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A review by themaddiest
Stay by Deb Caletti
3.0
When Clara meets Christian her senior year of high school, their connection is immediate and their relationship is intense. She falls in love with him, and he with her, but it becomes clear that Christian’s devotion to her is different from how she feels for him. As he becomes more jealous and obsessed with making her stay, Clara realizes that her safety might be in danger. When Clara and her dad leave the city and don’t tell anyone where they’re going, Clara hopes that it’s the end of her contact with Christian, but she doubts that simple distance will keep him away from her.
Although I am a fan of several of Caletti’s other books for teenagers, I have to admit that I was apprehensive about the basic premise of this one. Creating a story about a girl whose boyfriend becomes an obsessive stalker can become fodder for a bad Lifetime Original Movie, and in a lesser author’s hands, this probably would have happened. Luckily for readers, Caletti is an extremely talented writer with a remarkable talent for writing authentic teenage voices.
Clara tells the reader her story by flipping back and forth between present and past. She lets the story of how she and Christian met unfold, and it’s clear that the attraction that the two felt was immediate and intense, as first loves often are. By allowing the reader to see why Clara fell for Christian and then also allow them to see how his behavior began to spiral out of control, Caletti has created a stronger narrative. It’s easy to say, “He’s crazy. Get out.” It’s a lot harder to actually act on those words. The struggle that Clara goes through feels real, and the reader is just as frustrated as she is by setbacks and mistakes.
Caletti has a great many strengths, and one of those is present in her clear, crisp writing. This is an author who truly loves words, and it shows. From the clever footnotes populated throughout the story (these might actually be my favorite part) to the weird quirks that Clara’s writer father has, readers can see that a love of words, of reading, and of writing is present both for the characters and for Caletti herself. There’s a richness to this story that is often missing from other novels in the YA world.
Although the ending unfolded a little too predictably and a little too conveniently for me, I chalk that up to my extremely jaded tendencies. Most readers will devour this book, and rightfully so: it’s really, really good. Suspenseful, beautiful, and full of real observations about life and love, this is a remarkable book.
Highly recommended.
Although I am a fan of several of Caletti’s other books for teenagers, I have to admit that I was apprehensive about the basic premise of this one. Creating a story about a girl whose boyfriend becomes an obsessive stalker can become fodder for a bad Lifetime Original Movie, and in a lesser author’s hands, this probably would have happened. Luckily for readers, Caletti is an extremely talented writer with a remarkable talent for writing authentic teenage voices.
Clara tells the reader her story by flipping back and forth between present and past. She lets the story of how she and Christian met unfold, and it’s clear that the attraction that the two felt was immediate and intense, as first loves often are. By allowing the reader to see why Clara fell for Christian and then also allow them to see how his behavior began to spiral out of control, Caletti has created a stronger narrative. It’s easy to say, “He’s crazy. Get out.” It’s a lot harder to actually act on those words. The struggle that Clara goes through feels real, and the reader is just as frustrated as she is by setbacks and mistakes.
Caletti has a great many strengths, and one of those is present in her clear, crisp writing. This is an author who truly loves words, and it shows. From the clever footnotes populated throughout the story (these might actually be my favorite part) to the weird quirks that Clara’s writer father has, readers can see that a love of words, of reading, and of writing is present both for the characters and for Caletti herself. There’s a richness to this story that is often missing from other novels in the YA world.
Although the ending unfolded a little too predictably and a little too conveniently for me, I chalk that up to my extremely jaded tendencies. Most readers will devour this book, and rightfully so: it’s really, really good. Suspenseful, beautiful, and full of real observations about life and love, this is a remarkable book.
Highly recommended.