All The Crooked Saints | Review | Reading With Danielle

REVIEW | ALL THE CROOKED SAINTS

Rating: 4/5 stars

Goodreads review

This is definitely a whole different ball game than TRC. The writing style is even more stylistic that TRC was and it is something that could really be hit-or-miss for people. Luckily, it was a hit for me. It helped make the book so atmospheric and otherworldly, which fit this weird magical realism story so well. I think that was something that really helped me enjoy the magical realism aspect of the story, since that's something that usually doesn't gel with me too well.

The main thing I didn't love about this book was that the focus was really all over the place. There were so many characters (which isn't a bad thing in and of itself), but we delved deep into the majority of them! Halfway through the book, you still can't really say who the main characters are without listing close to ten characters! I like how fleshed out all of the characters are (Maggie is truly skilled in that department) but I think we could have benefitted from a little more focus on a few characters and a little less on others.

I loved the little thing Maggie did every time she introduced a new character. The "here was a thing they wanted/here was a thing they feared" thing. It was quirky and fit so well with the narration. It was also a quick way to make the reader feel like they know the character well. It helped a lot, since the book was so character driven and we really needed to feel like we knew all of the characters.

I think Maggie is incredibly talented as a writer and this book truly shows it. The pacing was great; slow, but not bogged down or monotonous. The characters were all likable in one way and unlikable in another, which helped build their complexity. And the actual plot, no matter how often it got shoved to the background, was ever-present and always had me guessing how it was going to work out in the end.

It would be realistic to complain about how quickly Beatriz and Pete fell for each other, considering this book took place only over a few days and that they didn't spend a whole lot of time together, but it worked in this story. I think the magical realism elements of the story helped make that seem less odd, considering most of the other couples in the book seem to have had similar timespans to fall in love.

If character driven stories with highly stylistic writing is for you, you should definitely pick this book up. If you've ever liked anything Maggie has written previously, you should definitely pick this book up. If you like magical realism, you should definitely pick this book up.

Basically, just go and pick this book up.