Saints of the Household

By: Ari Tison

Narrated by: Timothy Pabon, Alejandro Ruiz

Saints of the Household is a haunting contemporary YA about an act of violence in a small-town—beautifully told by a debut Indigenous Costa Rican-American writer—that will take your breath away.

Max and Jay have always depended on one another for their survival. Growing up with a physically abusive father, the two Bribri American brothers have learned that the only way to protect themselves and their mother is to stick to a schedule and keep their heads down.

But when they hear a classmate in trouble in the woods, instinct takes over and they intervene, breaking up a fight and beating their high school's star soccer player to a pulp. This act of violence threatens the brothers' dreams for the future and their beliefs about who they are. As the true details of that fateful afternoon unfold over the course of the novel, Max and Jay grapple with the weight of their actions, their shifting relationship as brothers, and the realization that they may be more like their father than they thought. They'll have to reach back to their Bribri roots to find their way forward.

Told in alternating points of view using vignettes and poems, debut author Ari Tison crafts an emotional, slow-burning drama about brotherhood, abuse, recovery, and doing the right thing.

©2023 Ari Tison (P)2023 Spotify Audiobooks

Worth the journey!

Two brothers try to survive an abusive father without losing themselves in the process.

It took a while to get used to the way the story is structured, but I was immersed from beginning to end!

Beautiful

A very well written story of brotherhood, growth, and the bri bri traditions. I will be recommending this to my friends!

No Quality Control

It’s a good story but, somehow, it’s been published with both missing chapters and repeated chapters. Many, many, times. Totally unacceptable.

I enjoyed the story of these two indigenous Costa Rican young men and how they matured

The recording misses chapters and repeats chapters. They are short so you can figure out what you have missed. However, this recording is not a good representation of the book

Terrible audiobook

The storyline of this book is very good it’s a very interesting book however I was listening to this while reading it as well and I noticed there there are MANY missed or repeated chapters that made me realize how much content I was missing. I would not recommend listening to this book and I would read it instead.