Reply To: Book 17: What does this label mean?
For the people of Three Pines, I think the label pretty effectively captures their ambivalence toward Haniya and Vincent. It acknowledges their respect for the courageous, generous or life saving things they have done while capturing their dislike of their rude, abrasive and confrontational interpersonal behaviors. From that lens, I would say the label is deserved. I think Reine Marie’s struggle to overlook Haniya’s interactions with them and accept her abrasiveness and criticism, if not exactly defend it, captures to some degree everyone’s situation here. It is telling that it is Vincent and Haniya who are eventually able to help one another with the less than admirable things they have done. For me, the term conveys the idea that everyone, including “saints,” are always “both/and,” human, flawed and complicated. It also begs the question of how much “Asshole” is any “Saint” allowed; does the good one has done demand acceptance of criticism or abrasiveness toward other folks?