The Saint I Ain't

Sinners, saints and saviors collide in Bobby Johnston's stories, which chronicle the savagery and poetry of oppressive Catholic upbringing in 1970s Rust-Belt America. Johnston weaves landscapes of transgression and absolution, humor and resilience into his sharp-eyed tapestry of recall.

"Bobby Johnston's book is much more than a coming-of-age memoir: It's an intimate portrait of a group of Rust Belt misfits and the community they've built, with all its wonders and secrets, its transcendent moments, and its horrors. Johnston plays so many different emotional notes in this collection: his stories are funny and haunting; tender and violent; realistic and psychedelic. The Saint I Ain't is a moving and finely-crafted work of literary art."

Héctor Tobar, Pulitzer Prize-winner and author of New York Times bestseller, Deep Down Dark

"Bobby Johnston has written what amounts to a novel length poem, both drenched in the bawdy and colorful language of a saloon storyteller as well as the sublime prose and story engine of the best coming of age novels. A treat to be devoured in one sitting, or better yet, read aloud over a glass or three of your favorite tipple. A wondrous and wonderful debut."

Scott Frank, Oscar and Emmy nominated screenwriter/director of The Queen's Gambit and author of the novel Shaker

"In The Saint I Ain't, writer and musician Bobby Johnston has given us an entire portfolio of snapshots from a vexatious childhood, as vivid as if they'd been taken an hour ago, still wet from the bath of memory."

Jim Krusoe, author of The Sleep Garden

"The Saint I Ain't is a lovely set of narrative poems about a catholic boy growing up somewhere in the wilds of the blue collar seventies. Filled both with peculiar, vivid details and a spare economy of language, it is a rare treat. Calling to mind both Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son and Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales, it is both sweet and dark with a wonderfully understated delivery that asks you to look into the abyss for yourself."

PT Elliott, author of The Sociopath's Guide to Getting Ahead

Dettagli