Name: And We Stay
ISBN: 9780385740579

Jenny Hubbard

Sent to an Amherst, Massachusetts, boarding school after her ex-boyfriend shoots himself, seventeen-year-old Emily expresses herself through poetry as she relives their relationship, copes with her guilt, and d begins to heal.

And We Stay

Melissa Palmer

Book #61 Read in 2014
And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard

This was a great young adult read, told in prose and poems. Emily is dealing with the fact that her boyfriend brought a gun into the school library and killed himself. To help her heal, her parents send her to a boarding school, just around the corner from Emily Dickinson's house. Emily (modern Emily) begins to write poems as a sort of therapy and begins to feel a kinship with the poet Emily, and she begins to research the poet's life. 

While a quick read, this book has a lot of meat to it and deals with a variety of tough topics. Emily is a complex main character and I like that she is intelligent. She is definitely broken and this book is sort of a raw wound as one reads it. 

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review through the Amazon Vine program.

http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com

Emi Gilmore 

My expectations were pretty low when I read this book, and because of that I think I enjoyed this story more that others seem to have

Ella Zegarra

El Extraño Gato del Cuento

2.5

No sé como sentirme con el libro.

Me tomé mi tiempo para pensar en qué poner sobre este libro. ¿No les ha pasado que a veces no están seguros como sentirse con cierto libro? Ya me pasó antes y cometí el error de no detenerme un rato y pensar en serio sobre lo que siento. Un poco dramático lo que intento decir, espero se haya entendido. (Si se preguntan con qué libro es que tuve ese desacuerdo emocional, fue con The Duff, no me arrepiento de lo que puse en la reseña porque en ese momento lo creía, pero después de meditarlo un poco más, la cosa cambió)

Entonces, un mes después más o menos de leer el libro y después de mucha investigación, creo que ya logré poner en orden mis ideas (un tip por si les pasa en algún momento lo mismo que a mí es leer reseñas, muchas de ellas, tanto negativas como positivas, a veces ese algo que no nos deja tranquilo es una pequeña cosa que no le logramos poner nombre pero otro sí). Lo primero que podría decir de And We Stay es que es un libro interesante, una de esas novelas donde la escritora nos lleva de la mano a través de muchas emocionas, digo de la mano porque es de a muy poquito que nos vamos enterando que pasó esa mañana y los días previos, además que las emociones tan ambivalentes que pueden generar los personajes.

En lo negativo, puedo decir que si bien tenemos la historia de Emily Beam, And We Stay me pareció más la historia de su tocaya, Emily Dickinson, la verdad es que estaba mucho más intrigada por la historia central y la historia con esta poetiza me cansaba bastante.

Si te gusta la poesía, este libro va a gustarte, entre cada capítulo hay al menos un poema, del cuál entendía un 2% de todos los qué hay. Lo mío no es el simbolismo, obviamente. Lo que sí, me hizo recordar mis clases de literatura (cuatro cinco cuatro cinco)

Me ha gustado, pero no me ha encanta'o, como se dice

Reseña completa: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

Stephanie Midolo

I'm going to write a real review later, but before I forget, I really liked the subtle literary references. Obviously Emily Dickinson is huge, but also the hints at Sherwood Anderson and others made this book really enjoyable.

Patty M.

This book was lovely. Like a warm hug. The poetic prose and insertions of poems made this such an eloquent and deeply emotional read.

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    "Life – and this was what she was learning – was not something that could be controlled, no matter how smart you were or how smart your parents were."
  

I'm not entirely sure how to summarize how I felt about And We Stay. I think that's mostly because I just don't know how I felt. As much as I wanted to like the book, I just felt like I never truly connected with Emily. I think that's partially my fault because I'm not someone who tends to enjoy poetry. That's truthfully what led me to give the book three stars instead of the two I was originally considering. It's not the author's fault I don't like/understand/appreciate most poetry. It didn't seem right to take off a star because I think my lack of connection with the story is because of that alone.

  
    "Feelings are feelings," she said, repeating something her grandmother used to say. "There isn't a rightness or wrongness to them. They just are."
  

Emily went through something devastatingly awful. Actually, it was more a series of tough situations and not just one specific thing. I'm not heartless. I did feel sympathy for Emily. I think most anyone would. No teenager should have to deal with the things she did. She was very likable, but because I couldn't find a level on which I related to her, I found myself missing the connection I have with characters in books I tend to really and thoroughly enjoy.

  
    "No, really. I want to go back. Being a kid teaches you that you're the queen of your forest, and then whammo. You have to pack up your toys and start playing games with real people. I'm not so sure we're ready yet. I think we should play with our toys just a little longer."
  

All that's not to say that I didn't respect what the author did with this book. I absolutely did. This book took an unflinchingly honest – and at times gut-wrenchingly emotional – look at some very tough issues. But as devastating the things that happened in Emily's past were, the book was also hopeful. She built strong friendships in Massachusetts. I liked that the book focused on Emily healing herself with the help of friends (and the "ghost" of Emily Dickinson) and not by finding another guy. Aside from the flashbacks to her time with Paul, there is no romance in this book. I respect that. I think adding a new romance to Emily's life would have cheapened the entire book. It was anything but that.

So, while And We Stay might not have been the book for me, I know there are readers who will have a deeper appreciation for it than I did. It was beautifully written and the story was unique. It was real and emotional.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. All quotes come from the review copy and may differ from the final version.

And We Stay

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