Ten Thousand Saints audiobook

Eleanor Henderson's Ten Thousand Saints is the perfect example of how really excellent fiction is universal. I was not, at the outset, interested in the straight-edge music scene of the 1980s, an odd off-shoot of the punk music scene (in fact, I knew nothing about it), yet the beautiful rendering of Henderson's story pulled me into a world I did not know I cared about. The novel is, plain and simple, a story of devotion--to family, to friendship, to music, to teenage bonds, to love, to survival. The story opens with two 16 year old boys spending a birthday night doing drugs, and only one boy, Jude, survives until the next morning. In some ways, the novel is as much Jude's coming-of-age story as it is a story of how he grapples with the grief of losing his best friend. Jude ends up leaving Vermont for New York, reacquainting himself with his "father", a pot dealer, and his brother, who is committed to the straight-edge music scene. Jude falls for both and for Eliza, the girl his best friend impregnated the night he died. This novel chronicles children carving a life for themselves amidst the rubble their parents provided for them. It's just a lovely, wonderful, beautiful rendition of these kids and their relationships to each other, their parents, their music. The writing in this book has been described as "muscular". I think about it as being terrifically right-on. The rhythm of the author's sentences, the shape of her paragraphs, mimic the cadence of the story. She doesn't hold back in her description of her characters, their setting, their emotions or predicaments. She brings all of this right to us and insists that we look at all of it as deeply as we can. I'm so glad this book was recommended to me. It deserves all the praise it is being met with. And, it's a first novel!

This is the best contemporary novel I've read in years. I dreaded reading it - the New York Times review was absurdly congratulatory, which riled up the contrarian in me. The subject matter is "straight-edge punk." Generally, I hate books focused on music, because the author tries to rely on feelings he or she has about music that don't translate on the page. I only read the book because the review said it started in 1987, the first year of my yet-to-be published novel. It turns out that the only day in 1987 is new year's eve; the rest of the action takes place in 1988.After reading the novel (via audiobook - narration is ok, nothing great), I still don't care about straight-edge punk. I skimmed the wikipedia article and got bored. But the novel is so incredibly well written that it doesn't matter what you think about the music. The plot is convoluted and a bit melodramatic, but it's written with an insistent energy that is truly remarkable. Henderson is flawless when describing scenes, using only a few words to catch an image or a mood. Her dialog is pitch-perfect. And the dramatic arch feels like a novel. Too often someone who writes this well doesn't understand what a novel really is. This is a masterpiece. No wonder it took her nine years to write.

Before reading:This is the first novel of a talented woman who I became friends with when we were both knee-high, running down a dirt road in Florida chasing our bigger brothers. I am terrifically proud of her and can't wait for my copy to arrive in the mail.After reading:So, with a full disclaimer that I know and love the author, here's what I thought:I have to admit, a book about punk rockers, NYC, drugs, and straight edge (which was a totally new concept to me) is not really in my realm of experiences. I am a mostly happy--mostly square--Midwestern mama who loves her flowerbeds and her dogs and sneaks whole grain flour into her brownies on occasion. There are flower seeds--not bongs--in my mini greenhouse.The start of the book was hard for me to engage with, amid all of the details of drugs and fights and bad behavior, but the characters and their conflicts and their parents and their regrets and their hopes drew me in. I was captivated by the unique settings and lifestyles. The characters were imperfect and flawed and real, and the situations did not resolve themselves any more neatly than they do in real life. I usually dislike books with ambiguous endings, but in this case, I actually appreciated it. I liked being able to project where the whirling characters would land as life spun ahead of them. As another reviewer commented, this is not a book that will fit everyone. But, I am glad that my connection to the author slipped me past my reservations about the subject matter. sarah

Ambitious. Explores a great deal of social issues.Bittersweet.Spot on eighties pop culture details and sibling banter. Excellent historical and geographical detailing. Initially the detailed accounts of recreational drug use made me reluctant to read on. I am so glad I persevered. I was rewarded with an in-depth touching story. Definitely a New York City education.Definitely a life lesson.A reminder that our decisions carry consequence but also that there is also a new day.Hopeful. Refreshing.

I was pleasantly surprised by Ten Thousand Saints, honestly. It had a bit of a slow start, but I grew to love the characters and become invested in what was to come in the story. I really loved Johnny’s character because of his kind heart, yet he still had flaws like a real person would. I wish that Ravi had adopted Eliza’s son, but I understand Eliza’s reasoning for not wanting that as well. I do wonder what Eliza is living like in the epilogue that takes place in 2006, and I wish we could have seen some of that. Definitely recommending this to my mom who was a teenager in that era!

Un bon 4,5

I had heard good things about this book, but wasn't sure I'd be interested in the coming-of-age story of straight edge teens in the late 1980s New York City. Boy, was I wrong.Henderson has such compassion for her characters- Jude, the drug-using boy in love with a girl who slept with his best friend Teddy, Eliza, the lost rich girl with a secret, Johnny, Teddy's straight edge musician brother hiding from himself- that you feel like you know these people and care deeply about what happens to them. Even Teddy, who only exists for 72 pages yet whose presence influences all of the main characters, is so vivid, I felt I knew him well.The minor characters are well drawn too; I particularly liked Jude's estranged father who left his family behind years ago, and although he faithfully sent support checks, checked out of his son and daughter's emotional life. Henderson has created this world that I had no idea about, the straight edge world of young people living in poverty on the Lower East Side of New York City in the late 1980s. It was a much different world there than it is today. They live with the homeless, violence and drug dealers in Tompkins Park, and with the fear and ignorance spawned by the AIDS epidemic.There is one scene, a fight scene, that echoes S.E. Hinton's classic book, "The Outsiders", and I loved her homage to that story about teens also on the outside of mainstream society. (One of the characters even mentions the book later in the story.) This book will appeal to all of us who grew up loving "The Outsiders".Part of the story takes place in Vermont, and Henderson creates that world with as much care. I felt like I was dropped into this story, these worlds that I knew little about. Great fiction can open up your mind and heart to characters and new ideas, and "Ten Thousand Saints" is great fiction. It is one of the best books I have read this year, and i can't wait for more from Eleanor Henderson.I read this book in two sittings, I just couldn't put it down. These characters manage to crawl inside your heart, and when they make bad decisions and mess things up, you just want to hug them and tell them it will be alright.

I chose this book because the NYtime listed it as one of the top 5 books of 2011. When I started it, I had my doubts--a story about teenage boys who were druggies set in the 80's was not really in my zone of interest. But I found myself quickly drawn in and actually finished the book in 3 days. There were some superficial coincidences and solutions, but the characters and their struggles seemed real to me. There were so many conflicts: the rejection felt by children who feel abandoned by a parent, the clash of generations, the struggle to forgive oneself for someone else's death, the drama of facing a teenage pregnancy...but I think Henderson did a good job of showing how rebellious teenagers grow up as they begin see the gray shades among the good and evil characters they have cast in their lives. Jude's move from drugs to straight edge, from hating his father to relying on his father, from his alliance with Johnny to their break--the main conflict in all this is in Jude's realizing that the labels he has affixed to these people and his relationships with them do not always stick. But mainly, I just wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen to them all. And I am happy to find out that, for the most part, things turned out OK.

There was almost too much to like about this novel, too many points of connection for me. The narrative, set almost entirely in the 1980s, ricochets from Vermont to the East Village to NJ and back again. From glass-blowing, pot dealing middle-aged hippies to straight-edged kids in a mosh pit at an all-ages hard core matinee at CBs, my brand of nostalgia is on uncanny display here. St. Mark's Place? Trash and Vaudeville? The Tompkins Square Park riot of '88? They are precious and important, not gratuitous, which is how I expect to find them in fiction. Who is this author? How come our paths haven't crossed by now? How does she unroll such gorgeous sentences? With nary a wasted moment,Henderson even earns the right to do stupid things with plot elements (like when she has the Krishna tattoo artist straight-edge kid swiftly and conveniently dig up his dead half-bro's long estranged dad). I even loved the cornball ending, fast fowarded to 2006, last week of CBGBs, Bad Brains concert. Mosh pit into which the now 40-year-old straight edge kid flings himself. Wish I'd written such a beautiful indulgence myself.

This book was an unexpected surprise from David for Christmas. I think he selected it for me because it is reminiscent of my son's high school straight edge, tattoo fascination days. The novel begins with the fatal drug overdose of a high school boy, Teddy, on New Year's eve. Teddy and his best friend, Jude, ended up at a party with Eliza, who gives Teddy cocaine and becomes pregnant with Teddy's child before his body is found the next morning. The novel seemed a bit preachy in places - certainly these character lives were messed up, but Hare-Krishna-to-the-rescue did not seem the most obvious solution. The book takes on drugs, homosexuality, AIDS, parenting, adoption, tattooing and the hard-core music scene. I stayed interested to the end - although the last chapter (two pages) seemed a forced conclusion. The book has received much praise - New York Times Book Review – Top 10 Books of 2011; New York Times – 100 Notable Books of 2011;New Yorker – A Year’s Reading selection; O Magazine – Top 5 Fiction; Amazon – Top 10 Debut Fiction. And it was a great Christmas present.

Oh, this is a depressing book. Melancholy. Tragic. And bleak. The story will grab some dark place of your soul and not let go. Eventually, there is hope and redemption, but it is a deeply sorrowful read to get to that point.That said, it really is an extraordinary book.Written by Eleanor Henderson, this is the story of Jude, whom we meet on his 16th birthday, and Teddy, 15, who are best friends living in a small college town in Vermont in the late 1980s. They both come from tragically dysfunctional families. Teddy's father is dead; his mother disappears, leaving him all alone. Jude's parents are divorced; his mother is barely making ends meet as a glassblower artist, while his dad, who lives in New York City's crime-infested Lower East Side, is an upscale drug dealer. Both boys are into drugs and huffing. Teddy dies, which is not a spoiler because the author gives away this eventual plot line in the second sentence of the book. Jude copes by moving to New York to live with his dad and to find Teddy's half-brother, Johnny, a tattoo artist and hardcore punk musician. Jude also finds a friend in Eliza, the trust-fund daughter of his father's girlfriend. But Teddy left them all a big secret, which is revealed soon enough, and it becomes a burden that nearly destroys Jude, Johnny, and Eliza. The setting is raw, the characters are rough, and like the music they listen to and play, the plot is hardcore.While this could be described as a coming-of-age story, it's so much more than that because Jude had been living such a loveless life without any of the boundaries parents typically set. It's more a coming-into-the-world story as Jude learns how to live in a way that is not self-destructive. Ultimately, the dark, melancholic story becomes one of hope and redemption, but the danger is that the journey there is so somber and truly sad that many readers will give up just to exit this gloomy and despondent place. If you start the book, do finish it. It's so worth it.

Ten Thousand Saints is an inspirational read. The plot and journey in which the protagonist experiences is a really intriguing look at the straightedge scene in New York City. Eleanor Henderson includes all aspects of the hardships Jude goes go through as a teenager between family, friends, grief and finding yourself. I would definitely recommend this book if you are interested in learning more about the straightedge scene and the impacts your friends can have in you on the journey of finding out who you are and who you want to be.

This book was definitely different (in a good way!)I loved the different perspectives of each setting and how everyone plays a part in the story. Each character was unique in their own way and definitely added to the plot. I enjoyed the settings and energy of each event, however i wished certain events were explained a little better. The emotion (or lack there of) was powerful and to the heart and the uniqueness of the straight-edged scene really puts you right in 1980’s New York. This book is great for those who are interested in a diverse perspective in self-discovery

A lovely coming of age story for not only the human characters, but also for late-80s Manhattan. All of the characters are flawed yet likable, and the growing pains are wonderfully written. It’s (most likely) exceptionally easy to fall in love with this book if you’re GenX, but even if you aren’t don’t let that stop you from trying.