I know this review will be too short for your liking, but here it goes: Though I enjoyed White's writing style, I was not invested in these characters.

Love Edmund White, and usually find this works much more compelling than this one. Two twins who live very different lives, but told all from the POV from one? I did not connect or enjoy the characters.

Laborious and not my favorite.

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.

Published by Bloomsbury on August 4, 2020

Sometimes a book that would not otherwise interest me is so beautifully written that it carries me along. A Saint from Texas is a family drama set largely in aristocratic France, although significant parts of the story revolve around a nun in South America. While neither nuns nor aristocrats whet my literary interest, much of A Saint from Texas is absorbing. Edmund White made me care about characters in a genre that typically bores the pants off me.

Speaking of people losing their pants, White titillates with sufficient sex in its various configurations that any reader whose blood still flows hot on occasion will wonder what naughtiness the novel’s twin protagonists will be up to next. They are twins in a literal sense, two sisters who take divergent paths in life while remaining very much the same person in fundamental ways. Yvonne considers Yvette her “ransom paid to virtue.” Yvette lives a pious life on behalf of both sisters, freeing Yvonne to explore the sexual interests that Yvette makes an unsuccessful effort to subordinate. In the end, Yvonne considers them both to be “good Texas girls,” a label that is questionable in Yvonne’s case even if religious judgment is removed from the definition of “good.”

The story begins in Texas, where luck and oil (and later real estate investments) make Peter Crawford a wealthy man. He has two daughters, Yvonne and Yvette, and a new wife, Bobbie Jean, who dedicates herself to giving the girls a sophisticated and educated life. Both girls are bright, but Yvonne is drawn to fashion and celebrity while Yvette wants to live a religious, cloistered life. We eventually learn, in a scene that seems forced, that Peter is a seriously flawed father.

Neither sister wants to stay in Texas and they both have the financial security to do as they please. Yvonne travels to Paris where she marries a baron because aristocracy suits her. Of course, her husband, Adhéaume de Courcy, has only married her for her money, which he squanders as quickly as he can in ways that will maximize his desire to be envied for his good taste. Yvette, meanwhile, converts to Catholicism and joins a convent in Colombia, but only after she apparently performs a miracle by lifting a car to save a trapped child.

The novel is a study in contrasts. Texas is new and brash, a state of Barcaloungers. Paris is old and reserved, where the Louis XIV furniture that Texans would toss in the trash is revered. The convent is austere, a place where old and new have little meaning. Texas food is spicy; the food favored by French aristocrats is bland; a Filipina nun in Colombia feels lucky when she can eat white rice. Yvette has renounced materialism; Yvonne is consumed by it, at least when it comes to fashion.

Yet there are similarities in the interior lives of Yvonne and Yvette, including their attraction to women. Yvonne prefers male bodies but regards women as more considerate lovers; Yvette’s experience with a male was unwelcome, so she has less basis for comparison. Neither woman has perfect self-control, which is awkward for a married woman or a nun, but it is difficult to judge either of them, given their circumstances.

We learn about Yvette’s life (including her doubts about the church and her inability to control her sexual desire) from letters that she writes to Yvonne. White concentrates the plot on Yvonne, whose eventful life includes a ménage à trois, a strained relationship with her husband’s parents, a tense relationship with a father who disapproves of her husband, and a priest who gives her unlikely advice about how to solve her marital problems. The advice seems much too casual to be authentic and not the sort of thing that even a fallen priest would suggest. That aspect of the novel and some others (including an effort to purchase a sainthood for Yvette, the sexual choices made by the twins, and White’s portrayal of French aristocracy) are presumably intended as satire, but the satire is too underplayed to be effective. The injection of satire is also unsettlingly discordant, given that significant parts of the novel (such as the odious behavior of Peter) are apparently meant to be taken seriously. On the other hand, if Peter’s conduct toward Yvette is meant to be satirical, it isn’t funny. Some subject just don’t lend themselves to humor.

After a significant event resolves the drama that surrounds Yvonne’s life, the story peters out. The next few decades pass in a whirlwind of exposition that adds little to the story.

Notwithstanding the novel’s troubling aspects, White’s ability to create complex characters and to detail their lives in observant and elegant prose makes the novel worthwhile. All but the last couple of chapters are fascinating, in the trashy way that Dallas and Nip/Tuck were fascinating. Deeply religious readers might want to avoid the novel entirely. Readers who insist that only admirable characters can make a book enjoyable will find few characters they would want to know. Moral faults aside, both Yvette and Yvonne live the life they choose, and Yvonne at least lives an interesting (albeit scandalous) life that compelled me to keep reading.

RECOMMENDED

Spanning the life of identical twins this wonderful book by renowned writer, Edmund White is a pleasure to read. One twin, determined to become titled, and live in Paris does just that, with the consequences that come with trading personal fulfillment, and a fortune for the life of a socialite. The other twin is just as determined to be live a life of piety and become a nun. White manages to capture the lives of these two and the worlds they live in , from the hypocrisy of the Church to the emptiness of a life of wealth. With wit and warmth he has captured the era of the 1950's to the present. This is an amazing read!

I love the cover of this book but it ended up not really catching my attention in order to finish it. Thank you to Netgalley for this free ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Two identical twins from Texas are only identical in looks. They are polar opposites. Yvonne is destined to be a high-flying socialite who ends up the wife of the French aristocracy. Yvette becomes a bride of Christ and moves to a convent in Colombia. Told by Yvonne and a few letters from Yvette, White has perhaps accomplished a miracle himself because while the reader might expect the story to be mundane, it isn’t. He keeps putting in the unexpected, blackmail here, murder there, with a sprinkle of incest and infidelity. Its clear that White is a Francophile for he has captured the French culture. And despite the ending being bittersweet, there are some laugh out loud moments when the Texas culture collides with the French culture.

Yvonne and Yvette Crawford are twins from a wealthy Texas country family. After their mother dies, their father brings home a new wife who immediately insists that the family move to a prestigious neighborhood in Dallas. The sisters attend the University of Texas in Austin, but follow very different paths. Yvette devotes herself to a life of service to others in Colombia, while Yvonne immerses herself in Parisian society (that’s Paris, France, not Paris, Texas), determined to marry a titled aristocrat.

This book was a real slog to get through. It’s pretty obvious early on that Yvonne and Yvette were going to lead very different lives. From childhood, Yvette dedicated herself to helping those less privileged than her family in Colombia, while Yvonne had more superficial interests such as social standing, trendiness, and fashion, and moves to Paris to indulge her obsessions. There is a strong contrast between the letters that the twins write to each other. The beginning was good, I was interested in the characters, but then the author spent a lot of time educating the reader about the trivialities of French culture and society. There are also some really disturbing parts, for example: on the night of Yvonne's society debut, her father locks her out of the twins' bedroom and rapes Yvette while Yvonne sits outside in the hall and listens. Ultimately, there didn’t seem to be a point to the book - at the end, even Yvonne admits that she has led a useless life.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC in return for a review, which is the only reason I finished it.

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.

Edmund White offers an epic tale spanning the lives of identical twins from Texas oil money. The girls' personalities show one as the saint and one as the sinner. The tale is full of surprises, witty, and irreverent.. The narration of the brassy, sorority-girl sister takes us on a joy-ride through French aristocracy, while the letters of the philosophic sister show us her path toward sainthood. and an understanding of her twin. An entertaining, yet thought-provoking read, the novel is one that the reader doesn't want to end!

A beautifully written but ultimately pointless book.

Identical twins brought up in wealthy 1950s Texas take divergent paths in life. Although I found the religious sister more sympathetic, i didn't find either twin particularly likeable or relatable.

The author skims topics such as incest, rape, homosexuality, religion and race, but spends a lengthy amount of time on descriptions of more trivial matters such as French society.

I received a free ARC. I am leaving my honest review.

I’m judging a 2020 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got this book from the perspective pile into the read further pile.

Fantastic descriptions… for example:

Boring. He was the most boring man in the world, with his lean face, his brown teeth, and his sun creased neck. If an ant had crawled across that neck he would’ve broke his leg. He could tell you how to get up to one hundred digit numbers and all in your head. Boring. He was so proud of his mental arithmetic skills. All the men back then wore suits and ties and hats. His suit was browns and shiny and too big for him (double-breasted when he was a single-breasted man), and his tie loud and floral. His porkpie always tipped way back like he was younger than he looked, maybe a reporter in a 1930s talking picture.-2

The main characters in this book are twins who couldn't be more different. One is fanatically religious, and the other is a flirty sorority girl. I could not relate to either one, and I stopped reading after encountering the word "faggot" too many times. I found the language offensive, and I think our patrons would too. I won't be recommending this book.