Una santa del Texas

by Edmund White

Yvette and Yvonne Crawford sono sorelle gemelle, nate in un minuscolo e povero villaggio del Texas orientale negli anni Quaranta del secolo scorso. Sembrano destinate a una vita ordinaria in un ambiente semplice e ottuso, e invece, animate dal desiderio, sempre nutrito, di allontanarsi ed emanciparsi dal Texas e dagli Stati Uniti, si dedicano con risolutezza a costruirsi vite straordinarie in ambienti lontanissimi dalle loro origini e dai loro valori. Yvette, credente e dal temperamento mistico, si convertirà alla religione cattolica, proponendosi una vita di preghiera e di amore verso il prossimo, che la porterà in una missione colombiana, dove però dovrà affrontare l'imprevisto emergere di pericolosi desideri carnali. Yvonne, invece, smaniosa di immergersi in una vita e in un ambiente ricco di eleganza, raffinatezza e bellezza, si trasferisce nella Parigi di fine anni Cinquanta e decide di sposare un aristocratico francese, che si rivelerà un cacciatore di dote, con conseguenze drammatiche per il loro ménage e sul suo processo di crescita. Edmund White, premio alla carriera del National Book Award e del Pen Award, dà vita a un romanzo capace di mettere in scena lo scontro tra il Nuovo Mondo e la Vecchia Europa, ma anche di approfondire una riflessione sulle possibilità e i limiti che incontriamo quando decidiamo di abbandonare le nostre radici per riplasmare noi stessi.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, France, Literary Fiction, Religion, Historical, LGBT

312 pages, Paperback

First published August 4, 2020

About the author

Edmund Valentine White III was an American novelist, memoirist, playwright, biographer, and essayist. He was the recipient of Lambda Literary's Visionary Award, the National Book Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Achievement in American Fiction. France made him Chevalier (and later Officier) de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1993.
White was known as a groundbreaking writer of gay literature and a major influence on gay American literature and has been called "the first major queer novelist to champion a new generation of writers."

Reviews

[Eric Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Edmund White has a writing style which instantly charms and bewitches me whenever I open his books. Though he's probably most famous for chronicling the gay experience in his invaluable series of autobiographical novels and memoirs, he's also very accomplished in writing great historical fiction such as “Fanny: A Fiction” and “Hotel de Dream”. He has a tremendous talent for intelligently dissecting social class and mores while delivering a gripping story. This is certainly true in his new novel “A Saint from Texas” which chronicles the lives of twins Yvette and Yvonne Crawford who are raised in rural Texas in the 1950s. Though they are identical their personalities couldn't be more opposite. Yvette is studious and pious where Yvonne is free-spirited and socially-ambitious. Yet they share an inseparable bond throughout the very different paths they take in life. Narrated from the perspective of Yvonne, we follow her ascent to the heights of Parisian society when she marries a Baron and takes a series of lovers. All the while she maintains a correspondence with Yvette who loses herself in charitable work with a religious organisation in Colombia. It's a brilliant study in duality and one of the most pleasurable stories I've read in a long time.

Read my full review of A Saint from Texas by Edmund White on LonesomeReader

[Denise Peters · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was slow, bizarre, and missing a plot. I’m a fast reader and this book was painful to try to read. The characters aren’t likable and the sister relationship wasn’t even strong.

[Bianca · Rating 3 out of 5]

It doesn't look like any of my GR friends read this book, so I have no idea why I placed a hold on this novel. I must have read a favourable review somewhere to make me want to read a book about a saint and about Texas, generally speaking, topics of little interest to me.

This was an unusual novel, even though I had no expectations. The writing was charming and it kept things interesting. To a degree. Yvette and Yvonne Crawford are identical twin sisters who grew up in Dallas, Texas. Their mother died when they were young. Their gruff, uneducated father struck it lucky with oil on his property in the 1950s. The two sisters couldn't be more different in temperament. Yvette was studious, pious, obsessive, introverted, anxious and anorexic. Yvonne was the superficial social butterfly, the debutante and sorority joiner type. Both girls were lookers.
Yvette moves to South America and becomes a nun, whereas Yvonne moves to Paris where she marries a poor baron. She gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

The title of the novel is deceptive, as most of the novel is written from Yvonne's point of view, with a few letters from Yvette to update us on her goings-on over the years. Yvette's letters didn't feel authentic, as I didn't believe that she would be so forthcoming with certain aspects of her life. I recognised the letters' purpose to give us her perspective. Most of the novel though is about Yvonne.
Initially, her sexual exploits and explorations were intriguing, but then they became, I don't know, kind of tedious.
I kept reading to see where this unpredictable novel was going. The fresh and playful writing style kept the momentum going. Unfortunately, I never cared much for any of the characters.

So in conclusion, A Saint from Texas was fresh and different, although, ultimately, not that rivetting.

[Catherine (The Gilmore Guide to Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought A Saint from Texas would be fun, possibly satirical reading about two rich twins in 1950s Texas whose lives go in opposite directions—one becomes a European socialite and the other becomes a nun. Fun premise and fabulous cover, right?! Unfortunately, the novel was so filled with racist and misogynistic terms that I had to stop reading. I do believe in context and Texas in the 1950s was probably an incredibly racist, woman-hating place to be, but this was gross. It went beyond the story, especially the instances when it was a teenage girl talking. One of the few occasions when I clearly felt a male author was writing his stereotypical version of some kind of woman. Not good.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm...I have some concerns.

First off, the writing style is very tell versus show, which is quite annoying. Secondly, while I love the idea of identical twins who represent opposite sides of the coin, the author really only spends time with one of the sisters. Thirdly, I think he forgot what the story was about and rushed to wrap it up.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

good LORD. what a waste of time. I only liked the priest who (spoiler I guess) told the main character to murder her husband and LITERALLY no one else.

also sorry but it’s gross to me when men write so explicitly about female sexuality. like sir, calm down.

[Lana · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of this book had so much promise! Identical twins from Texas - one becomes a nun/missionary/saint - the other a rich socialite in Paris. But the amount of debauchery depicted and the characterization of the Catholic Church ruined it.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is another one for the can't-get-those-hours-back category. What a waste of time. I only finished it because the publisher was nice enough to give me an eARC.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so looked forward to this book, but gave up when I realized my time could be better served between other pages. Disappointed since it had such high recommendations from reviewers, but in looking down the gR page, I find many women reader felt the same as I did. Also, I felt it suffered, at least to me, from contrast with Vanishing Half, a far superior book about twins going in opposite directions.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Adrienne Teague · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Saint From Texas is told from the perspective of Yvonne Crawford, one of a pair of twins from East Texas. She tells the story of her life and that of her twin sister Yvette. Yvonne goes to Paris in college and marries a Baron. Yvette converts to Catholicism and becomes a nun. Yvette tells a lot of her story through letters to Yvonne.
Most of the characters are highly unlikeable and are morally bankrupt. Yvette is at least a decent human being, although she has had such a difficult life, she's become overly timid and self-effacing. Both sisters end up being sex-obsessed. Interestingly, neither one of them seems particularly unnerved by their desires for women given that they came from homophobic Texas in the 50's and then went to places where homosexuality is frowned upon at best and punishable by death at worst.
The plot is a bit twisty and at a couple of points, I gasped audibly The shifts in time are subtly hinted at in the story, and if the reader is not paying attention, she won't be able to tell when in time the section is placed.
France itself is evoked as a beautiful, ancient land full of people who worship history and beauty. Paris is the setting for a large portion of the story and all the major tourist sites are mentioned. Of course, the only descriptions are of the wealthy people and expensive areas of town, so they are all beautiful.
The cover makes the book like a light, fluffy, domestic novel. It is not that. Once I got over the incongruity between my expectations and reality, I flew through the book. For a reader that does not require likeable main characters, this may be right up their street.

[John Read · Rating 4 out of 5]

Torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars. This is the first book I’ve read by White. Bought it based upon a NYT review. I kept saying to myself: think of it as a literate farce and not an exercise in self-indulgence.

As a farce, it’s quite good. Twins, young women from Texas, separate from their nouveau riche Texas father and step-mother—and from each other—and head off to be a nun in Columbia and a baroness in France. Al the while, they grapple with a shared sexual ambivalence amidst a supporting cast of hangers-on, good ol’ boys, pedophiles and naifs.

Extremes—religious, sexual, financial—lead to one sister using her wealth to promote the beatification of the other. Why? That reveals itself early on, but the book speeds along well enough and White’s done his homework with respect to ‘60s high society in both Texas and Paris, although his name dropping gets a bit tedious.

White could have used a better editor. Tri Delts are mistakenly Thetas at one point and Virginia Slims cigarettes weren’t introduced until 1968, well after one of the twins was smoking them while a Dallas preppie.

Still, it was a fun read.

[Jeanne Boudreau · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out as a story I couldn’t wait to dig into. Somewhere along the way it lost its shine. The story seemed to drag on and ended abruptly. I was disappointed in the final result although it had the makings of a wonderful novel. Based on the lives of identical twins sisters, each following a different path in life. Each girl left their Texas home to pursue a life abroad. One went to Paris, the other to a mission in Columbia. A saint and a sinner, or two sinners and no saint. You decide.

[Pamela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.5

There are numerous triggers including incest and rape.

Twin sisters Yvette and Yvonne are very different from one another especially as they reach their teen years. Daughters of a crass nouveau riche oil millionaire, Yvette finds her purpose in the Catholic Church while Yvonne dreams of being a rich and powerful wife. Each twin achieves their dreams, but at a cost.

White has captured the 1950s (and beyond) Texas society that the teenaged twins grow up in thus, in many ways, explaining and giving reason for who the teens become. However, he also spent too much time on the trivial details of their lives. He might have been better served in moving into their adults lives rather than dwell on the angst and banal teenaged years. White only adequately developed the twins and the people in their lives leaving neither twin particularly sympathetic or likable.

If you enjoy coming-of-age stories with emphasis on the angsty teenaged years, this book may be for you.

My thanks Bloomsbury and Edelweiss for an eARC

[Emma Reynolds · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't quite know what to make of this book. It reads very monologuey. The characters aren't particularly likeable, the time line is hard to follow especially at the end and it really really glosses over repeated sexual assault. Theres not a lot of depth to the characters either and it just felt like a lot of talking (so much talking).
It was slow to start and then felt rushed toward the end.
I didn't hate it but I wouldn't recommend it either.

[Mark Nelson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is out of my lane, it's more or less a straight-up fictional account of twin girls from Texas who were born in the 50's, following their lives to the end.

I enjoyed the Texana parts of the book quite a lot, as I feel like I'm a displaced Texan, having left after over 30 years. But Texas is a small part of the book, as you'll see once you get into it.

I do feel that both female characters suffered from a bit of treatment that always confuses me. Some authors, male and female alike, give their female characters bits of incredible naivete or gullibility, seemingly in a way to make them more endearing. When I hit those bits, I definitely do not find it delightful, or even believable.

Still, the story of Yvonne and Yvette was good for me.

[Paul Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I see a few people suffered from DNF with this one (Did Not Finish) and I can sometimes come into that category, but I did make it to the end with this one. On eof the final chapters, chapter 17, is a tad too long at 26 pages, that nearly made me a DNF! From other reviews there may also be a gender split in terms of enjoyment. One reviewer sums this up by saying it is gross when men "write so explicitly about female sexuality - like sir, calm down."

I like to spend time in my reviews on the title and the title of this novel is a little annoying as "A Saint from Texas" describes the secondary plot but not really the whole novel. In fact the major part of the book follows the life of the other sister, the one who emigrates to Paris. It feels at least two thirds Paris, one third Texas.

Some of the writing is really good and the descriptions of the upper class French are the highlight of the book for me. I offer this from page 212:

"Adheaume's mother cherished these savory bits of gossip like a rodent squirreling away nuts for the long winter. I could see she was hoping for one more nut to add to her cheek pouch but didn't dare seek it out."

The reason for 3 stars not 4? I don't think the letters from Yvette - which sometimes formed every other chapter - worked very well and the finish was unsatisfactory.

[Living My Best Book Life · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Saint from Texas wasn't for me. I try not to give up on a book hoping that the story picks up even if it's later in the book, but this wasn't the case. I was intrigued by a story about twins and was looking forward to seeing how both sisters were totally opposite, but we really only get the perspective of one of the twins. I think the plot could have been much better but it seemed too focused on the sister's sex lives.

I would have to rate A Saint from Texas a 3. It was tough for me to finish this one. I did enjoy getting a look at the 1950's in Texas so that was something I did like. Overall, this isn't a historical fiction that I could recommend.

[Anne Gafiuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a review of this book in a magazine, so ordered it through the library. The premise was interesting about identical twins who have very different lives, but as the book progressed, it devolved into sexual exploits of one sister, in particular, with the second twin's sexual secrets being shared through letters -- and it was uncomfortable reading, at least not for me. That the book was written by a man, from the point of view of two women, intrigued me. Fashion, societal mores, and prejudices through the 1950's to early 2000s are detailed, including prejudice on so many different levels.

[Lynn Feinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining, extremely light.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three chapters in, realized Ellen Gilchrist did this Southern Belle voice first, better and most importantly, more authentic in Victory Over Japan.

[Kitty Gheen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of this book, but the execution was terrible. The chapters are far too long and the author frequently goes on tangents that serve no real purpose.

[Alexa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bizzare tale of twin sisters filled with misogyny, racism, blasphemy, and sexually devious behavior that includes incestous rape. No thank you. But, to be fair, I enjoyed the style in which the author wrote this sordid affair.

[Pamela Lombardi]

Dallas v. Paris v. Catholicism and nobody wins. An interesting, sometimes disturbing look at how women try to outrun their pasts and become who they think they are only to find out who they are.

[Tolkien InMySleep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining romp through French social mores, Catholicism, new money and gender roles, following 2 Texan twin sisters on their divergent paths through life

[Georgia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable to read. I really felt for Yvette in a lot of ways, but often the story was meandering and pointless. Not the worst, not the best, a fun read for the most part.

[Suanne Laqueur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars for now because I don’t know how I feel. Seriously, I have NO IDEA what to do with this book.

[Tex · Rating 3 out of 5]

This had so much potential for my personal tastes—set in Dallas and Paris, loads of friendly French that needed little study to translate, and a strong woman. I was a happy to read about the extreme differences in the twins and their odd similarities but it didn’t quite engage me in the plot.

[Sheila Garry · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. I was intrigued by the story line of twins who lead two completely opposite lives. One becomes a saint and the other is a vapid status seeker. The trouble was that the author loved the vapid one and I didn’t.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat Shocking and Sensationalist

Poor little very rich girl from Texas goes to France in the 1950s. That's the basic story here, with sexual and religious asides thrown in.