Book 17: What does this label mean?

Haniya and Vincent dedicate their lives to helping and saving others but can be so hateful and hard to deal with on a day to day basis. Is it because the saints see those who are thriving as being selfish and underserving of success or kindness? Or are they just so depleted from healing others that they turn into introverts and avoid or shield themselves from society any way they can? I feel like Haniya was softening a bit towards the end of the book after Three Pines and its residents worked their own magic on her and treated her like a friend. Something she always wanted. Vincent is still beating himself up for his part in the MKUltra Studies.

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?

I must confess to not having a great concept of sainthood, so therefore I’ve had to do some homework! I looked up some things about what constitutes a saint, and found that it means different things to different people, but the basic definition, according to Britannica.com, is that a saint is a “holy person, believed to have a special relationship to the sacred as well as moral perfection or exceptional teaching abilities.” Applying that to Haniya and Vincent is tricky. Vincent has been an exceptional teacher in his lifetime, and found a certain state of grace in his work at La Porte and his care of his patients; Haniya courageously, selflessly, saved others and it is her mission to continue to do so, and she does educate others through her example. They both seem to have that special relationship to the sacred in their desire to help others. And yet, moral perfection seems to elude them. they can both be petty and malicious at times, and both are egotistical and have superiority complexes. Armand has said before that all saints are/were assholes in their own ways. But could they be, and still be morally perfect? Or is it simply that some were so perfect that they made others nervous and jealous, so they decided they were assholes? That is not the case with Vincent and Haniya; they really are assholes at times. So I’m not sure either of them quite meet the criteria of saint, while they do at times meet the criteria of asshole! It only works if you apply the “or” in that definition — can they be morally perfect OR exceptional teachers, not both, to be a saint? In that case, they probably qualify. That said, they both have remarkable depths of goodness in them, and are valuable people who have done remarkable things, saints or not.

This book left me at a mental point with Vincent Gilbert where I’m dropping the “saint” entirely. Haniya, is more deserving of both terms – she has been through far more personal trauma than Gilbert, and she brought none of it upon herself. Gilbert’s trauma came via his own choices. Wow – as I type, I’m getting hopped up about this! LOL

Are Canadians inherently nice or is this a stereotype that’s been perpetuated? Would Vincent Gilbert and Haniya Daoud be called “Asshole Saints” in the U.S. or only Canada where everyone is nice? They are viewed as “Asshole Saints.” Both kindness and cruelty can reside in the human heart.
Haniya survived rape and violence and killed to save herself and others. She is committed to the innocent children of Sudan. She came to Three Pines at Myrna’s invitation because the community wanted to honor her as she is about to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She’s a difficult person. She sees what’s wrong with the world but not what’s right in the world.
Vincent Gilbert is a doctor, author, and humanitarian. He has a guilty conscience about his work with Dr. Cameron when he was a student and is now a recluse in the woods behind the Auberge.
The two “asshole saints” meet in the Bistro. Haniya suggests that Vincent try out his apology on her – kind of a substitution in love. Vincent explains how he wanted to apologize to Abigail for what had happened to her mother. Meanwhile Haniya is learning to think differently about adversity. “She’d thought of the men she’d killed as inhuman … But now she was beginning to realize a greater truth. That those men and boys had families. Had motives, however flawed. Had wounds of their own. They almost certainly had not been born with the desire to rape, to torture, to torment and murder … they were monsters, but they were also human. And maybe, maybe in realizing the truth, she could finally find some measure of peace. Maybe that was the real prize.”
Louise’s 17th book poses ethical questions and problems about how to face future pandemics and ends on the principles of forgiveness and love. Who lives? Who dies? Who decides? Ethical behavior cannot be just for the few, it has to be for all. I don’t believe either Haniya or Vincent deserve to be called “Asshole Saints.”