Some Things That Stay

Some Things That Stay
by Sarah Willis

Some Things That Stay
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Book Summary Information

Author: Sarah Willis
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2001-05-01
ISBN: 0425179605
Number of pages: 275
Publisher: Berkley Trade

Book Reviews of Some Things That Stay

Book Review: Tender Story of Love, Heartache & Finding Home
Summary: 5 Stars

This story centers on Tamara, a young woman living in rural Mayville, NY in the 1950's. By the age of 15, she's moved more times than she can count. Well, she can count them, but she's not happy about the loose ends she always feels upon relocation. Once she realizes that the other kids in school have histories with their classmates and roots, she feels cheated and wants to settle down.

Her family is somewhat dysfunctional but very loving - her father, a landscape artist and the traveling nature of his job is the reason behind their frequent relocations. Her mother is beautiful and a little wild, but she has a strong bond with Tamara's father and allows his lifestyle to effect their family. Tamara has a younger brother and sister who have their own difficulties leading such a nomadic life and at times, Tamara takes out her frustrations on them and even on herself.

Sarah Willis adds the concept of atheism to the story, as both Tamara's parents practice it. The neighbors across the street are devout Christians and manage to get their permission to take Tamara & her siblings to church, which opens up a whole new world for Tamara and she starts to question her beliefs and make bargains with God to keep her in one place.

Tamara's life gets even more stressful when she learns that her mother has an illness that takes her away from the family, perhaps permanently and Tamara is forced to fill her shoes around the house. This is where Tamara begins to rely more heavily on God and asks him to help heal her mother. She also discovers that her complex feelings for her mother are a foil for the love she feels in her heart and through letters, they grow to understand each other better.

Tamara also finds the stirrings of her first love when she connects with Rusty who also lives next door. Sarah Willis portrays the feelings of wonder, fear and joy that we all feel when we find what we think is love and the other person feels it too. Willis does a fine job of providing excellent, solid characterization, and precisely detailing their neurosis so precisely that we can relate to them and their shifting, complicated connections to each other.

I loved the way she uses words to create pictures in the mind of the reader. I enjoyed the section where she uses colors to stress the importance of the situation comparing them to the colors her father uses in his artwork - a unique way to show the similarities between father and daughter when neither feels they have anything to share - masterful! I thought about this book and its characters for a while after I finished reading it and that is always a sign of an excellent story - I have found a new favorite author in Sarah Willis and look forward to reading more of her novels.

Summary of Some Things That Stay

A New York Times Notable Book, Winner of the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction, A Book-of-the-Month Club and Quality Paperback Book Club Selection, and Winner of the Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature

Tamara Anderson was in third grade when she found out most people stay in the same house for more than a year. Until then she thought everyone picked up and moved on a regular basis, crossing the country, leaving behind people and bedrooms and belongings. Now she?s turning fifteen, and she wants to stay in Mayville, New York. At first glance, there isn?t much to stick around for. In the tarpaper house across the road there are the Murphys, the Baptist family who upset Tamara?s atheist parents by inviting her to church. In the pasture there?s Edith the cow. And up in the attic there?s the ghost of the boy who used to live here, or at least that?s what Tamara suspects. But this time Tamara is putting her foot down, and planting it?

Taking us into the heart and mind of an unforgettable young girl, and a unique corner of a rural 1950s America, Sarah Willis presents a ?heartfelt first novel [in which] the characters are so vivid and rounded they produce a reflected happiness in the reader.? (The Miami Herald)

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