A very good book. I searched out WAYWARD SAINTS because I had recently read Suzzy Roche's new novel, THE TOWN CRAZY, and enjoyed it immensely. This one is about ten years old, and I guess it came and went without much fanfare. But yeah, it's a very good read, all about Mary Saint, a girl who didn't fit in growing up in a small town in upstate New York and was abused by her blue collar father. She escaped into the alt-rock, grunge music scene, touring for several years with her band, Sliced Ham, across America and the UK until she inevitably crashed from drugs and alcohol, following the accidental death of her musician lover. There is much here too about Mary's childhood and adolescence in tiny Swallow, NY, including a mystical encounter with the Blessed Mother - "the Other Mary" - which leaves a lasting impression. After hitting bottom and rehab, Mary lives a quiet, anonymous life in San Francisco, and becomes part of an odd quasi-religious congregation that faintly echoed the church group that Anne LaMotte has written so eloquently about. The story centers around a "comeback concert" in Mary's hometown after several years of quiet obscurity , as well as an intimate look into the life of Mary's mother, Jean, a devout Catholic and a battered wife.

Suzzy Roche is, of course, a singer-songwriter herself, one of the Roches, along with her two sisters, so she writes knowledgeably about the music biz and life on the road. She is a rarity, I think, as a musician who also is a talented writer of fiction. I thought of a gem-like story collection, BODIES OF WATER, that I read more than twenty years ago by Rosanne Cash. This book compared well, measures up. Good book. Very highly recommended.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )

truly magnificent. to no one's surprise, least of all mine, Miss Suzzy sure can write. ( )

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jan/10/suzzy-roche-sassy-angel/?utm_me... 17 2012&utm_content=January 17 2012 CID_825f525530d6586a26ea8956853de091&utm_source=Email marketing software&utm_term=Sassy Angel

p. 194: Jean's feelings, like old rubber bands, had lost their elasticity. They were not able to hold anything in place; no longer did anyone require them to, and she wasn't sure what use they had anymore...
...For a moment, she saw herself as a dust mote floating through a ray of sunlight - weightless - freefalling and unencumbered, like all the other nonspecific particles; a tiny piece of anything. But as she passed by the mirror in the front hall, she came eye to eye with herself. Oh come on, she thought, I've never seen a speck of dust with a face like that. ( )

Mary Saint was once an underground rock star, singer of songs such as "You're a Pig" and "I Can't Swallow You No More," but after the death of her lover and fellow band member Garbagio, her manager declares her a has-been and she gives up on music. Now she's living in San Francisco with a "chocolate tranny" named Thaddeus, learning to make mochaccinos at the Crumb Bunny coffee house.

But then she gets called to the stage one last time. A teacher at her old high school invites her to give a concert in her former hometown. If nothing else, it'll give her a chance to see her mother Jean.

With its cast of quirky characters, and small town setting, this novel reminded me of the recent movie "Young Adult" starring Charlize Theron. It's got that same indie feel, and smart detail.

Some favorite lines:

"...to be the priest's secretary was the middle-aged woman's equivalent of dating the captain of the football team."

"The sun slipped down in slendor, and now it was as if mischievous angels had thrown buckets of red wine at the sky."

Dread feels like "a sky full of knives."

Full of warmth, wit, and wisdom, this is a terrific debut. ( )

Suppose your daughter Mary is a semi-famous rock singer. Suppose you've never been able to listen past the first few bars of her--to you--ear-assaulting recordings. Suppose that, despite your love for her, you've harbored the fear for years that in addition to being substance-addled and profane, she may well be insane. And suppose that before you quite realize it, you yourself have arranged for this prodigal daughter to return for a concert at her hometown high school for $850 plus airfare ("I must really be a has-been") to caterwaul God-knows-what before God and everybody--everybody you might run into at the market, the town cafe, or (God forbid) church on Sunday.

Time to meet present-day Mary, veteran of a thousand filthy backstage scenes, a rock and roll tragedy and "home plate--the rehab," quaking in her combat boots at the thought of her hometown gymnasium star-turn. By now, there's no stopping this novel's rollicking, effortless, page-turning prose from sucking the reader in to its end.

Suzzy Roche of the brilliant songwriting, bell-voiced Roche Sisters trio makes her fiction debut with a savvy, surprising and funny novel about family and borderline fame suffused with you'd-know-it-anywhere Roche Sisters wit, whimsy and been-there sensibility.

"Wayward Saints" is a novel for anybody who's ever wondered what the folks back home might be thinking about the latest sort-of celebrity (surely even Marilyn Manson has a mother...), or what becomes of those survivors on the borderlands of post-fame in the wake of their intimate inspirations and cries de coeur. ( )