Books › All the Crooked Saints
All the Crooked Saints
360 pages
A dusty, sun-drenched fable about an eccentric family whose miracles manifest as physical embodiments of inner darkness.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into a sun-baked, dusty fable where the magic is as strange and prickly as the desert landscape itself. The narrative unfolds at a leisurely, deliberate pace, inviting you to linger in the eccentricities of a family burdened by their own miraculous gifts. It is steeped in a mood of wondrous melancholy, balancing dry, wry humor with moments of profound, tender vulnerability. The prose is lyrical and idiosyncratic, painting a vivid picture of a world where inner demons take literal, physical shapes. It will deeply delight readers who love character-driven magical realism, atmospheric settings, and stories about outcasts learning that the only way to conquer their darkness is to finally face it together.
- Mood
- sun-baked
- dusty
- wondrous
- melancholic
- Tone
- wry
- mythic
- tender
- eccentric
- Pace
- leisurely
- Themes
- facing inner darkness · family legacy and burden · the cost of miracles · isolation and connection
- The writing
- Lyrical and idiosyncratic, the narrative voice blends dry, omniscient humor with poetic, sensory descriptions of the desert.
- The arc
- The journey shifts from a state of stagnant, isolated longing to a messy, communal embrace of vulnerability and self-acceptance.
- Who it's for
- For readers who savor character-driven magical realism, eccentric family dynamics, and prose that feels like a modern folktale.
Content notes
- mild body horror
- family estrangement
- grief
About the book
Here is a thing everyone wants: A miracle.
Here is a thing everyone fears: What it takes to get one.
Any visitor to Bicho Raro, Colorado is likely to find a landscape of dark saints, forbidden love, scientific dreams, miracle-mad owls, estranged affections, one or two orphans, and a sky full of watchful desert stars.
At the heart of this place you will find the Soria family, who all have the ability to perform unusual miracles. And at the heart of this family are three cousins longing to change its future: Beatriz, the girl without feelings, who wants only to be free to examine her thoughts; Daniel, the Saint of Bicho Raro, who performs miracles for everyone but himself; and Joaquin, who spends his nights running a renegade radio station under the name Diablo Diablo.
They are all looking for a miracle. But the miracles of Bicho Raro are never quite what you expect.
Description from Open Library.
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