The story turns into national tabloid news, a lurid mystery that will go unsolved. Discussion in 'Spoilers' started by Guide1410, Apr 23, 2021. Saint X. by Alexis Schaitkin. Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for the 2022 movie X. Some books are just meant to be discussed and Saint X is one of them. When a book has been on the bestseller list, its a lot like a movie with an IMDb rating of 7.5 or higher you expect quite a bit! This book reminded me of The Pledge by Friedrich Drrenmatt: it is razor sharp and forces you to walk a tightrope over justice and obsession. Maxine hops into Howard's truck to get out once and for all. Maxine's discovery of her roots strengthens her sense of self and gives her a new sense of purpose. Allison is a beautiful college girl, her sister Clare is much younger, but she adores her older sister. On their first day, the group films several scenes for a porno called The Farmers Daughter, inadvertently attracting the attention of the older woman, Pearl, who lives on the farm (played in heavy makeup by Mia Goth, who also portrays one of the actors). You can see that in Saint X for sure there are fictional newspaper articles, brief sections where you hear directly from minor characters; its more playful than what I used to write, and I hope its stronger for that. Howard shoots and kills Lorraine, one of the last crew members standing. Both try to downplay the advantages they have, but in attempting to deny their good fortune they only further entrench themselves in their upper-class reality. The first half of this book kind of read like when that annoying friend of yours is trying to tell you a story but keeps getting distracted and never gets to the point and the main plot lines, and instead, goes off in random tangents, giving bits of information you don't necessarily need. Get horror news, reviews and movie recommendations every Friday! I decided to bring that arc to Saint X. Its a natural complement to the Brooklyn story in the novel: I see these as twin settings, both places that have undergone these incredibly rapid, intense transformations which have brought people of different classes, nationalities, and races into intimate proximity with each other., Schaitkin was also helped by teaching jobs shes held. I was excited to read this one because it was my first #BuddyRead on #Bookstagram with my novel writing friend, Savannah Carlisle. Claire, who was 7 when the tragedy occurred, becomes obsessed with understanding not just what happened to Alison, but who she was. Theyre stumped until they find the video camera used to film The Farmers Daughter. Days later, Alison's body is found but with no concrete evidence, the local authorities could not hold anyone (two employees of the resort whom she was last seen with) accountable for her death and the mystery of her death will remain unsolved. Around the time of that conversation, Id had the initial idea for Saint X; I was tempted to keep tinkering with and overhauling the old book out of a desperate hope that I might somehow get it to work, but my agent very wisely encouraged me to put it aside and dive into the new idea. We thought, at the very least, if nothing comes of it, well write the script and it can serve as a great backstory for Pearl and my grasp on my character.. Maya's truth came in front of Anupama, What will Anuj do now ? She goes from Clairey to Emily and then back again to Claire, but ready to move on. . Catherine (Jennifer Lopez) decides to reverse the virtual process and bring Stargher (Vincent D'Onofrio) into her mind to be able to defeat him. Around 70 pages in, the details of this family drama start to take a back seat to the larger story Alexis Schaitkin is really trying to tell: about a single death that affects an entire community. I was fortunate to find my agent through my graduate program I attended the MFA program at the University of Virginia. Author Saint X Alexis Schaitkin 3.45 18,564 ratings3,068 reviews Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Save casey, then shoot casey. Similarly, based on the Amazon book page for Saint X, I had rather high expectations. Allison-"I'm going on a treasure hunt and I'm bringing a pearl". Subscribe for free to Inverses award-winning daily newsletter! In its brief publishing life, Celadon has already had notable bestselling successes with Alex Michaelides The Silent Patient and Alex Norths The Whisper Man. The second-rate mind is only happy when it Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes! Alexis Schaitkin is the author of Saint X. Around the time of that conversation, Id had the initial idea for. This book promised a little of both with its islandy depiction of a palm tree offset with a big X through it. A First Look at Hulus Saint X Adaptation. If you are looking for a fast paced crime or thriller read, then I would advise you to steer clear of Alexis Schaitkin's remarkable slow and considered character driven debut, a tantalising, acutely observed study of grief, loss, class, race, family, privilege, memory and obsession. Where are the limits of who you could be and what you could do? Alexis Schaitkin. But the truth is like none of them. So there is a chance Zach could end up with Gabi, but it appears Kaity is who he ends up engaged to when the season is over. Claire, who has changed her name to Emily, mourns the sister she loved unconditionally but never really knew. While X is inspired by French New Wave cinema and Pearl is a Technicolor, Mary Poppins kind of movie, the third installment will take a more modern approach. I guess the feeling with both was Hmmmthat was somewhat interesting. Theyre working hard to do the same for Saint X. Whats next for Schaitkin? The apparently confident, beautiful, athletic and flirtatious Alison goes missing, only for her body to turn up on a beach later. It was unique! In the last part of the book there are several theories put forth of what happened, and some of them are plausible. cometothedarkside97, Jul 24, 2021 #9. A prequel is already in the works. Because Ideas Matter!https://arichidea.com. The End of the Fucking World (8 . Saint X (4) Salem (319) Salvation (166) Santa Clarita Diet (39) Satisfaction (80) Saved by the Bell (18) Saving Hope (204) . Normal People and Conversations with Friends). What does the island setting contribute to the story? actually in the colleges hospitality school. Aleksandar Hemon's characters are romantics. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I had spent my pregnancy working feverishly to finish the book before our son was born, and it was pretty devastating to realize I hadnt done it. A24 has made a name for itself with cerebral-yet-terrifying horror movies like Hereditary and The VVitch, but the studio is trying something new with X. The first came immediately after graduation when she went to Thailand: I received the job through a placement organization, so I didnt actually choose Thailand, I was just incredibly fortunate to be placed there. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. That trajectory was complicated by the fact that I gave birth to my son two weeks after my agent told me he didnt think that first big revision had resolved the books issues. The Thomas family from New York are very privileged and comfortably off. Two locals, Clive Richardson and Edwin Hastie, are arrested but with insufficient evidence, they are released and the mystery of Alison's death remains a mystery through the years. Theyre working hard to do the same for, Whats next for Schaitkin? Ask the Author. Do you think Emily coming into Clive's life was ultimately a bad thing or a good thing for Clive? Driven by pure and unfiltered desire, the old lady leaves plenty of corpses in her wake. Claire is only seven years old when her college-age sister, Alison, disappears on the last night of their family vacation at a resort on the Caribbean island of Saint X. Shes joined by Josh Bonzie (The Good Fight) as Clive Gogo Richardson, West Duchovny (Linoleum) as Alison Thomas, Jayden Elijah (Schools Out Forever) as Edwin, Bre Francis (Malory Towers) as Sara, Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad) as Mia Thomas, Michael Park (As the World Turns) as Bill Thomas, and Kenlee Anaya Townsend as Claire. Why do you think the author chose to intersperse the There was an overwhelming sense of loneliness and crippling sadness that I got from our main character Claire, it make me feel incredibly bad for her, despite her stalker-like actions and feelings towards Clive. Yes, she is actually a blue lizard, but her body and organs has been changed drastically to the point she is just a considered hybrid to a certain creature. Uh-oh, I thought. I would read a lot, and then I would write a lot, and the new writing would show me what I needed to learn more about; or sometimes Id discover something in my research that pointed to a hole in what I was writing, and then I would go back to reading, writing, reading, writing. The most surprising thing I learned came out of that trip. As to the grand finale? This does not work out in Maxine's favor. Perhaps intentionally, the narrative deflates a little at the end. Welcome back. I may have liked it a lot more than I did had I not entered with such great expectations. The story is principally told from the perspectives of Claire/Emily and Clive who is also haunted by the past. My plan was to write it there and see if I can convince A24 that we should make two movies, West tells The LA Times. to the story? or ask your favorite author a question with Schaitkin found out about some of those limits herself while writing the book. Looking back, I can see that I was falling under the grip of something I could not control. Our "heroes" (a group of strippers, pornstars, and struggling filmmakers) drive their van to a ranch in . Distractify is a registered trademark. All these sub-narratives dedicated to minor and major characters, chapters that do little to move the plot along, could easily have resulted in a novel that buckled under the weight of its structural ambitions, but Schaitkin pulls it off without a hitch. However, the young group remains largely unaware of Pearl's covetous presence in the next-door farmhouse, seemingly blinded by their ambitions to capitalize on a burgeoning home video porn industry. That trajectory was complicated by the fact that I gave birth to my son two weeks after my agent told me he didnt think that first big revision had resolved the books issues. Although two local men - Edwin Hastie and Clive Richardson are arrested and they admit to being with her on her last night, they are released through lack of evidence. The sheriff and his deputies arrived at the house to find the bodies of the "intruders" that Howard had called about. Were told from a young age to figure out who we are and to be true to ourselves. Am I reading an author who has an unhealthy self-love of her descriptive abilities? Basically the end of Rain Worlds story, but it takes place at the end of the Saints Campaign, this one was something else. Every voice rings true; every scene adds another layer so many versions of Alisons death. Oh no, I thought again. She does, however, reverse the vehicle to run over Pearl's head. All Horror Contributor Ive heard it said that while a writer might write about lots of different subjects across their body of work, theres one core theme or preoccupation thats present in everything they write. Overall we struggled with the wordiness of the book that distracted us from the story, however, by reading it in a group, each of us picked up on different things and brought them to the discussion. The adventure takes a gruesome turn after they meet their sexually deprived hosts, Howard (Stephen Ure) and Pearl (also Mia Goth.). Something else? More books by Alexis Schaitkin Buy This Book. However, when Maxine releases Lorraine from her basement prison, Lorraine reacts impulsively, unjustly blaming her promiscuity for the atrocities that have taken place across X's runtime. Wow! She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. In the end, all of the pornographers are murdered except for Maxine, who manages to take out the old woman after her husband has a heart attack. He claimed that all the achievements that the Saint did is actually made by the knight order and the Saint that was . Genres: Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller. In its brief publishing life, Celadon has already had notable bestselling successes with Alex Michaelides, . and other vacationers, throughout the book? Join. Years pass - then Claire has a chance encounter with one of the men who was initially arrested: looking into the abyss it looks back at her - and soon all the questions become pieces of a puzzle that was was never 'cut' into the right pieces. About Edwin's? X marks Ti West's return as a horror movie director after several years spent working on TV series like The Resident and Soundtrack. Terrified, confused, and hysterical, Lorraine tries to escape from the farmhouse on foot but is instead shot by Howard. I went in having expectations that this would be a mystery/suspense but this was definitely along the lines of literary fiction, genre-defying as there were so many different elements to it, it had incredible depth. The first promise is made when we view the book cover what do these visuals tell us? Paperback: 368 pages. This book promised a little of both with its islandy depiction of a palm tree offset with a big X through it. All Rights Reserved. As author Oyinkan Braithwaite writes in her review for the New York Times, Saint X is hypnotic, delivering acute social commentary on everything from class and race to familial bonds and community, and yet its weblike nature never confuses, or fails to captivate.. You think you know someone, you think you know yourself, but do you really? But then I feel like theres this really slippery slope between being glad you have something and thinking you deserve it.. The Thomases are no better or worse than any of the other upper-middle-class white tourists who are also . The initial spark for the novel was the setting of a Caribbean resort, says Schaitkin. Its very different from, on the surface; its set in an isolated mountain town where a series of seemingly supernatural events occur. Alexis Shaitkin's debut novel is scary good - she is on my 'reading radar' from now on! Horrorific content by Spoiler alert! She was simply the little sister, awkward but cherished. The second promise comes in the form of promotion, which for me is usually spotted on the Amazon book page. Mudbound and Pariah filmmaker Dee Rees is directing and executive producing as well. The classic way of framing this is to say that these characters are from different worlds, but theyre not, theyre from the same world, and thats so much of what I wanted to explore in the book. Claire is as obsessed as Alison was with class status, and her white privilege. Copyright 2023 Distractify. But the truth is like none of them. Good, fine, but for what? The Musician Has Dedicated Songs to Romantic Partners, Kid Cudi and Kanye West Are Reportedly on the Outs After Heated Social Media Posts. 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