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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
I truly loved this book. Claras life feels so realustic, her love with Christian intense and the book totally draws me under the water. The one thing I don't understand is a lot of people don't like Clara's fling with Finn. That was one of my most favorite parts of the book! I definetly recommend this book to anyone
I'm alternating on 2.5 and 3 stars. This book just wasn't the book for me. It didn't entertain me and I wasn't into the story or the characters or the writing. Neither of the three sucks, which is why I'd encourage people to try Stay if they think they're interested.
Most interesting character was definitely Clara's dad. He was my favourite part of the book.
Most interesting character was definitely Clara's dad. He was my favourite part of the book.
Really enjoyed reading this book, it was really great, loved the little comments off to the side :) Really good!
very triggering to me, but a good read. reminded me so much of previous boyfriends, especially because one of them was a stalker. but it also reminded me of the bad men in my friends' lives that they refused to see were so bad when everyone else could see.
i disliked the back and forth past/present setup. i like things in chronological order. my brain gets confused otherwise.
"reasons a person hangs in with someone that isn't good -you feel bad about not giving it a chance. -you've already come too far to give up now -you believe its going to get better. you believe in goodness. that things will work out. you believe in happy endings."
"they (referring to a healthy guy, not the stalker guy) didn't seem sensitive in all the ways that sensitive made a person require careful handling. when you live for a while with a sensitive person you are always anticipating. you're two steps ahead, knowing what the reaction will be. you try to steer clear of the places he could fall into and stay. when you do that anticipating for a long time, its hard to shake. you get edgy."
"you have to separate the real threats from the ones that lived only in your imagination."
"you learned too much. your problem is going to be letting go of this experience, not holding onto it."
"to me, my body seemed only good enough, something you'd buy if it were 60 percent off, but not at full price. i didn't know what men liked in a body. from what i could tell, it wasn't what i had. we were told to be thin, but it seemed to me it was girls who wanted that, not boys. boys like breasts and asses and thin girls didn't have those. i was neither thin enough to be admired by girls, nor lush enough to be admired by boys. so my body seemed...serviceable. a toaster. a bicycle. a thing capable enough, i guessed, of carrying my spirit around. i couldn't understand the worth it might have to a boy."
"for him, it was as if he'd had a nice object, a painting say, or some vase, and then he suddenly found out it was rare and valuable, so valuable it made him nervous. he needed to guard it. he needed to make sure no one would steal it. it was perfect, so he also needed to make sure it stayed perfect, with the help of his constant small corrections."
"upon being excited that the new/healthy boy hadn't misinterpreted what she'd said: i decided to try letting all of that go, the weighing and the measuring. i would say what i wanted, slip off the chains."
"the more he came to rely on me, to feel i was the 'perfect' person for him, the more convinced he became that he would lose me. and the more he was afraid of losing me, the more paranoid he got and the more he made sure that what would happen next was what he feared the most."
"its hard to stand up for yourself when you are burning with shame"
"that is what ghosts would come back for? to haunt people? no. WE are the ones who haunt ourselves. i'm sure of it."
"i wondered when i would stop looking at everything in comparison to what he was or wasn't, or did or didn't do."
"you respond after the fiftieth time and he learns it takes fifty tries to get what he wants."
"i just want to say-if that guy comes around here, jack and i will take turns knocking some sense into his fucking head. - we're supposed to hate violence, and we do hate violence. an act of violence is the worst and most shocking thing a human being does. and yet the truth is, the absolute honest truth, is that words like finns... when you feel small and there is someone large and brave standing beside you, baring his teeth, ready to protect... even when you know you wouldn't want him to, and even though you know he's not even that type... well here's what you do then. you squeeze his hands. you look into his eyes. you let yourself, for a moment anyway, feel safe."
"this was someone i had loved, and he was a stranger. he was that someone who you are afraid of as a child, 'stranger'. they never told you that 'stranger' might be someone you knew."
"do you know how often you say that about him? do you even hear yourself? nice isn't the same as good. people are 'nice' for a million reasons. 'nice' is the outside. what people get to see. what you want people to see. 'good' is the inside. and this is a bad person. hes making you a fucking prisoner. and you're letting him. why are you letting him?"
"he's hurt. he's sometimes just so hurt. "
"hurt people are very powerful people. hurt is a weapon. better weapon than most because it doesn't look like one."
"i don't want to lose what we have. i love him. it was so good. i cant imagine not having him in my life. "
"yeah, but you also CAN imagine it. and it sounds freeing. "
"i don't know how to give that up. i don't want to lose the good part. "
"you already did lose it, the minute it was gone. a guy doesn't hear your voice? controls you? your nervous around him. you're not a mouse. when have you ever been a mouse? you weren't even a mouse with dylan. you dumped his ass when he got like that."
"its not the same thing"
"its exactly the same thing. one uses his strength to get what he wants. the other uses his weakness. you gotta get away from him. the stuff he's doing behind closed doors where he thinks no one is looking, its dangerous. the distraught pathetic manipulators are the most lethal."
"that feeling i had, that i was pressing up against something huge, a sense of gathering panic, it was just me probably. after all that happened, i felt fragile. i had started seeing tragedy everywhere i looked. i'd stand on a street ready to cross and would be sure i'd get hit by a car. i was sure too, at other moments, that my father had cancer, or a cinder from the fire would rise and catch and set us both ablaze. my terror had been turned on and now it couldn't be shut off, like those stupid car alarms you hear on the street that keep blaring long past any danger."
"you can want someone gone and still care"
"normal is a destination. a contortionist act. a yoga position. the kind where you have to put one leg over your head and balance. you can reach it, but you aren't going to stay that way forever."
"they alternate between love and anger: its been two weeks since you left me. if you really wish the best for me, you'd know the best thing would be to come back. i would treat you better than anyone you could ever find. i give you my word about that. i know why i acted like i did. i was horrible to you. i'm a different person now, i swear. please give me another chance. we are perfect together. we deserve another chance. = you say you will always love me but that's not true. that will go away when you meet the next guy. you have the ability to just go on and forget people and how much they meant, but i don't. you can put people in their own little boxes and leave them there. so much for love. so much for soul mates. i'm sorry you don't want to believe in the best of me or how i can change. you put a stake thru my heart. i'm the only one who cared enough to suffer like this. i would wait an eternity for you. i know i can never find someone as right for me as you are."
i disliked the back and forth past/present setup. i like things in chronological order. my brain gets confused otherwise.
"reasons a person hangs in with someone that isn't good -you feel bad about not giving it a chance. -you've already come too far to give up now -you believe its going to get better. you believe in goodness. that things will work out. you believe in happy endings."
"they (referring to a healthy guy, not the stalker guy) didn't seem sensitive in all the ways that sensitive made a person require careful handling. when you live for a while with a sensitive person you are always anticipating. you're two steps ahead, knowing what the reaction will be. you try to steer clear of the places he could fall into and stay. when you do that anticipating for a long time, its hard to shake. you get edgy."
"you have to separate the real threats from the ones that lived only in your imagination."
"you learned too much. your problem is going to be letting go of this experience, not holding onto it."
"to me, my body seemed only good enough, something you'd buy if it were 60 percent off, but not at full price. i didn't know what men liked in a body. from what i could tell, it wasn't what i had. we were told to be thin, but it seemed to me it was girls who wanted that, not boys. boys like breasts and asses and thin girls didn't have those. i was neither thin enough to be admired by girls, nor lush enough to be admired by boys. so my body seemed...serviceable. a toaster. a bicycle. a thing capable enough, i guessed, of carrying my spirit around. i couldn't understand the worth it might have to a boy."
"for him, it was as if he'd had a nice object, a painting say, or some vase, and then he suddenly found out it was rare and valuable, so valuable it made him nervous. he needed to guard it. he needed to make sure no one would steal it. it was perfect, so he also needed to make sure it stayed perfect, with the help of his constant small corrections."
"upon being excited that the new/healthy boy hadn't misinterpreted what she'd said: i decided to try letting all of that go, the weighing and the measuring. i would say what i wanted, slip off the chains."
"the more he came to rely on me, to feel i was the 'perfect' person for him, the more convinced he became that he would lose me. and the more he was afraid of losing me, the more paranoid he got and the more he made sure that what would happen next was what he feared the most."
"its hard to stand up for yourself when you are burning with shame"
"that is what ghosts would come back for? to haunt people? no. WE are the ones who haunt ourselves. i'm sure of it."
"i wondered when i would stop looking at everything in comparison to what he was or wasn't, or did or didn't do."
"you respond after the fiftieth time and he learns it takes fifty tries to get what he wants."
"i just want to say-if that guy comes around here, jack and i will take turns knocking some sense into his fucking head. - we're supposed to hate violence, and we do hate violence. an act of violence is the worst and most shocking thing a human being does. and yet the truth is, the absolute honest truth, is that words like finns... when you feel small and there is someone large and brave standing beside you, baring his teeth, ready to protect... even when you know you wouldn't want him to, and even though you know he's not even that type... well here's what you do then. you squeeze his hands. you look into his eyes. you let yourself, for a moment anyway, feel safe."
"this was someone i had loved, and he was a stranger. he was that someone who you are afraid of as a child, 'stranger'. they never told you that 'stranger' might be someone you knew."
"do you know how often you say that about him? do you even hear yourself? nice isn't the same as good. people are 'nice' for a million reasons. 'nice' is the outside. what people get to see. what you want people to see. 'good' is the inside. and this is a bad person. hes making you a fucking prisoner. and you're letting him. why are you letting him?"
"he's hurt. he's sometimes just so hurt. "
"hurt people are very powerful people. hurt is a weapon. better weapon than most because it doesn't look like one."
"i don't want to lose what we have. i love him. it was so good. i cant imagine not having him in my life. "
"yeah, but you also CAN imagine it. and it sounds freeing. "
"i don't know how to give that up. i don't want to lose the good part. "
"you already did lose it, the minute it was gone. a guy doesn't hear your voice? controls you? your nervous around him. you're not a mouse. when have you ever been a mouse? you weren't even a mouse with dylan. you dumped his ass when he got like that."
"its not the same thing"
"its exactly the same thing. one uses his strength to get what he wants. the other uses his weakness. you gotta get away from him. the stuff he's doing behind closed doors where he thinks no one is looking, its dangerous. the distraught pathetic manipulators are the most lethal."
"that feeling i had, that i was pressing up against something huge, a sense of gathering panic, it was just me probably. after all that happened, i felt fragile. i had started seeing tragedy everywhere i looked. i'd stand on a street ready to cross and would be sure i'd get hit by a car. i was sure too, at other moments, that my father had cancer, or a cinder from the fire would rise and catch and set us both ablaze. my terror had been turned on and now it couldn't be shut off, like those stupid car alarms you hear on the street that keep blaring long past any danger."
"you can want someone gone and still care"
"normal is a destination. a contortionist act. a yoga position. the kind where you have to put one leg over your head and balance. you can reach it, but you aren't going to stay that way forever."
"they alternate between love and anger: its been two weeks since you left me. if you really wish the best for me, you'd know the best thing would be to come back. i would treat you better than anyone you could ever find. i give you my word about that. i know why i acted like i did. i was horrible to you. i'm a different person now, i swear. please give me another chance. we are perfect together. we deserve another chance. = you say you will always love me but that's not true. that will go away when you meet the next guy. you have the ability to just go on and forget people and how much they meant, but i don't. you can put people in their own little boxes and leave them there. so much for love. so much for soul mates. i'm sorry you don't want to believe in the best of me or how i can change. you put a stake thru my heart. i'm the only one who cared enough to suffer like this. i would wait an eternity for you. i know i can never find someone as right for me as you are."
Read as part of ARC tour. I really loved this book, the voice of the main character, the plot... it made for a great page turner as I discovered how Clara and Christian got to the place they were in the opening of the book.
I found it very pleasing that the author included a past tense and present tense without making it confusing. I really liked the voice of the main character, but I was not a fan of the ending of the book.
Stay deals with the horror and agony of disentangling oneself from an abusive relationship. Clearly the author has lived this nightmare. Her perception is too astute not to have come from experience. The narrator is a high school girl, and hence the young adult classification, as well as the not quite grown up voice. The plot was engaging – I was always happy to find an opportunity to get back to it! He’s Gone, Deb Caletti’s most recent novel and her first foray into adult fiction, I thought was excellent, and prompted me to read this. Stay, while it had a great deal of substance, doesn’t quite rival it. Black and Blue, by Anna Quindlen, and Strange fits of Passion, by Anita Shreve are the gold standards of this genre in my opinion. But I definitely liked it!
Go. Read. Now.
. . .
What are you waiting for? More? What do you think I'm writing here? A review? Fine.
Amazing. There really isn't much else to say about Stay. It's amazing. It takes that obsessive high school love that so many YA novels are glorifying and slaps that nasty bitch right back down into reality. Hey, that guy that wants to know your every move? Not so romantic when he calls 47 times and shows up at your local grocery store. That guy that just can't possibly live without you? Major creep factor when he's ready to break a glass over your head.
Stay is right up there with Albatross by Josie Bloss for me. I didn't feel as deep of an attachment with Stay as I did Albatross but the message is the same: obsessive relationships suck. They're not nice, they're not loving. They're downright scary.
The only issue I had with this one was Finn. Don't get me wrong. I liked Finn. I just don't like that considering what Clara was running from, she ended up taking up with another guy. I would think she'd want some kind of male space considering the last two relationships she'd come from. I wasn't a fan of the third-time's-a-charm thing that was playing in the background. Yeah, Clara told her dad she was taking it slow and I guess, compared to Christian, she was. But the time frame was really only a matter of weeks. Is she head over goo-goo heels for Finn? No. I guess I just didn't like the fact that she had no cooling off time before she was with another guy again. I would have liked to have seen her develop a friendship with Finn's sister more than Finn just because I wanted her to stand on her own instead of running into Finn's arms. Not that she had fainting spells or anything but he was somewhat of a crutch. Not a big fan.
Other than that, the story's absolutely amazing. When the shit got going my heart sped up. I was anxious when Clara was anxious and just as swimming in love as she was with Christian. Of course he seemed like such a nice guy and you don't really pick up on those subtle nuances until bigger ones start rearing their ugly heads and you can get some hindsight behind you. The story had me tearing in places, where Clara thought all was lost, thought that she had nowhere else to run, that she was out of options.
I was rooting for her the entire time. I wanted her to overcome. I wanted her to find love in all the places that she genuinely needed it. She deserved it after everything. You'll feel Clara's world come crashing down on her. Just when you thought the weight couldn't get any heavier, another anvil falls from the sky. But you'll keep pushing through, determined to see it through to the end because you know there's hope. You have it. You have to. For Clara.
If you're tired of all those romanticized obsessive romances out there that make possession a good thing, if you want some perspective from the outside looking in, if you want to have your heart ripped out of your chest only to have to glue it back together again, read Stay. It'll be worth the tears and the unknown and the potential pain. Because there's hope.
. . .
What are you waiting for? More? What do you think I'm writing here? A review? Fine.
Amazing. There really isn't much else to say about Stay. It's amazing. It takes that obsessive high school love that so many YA novels are glorifying and slaps that nasty bitch right back down into reality. Hey, that guy that wants to know your every move? Not so romantic when he calls 47 times and shows up at your local grocery store. That guy that just can't possibly live without you? Major creep factor when he's ready to break a glass over your head.
Stay is right up there with Albatross by Josie Bloss for me. I didn't feel as deep of an attachment with Stay as I did Albatross but the message is the same: obsessive relationships suck. They're not nice, they're not loving. They're downright scary.
The only issue I had with this one was Finn. Don't get me wrong. I liked Finn. I just don't like that considering what Clara was running from, she ended up taking up with another guy. I would think she'd want some kind of male space considering the last two relationships she'd come from. I wasn't a fan of the third-time's-a-charm thing that was playing in the background. Yeah, Clara told her dad she was taking it slow and I guess, compared to Christian, she was. But the time frame was really only a matter of weeks. Is she head over goo-goo heels for Finn? No. I guess I just didn't like the fact that she had no cooling off time before she was with another guy again. I would have liked to have seen her develop a friendship with Finn's sister more than Finn just because I wanted her to stand on her own instead of running into Finn's arms. Not that she had fainting spells or anything but he was somewhat of a crutch. Not a big fan.
Other than that, the story's absolutely amazing. When the shit got going my heart sped up. I was anxious when Clara was anxious and just as swimming in love as she was with Christian. Of course he seemed like such a nice guy and you don't really pick up on those subtle nuances until bigger ones start rearing their ugly heads and you can get some hindsight behind you. The story had me tearing in places, where Clara thought all was lost, thought that she had nowhere else to run, that she was out of options.
I was rooting for her the entire time. I wanted her to overcome. I wanted her to find love in all the places that she genuinely needed it. She deserved it after everything. You'll feel Clara's world come crashing down on her. Just when you thought the weight couldn't get any heavier, another anvil falls from the sky. But you'll keep pushing through, determined to see it through to the end because you know there's hope. You have it. You have to. For Clara.
If you're tired of all those romanticized obsessive romances out there that make possession a good thing, if you want some perspective from the outside looking in, if you want to have your heart ripped out of your chest only to have to glue it back together again, read Stay. It'll be worth the tears and the unknown and the potential pain. Because there's hope.