fantastic and sardonic (SUNDAY TIMES )
Independent on Sunday
'Reaffirms Michele Roberts' position as one of Britain's best novelists'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Impossible Saints is beautifully written, definitely one of Michèle Roberts' best novels.
The author concerns herself with her trademark themes - they have been described as 'food, sex and God'. This particular novel tells the story of Josephine, a character inspired by, but definitely not, Saint Teresa of Avila. Josephine is separated from her best friend and sent to a convent by her father. She tries to live as a devout nun but eventually questions her faith and the life she has been living. Although marriage or the convent are the only two respectable options for women, she makes a better life for herself.
This central story is interrupted by short stories, each bearing the name of a saint - Saint Paula, Saint Petronilla, Saint Agnes...These stories are fairy tale like, grotesque in places and often deliciously subversive. These short chapters contribute to the whole novel but are also wonderful short stories if read in isolation.
The whole book asks the reader to consider what it is to be 'good' or 'bad' as a woman. Although there are many examples of women being treated cruelly there are as many instances of liberation and even revenge.
A wonderful book, thoroughly recommended.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I finished this book, I bought two more Michele Roberts novels on the back of it. I've yet to read them, but then, this book sat unread on my shelves for about four years.
A really smashing book. I particularly enjoyed the "shorts" between the excerpts from the main story. They were often quirky, the characters colourful, the setting timeless - sometimes it was very hard to tell whether the characters were very contemporary or medieval!!! I already look forward to re-reading. I agree with the previous reviewer that there is a fairytale element to these tales. In places I was reminded of Patrick Suskind's Perfume, just for the feel evoked...lovely!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Unexpected
8 July 1998
Format:Hardcover
If you're looking for a traditional "Life of the Saints" sort of thing...don't bother. This is an unconventional look at the concept of female sainthood and the idea that many of these 'saints' were merely women who didn't quite fit in with current social expectations. Roberts weaves updated and cynical tales of real saints with the down to earth story of a fictional St. Josephine. There are a few miracles and each saint is given a distinct, often un-saint like voice. All in all, this was a good read and will certainly give the reader much to think about afterwards.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Trite
29 Sep 2005
Format:Paperback
One thing that your average self-absorbed modern writer can't seem to grasp is that people can actually be motivated by spiritual and religious devotion. There is a vogue for pretending women saints of the past were secretly dismissive of orthodoxy, and were really closet feminists or Gnostics or sybarites or whatever happens to capture the author's imagination. Yawn. This is just another one of those. I truly wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone assert that Mary Magdalen or Hildegarde or Teresa was secretly a rebel against the established religious beliefs of her day. The fact that there is absolutely no evidence whatsoever for these fantasies doesn't seem to stop people from having them.
What would really be interesting to read is a book that takes those women for who they actually were: passionate, driven, and orthodox to the core. Hard to fathom, yes, but why not give the truth a whirl?
What would really be interesting to read is a book that takes those women for who they actually were: passionate, driven, and orthodox to the core. Hard to fathom, yes, but why not give the truth a whirl?
2 of 5 people found the following review helpful
BEAUTIFUL
28 Sep 1999
Format:Paperback
Wonderfully written and intricately woven...it will leave you considering the lives of women, what courage looks like, and the saints among us all. Brava Ms. Roberts, Bravissima!
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