Some Things That Stay

Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Coming of Age Story
Review: I flew through Some Things That Stay, vacillating between a tear in my eye and a smile on my face. It's a poignant novel, set in the 1950's, chronicling a few months in the life of a teen girl who is desperately trying to find herself in a world which seems to be constantly changing. Tamara's father is a painter, and he moves his wife and three children on a yearly basis in order to find new subject matter for his paintings. The book begins with the family's move to rural New York state, and just as things seem to be settling down for Tamara, her whole life is thrown into turmoil again, from a source she never would have expected.

I can't wait to get my hands on another Sarah Willis novel. This one was written with so much wisdom and understanding about the truly important things in life - your family, your relationships with others, your sense of self. Thanks very much to the amazon.com reader who including this gem in their listmania list!

Rating:
Summary: Into the Top Five
Review: I have this tendency, after reading "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby, of ranking everything. Sneaking a new book in is a tough thing. What do you drop out of your five? "Sophie's Choice?" Can't do it. "High Fidelity" itself? That's seems ironic. No. But, somehow, after finishing "Some Things That Stay," I had to weasel it in there somehow.
I don't even know why I was drawn to this book. I had just picked up Sarah's new one, "The Rehearsal," and thought, with only two books to her credit, I might as well read them in order.
What unfolded, in "Some Things That Stay," was a beautiful coming-of-age story. The beauty of it, for me, was that it was told in a sparse, Hemingwayesque style. There couldn't have been more than one hundred sentences that contained more than two commas. But, there, in it's simplicity, was warmth, humor, and observation so keen, it took my breath away.
The tale was one of an odd family. A family that moved. And with the moving came coping. Each family member accomplished that a bit differently. But, the story is anchored by its strong female lead, letting life flow over her as she experienced the first pangs of sexual experimentation, the loss of her mother's ability to live with them because of health, and her anger toward her father.
The main theme is a univeral one. How do we deal with loss? It is explored in many ways with various characters and subplots.
Finally, it is a book you will close at the end and say to yourself, Who can I give this to? Who can I grant this discovery to? A new author! A wonderful story!
Now, which book is getting the bump? I've gotta figure this out. . .

Rating:
Summary: Into the Top Five
Review: I have this tendency, after reading "High Fidelity" by Nick Hornby, of ranking everything. Sneaking a new book in is a tough thing. What do you drop out of your five? "Sophie's Choice?" Can't do it. "High Fidelity" itself? That's seems ironic. No. But, somehow, after finishing "Some Things That Stay," I had to weasel it in there somehow.
I don't even know why I was drawn to this book. I had just picked up Sarah's new one, "The Rehearsal," and thought, with only two books to her credit, I might as well read them in order.
What unfolded, in "Some Things That Stay," was a beautiful coming-of-age story. The beauty of it, for me, was that it was told in a sparse, Hemingwayesque style. There couldn't have been more than one hundred sentences that contained more than two commas. But, there, in it's simplicity, was warmth, humor, and observation so keen, it took my breath away.
The tale was one of an odd family. A family that moved. And with the moving came coping. Each family member accomplished that a bit differently. But, the story is anchored by its strong female lead, letting life flow over her as she experienced the first pangs of sexual experimentation, the loss of her mother's ability to live with them because of health, and her anger toward her father.
The main theme is a univeral one. How do we deal with loss? It is explored in many ways with various characters and subplots.
Finally, it is a book you will close at the end and say to yourself, Who can I give this to? Who can I grant this discovery to? A new author! A wonderful story!
Now, which book is getting the bump? I've gotta figure this out. . .

Rating:
Summary: Heartfelt and Endearing
Review: In a perfectly pitched voice, Tamara Anderson chronicles life on the move with her quirky unconventional American family. In the year 1954 the Anderson's settle down in a small upstate New York town. But Tamara knows she shouldn't get her hopes up too high on staying in Mayville, New York. Every year of her young life her father who is a landscape artist packs the family up and relocates them in an effort to seek new scenery for his paintings.

Longing for a place to call home and dealing with all the stressors of entering womanhood, Tamara's world takes on ever increasing complexities. For one, the new neighbor's, the Murphy's, introduce Tamara to Christianity, a practice her atheist parents oppose. Moreover, Tamara's budding sexuality faces temptation as she develops a relationship with the Murphy's son Rusty. Finally, Tamara takes on her most challenging role; she becomes the mother figure of her family when her own mother takes ill and is admitted to a sanitarium.

Tamara is a keenly observant young lady. The language in which she tells her tale hits just the right note. The story is full of splendidly constructed passages that stay with the reader long after the book is closed. Adults and mature teens are sure to be pleased with this novel that tenderly touches the sensitive spot of one's heart.

Rating:
Summary: True to heart story triumphs over purple prose (no pun)
Review: One problem I have with novels in which the narrator is a child or teenager is that normally their voice is too adult. After all, the author is an adult. I can imagine how hard it must be not just to write well, but in a sense to "act", because you're not a child anymore. This is why I so enjoyed Some Things That Stay. The narrator, Tamara, is a very smart and mature 15 year-old, but she is truly her age.

I have a weakness for coming of age stories, and this one will remain in my memory for a long time. Tamara is the daughter of an itinerant family. She is longing to put roots down, but this doesn't seem to happen. One issue that the book addresses so well is the difference in perception that parents and children sometimes have. For the parents, it is such an adventure to go live all over the country, when in fact Tamara is outraged. After a discussion on sex (quite a big deal in the 50's, I suppose), with pictures included (after all, the father is a painter), Tamara says: "They imagine themselves great teachers. They swell with pride at their openness, their boldness, their ability to get out the facts. But they started with us much too early, and now, when a frank talk about sex might actually interest me, they have collapsed into themselves, like those distant galaxies, the hot air and gas all burned up."

The novel covers one year in the life of Tamara's family, a year that will change everything and everybody. Sometimes the prose can be a little corny (in a letter from the father to the mother: "She needs you. You are her reds and yellows and greens, her indigo, emerald, and ultramarine. I am only black"), but overall this is a very satisfying book, a story that rings true in so many instances. For example, Tamara despises her father at times (she once called him "Cosmic Cretin"; another time she said: "Maybe [God's] a little bit like my dad too: blinded by His own light"), yet she loves him so deeply. A contradiction so strong and so real takes some skill to portray, and the author does that beautifully. This book is a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: True to heart story triumphs over purple prose (no pun)
Review: One problem I have with novels in which the narrator is a child or teenager is that normally their voice is too adult. After all, the author is an adult. I can imagine how hard it must be not just to write well, but in a sense to "act", because you're not a child anymore. This is why I so enjoyed Some Things That Stay. The narrator, Tamara, is a very smart and mature 15 year-old, but she is truly her age.

I have a weakness for coming of age stories, and this one will remain in my memory for a long time. Tamara is the daughter of an itinerant family. She is longing to put roots down, but this doesn't seem to happen. One issue that the book addresses so well is the difference in perception that parents and children sometimes have. For the parents, it is such an adventure to go live all over the country, when in fact Tamara is outraged. After a discussion on sex (quite a big deal in the 50's, I suppose), with pictures included (after all, the father is a painter), Tamara says: "They imagine themselves great teachers. They swell with pride at their openness, their boldness, their ability to get out the facts. But they started with us much too early, and now, when a frank talk about sex might actually interest me, they have collapsed into themselves, like those distant galaxies, the hot air and gas all burned up."

The novel covers one year in the life of Tamara's family, a year that will change everything and everybody. Sometimes the prose can be a little corny (in a letter from the father to the mother: "She needs you. You are her reds and yellows and greens, her indigo, emerald, and ultramarine. I am only black"), but overall this is a very satisfying book, a story that rings true in so many instances. For example, Tamara despises her father at times (she once called him "Cosmic Cretin"; another time she said: "Maybe [God's] a little bit like my dad too: blinded by His own light"), yet she loves him so deeply. A contradiction so strong and so real takes some skill to portray, and the author does that beautifully. This book is a must-read.

Rating:
Summary: A STORY THAT GENTLY DRAWS THE READER INTO ITS WORLD
Review: Some novels I read leave me with the feeling that I have done battle -- that the author has fought with all their might to draw me into the story, into the world that they have attempted to create. Some of them succeed, some do not. Sarah Willis' SOME THINGS THAT STAY definitely drew me in -- and it did it gently, but firmly, before I realized, before I even noticed the pull. Such is the author's gift for words and for storytelling -- and for character development.

SOME THINGS THAT STAY tells the story of a 15 year-old girl named Tamara. She is intelligent -- that's easy to see from her obervations of the world around her. She doesn't consider herself beautiful -- but what girl at this age, with the exception of the most self-centered socialite, does. It's a time of life, at that tortuous juncture between childhood and adulthood, when every doubt we have about ourelves is made larger than it really is. To make things even more difficult for Tamara, she has no real sense of home -- her father, a moderately well-known landscape artist, feels it necessary to uproot his family and move every spring, eternally in search of another, more perfect, landscape to depict.

For much of her childhood, Tamara has thought that this was the case with every family. She is amazed to learn from another child that they have lived in the same house for all of their life -- it's truly a revelation for her. By the time of the story told so beautifully in this novel, she has come to learn that her own family is indeed different from most -- and she begins to yearn more and more for the opportunity to put down some roots.

Her mother's health begins to deteriorate -- she is showing more and more signs of being afflicted with the tuberculosis that killed Tamara's grandfather. The story is set in the early 1950s -- a cure for TB had been found, but patients with advanced symptoms were still being sent to sanitariums. Tamara's father is devoted to her mother in his own way -- despite the appearances to the contrary in his repeatedly uprooting his family -- and the imposed separation is torture for him as well as for the three children (Tamara's younger brother and sister).

For the first time in her life, Tamara has begun to make friends with neighbors across the road -- and the influence of that family's deep religious beliefs have a life-changing effect on her. Her neighbors are Baptists -- her own family, mainly from her mother's influence, are 'devout' atheists. Close interaction -- and church attendence, to her mother's horror -- with her neighbors gives Tamara a perspective on people (and the world itself) which she has never experienced. Slowly she begins to look at things a little differently -- not being forcably converted, but given one more angle from which to contemplate the world around her. Combined with an already existing intelligence and sense of beauty -- perhaps genetically received from her father -- she makes some astute, sensitive observations. This, from p.140, is a good example: 'In the early morning, dew sticks to the tips of the grass, winking and glittering like diamonds. If you stand in the right spot, you can find a dewdrop that captures the sun. It can blind you; a tiny, miniature sun in a drop of water. It is the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. The trick is finding the right spot, the right dewdrop, the right time of day. It takes so much for things to work out perfctly, and so little for them to go wrong.'

Tamara's observations and thoughts on this dewdrop are a vivid metaphor for the things that are happening in her own life -- something that happens in a mere second can knock down all of the beautiful things that have been built up over time. It is a testament to the resilience of children -- one of the miracles of life, in my opinion -- and to her own spirit that she fights to keep this from happening, to cling to the beautiful and important things that her life is laying before her.

Helen, the devout daughter of Tamara's neighbors across the road, sets out to 'save' her atheistic neighbors. She takes the children to church with her, tells them about her beliefs, and more than anything, tries to show them by example what her faith has done for her own life. Her character is sensitively drawn, and not reduced to a Bible-beating proselytizer -- as strong as her own faith is, she comes across as sincere and gentle. Tamara respects Helen's beliefs, and is naturally curious about them -- but at the same time, her intuition gives her some pause. At one point in the story, Helen learns that she has been exposed to TB, and, instead of leaning on her faith and recognizing her own good health, she panics at first, then, learning that she has not contracted the disease, considers herself 'saved from TB'. Tamara views this attitude with some concern for her friend, from p. 223: 'It's not that Helen believes in God that bothers me, it's that she doesn't believe in herself, that she WAS healthy, that she can exist between prayers.'

The story here is a well-written, compelling one -- the characters are gently but vividly drawn, and the author's descriptive talents are put to good use. The passages relating to Tamara's father's painting, and his ways of viewing his world and his art, are particularly well-done. The novel contains both emotion and wisdom in healthy, but not over-large, doses -- ultimately, the book is carried along nicely by the story itself. It's a rewarding read on several levels, and a work I can recommend highly.

Rating:
Summary: "Just another coming of age novel" this is not.
Review: Tamara Anderson doesn't remember the last time her family lived in a community, because back then she was three years old. That's how many rented houses ago? Every year her father moves them to a new location, because he's a landscape painter and every year he requires a new vista.

So Tamara, Robert, and Megan's only on-going relationships must be with each other and with their parents. For Liz Anderson, her husband is her only friend in the world. She spends her considerable energies supplementing her children's public education, and embarrasses Tamara with frequent letters to whatever school her eldest is currently attending. Making sure the authorities know that the Andersons are devout atheists, civil rights advocates, and so on. Views which, in 1954, are flash points for the rural communities where her husband's work takes them.

Only now, as the story of the family's four months in Mayfield, New York begins, an overwhelmingly weary Liz seldom rouses herself to write such letters. She can barely drive her youngsters to the library. When the Murphys, a poor but lively Baptist family across the rural road from the Andersons' rented farm, invite the children to church, Liz tries to argue but winds up letting fifteen-year-old Tamara and the younger ones go. Partly because she must honor their intellectual curiosity about religion, but mostly because she's simply too tired to debate the issue.

Tamara's summer to grow up has arrived. Whether or not she's ready, she must look at her parents as people and face their mortality. For the first time since she can remember, their island within the larger world can no longer operate self-sufficiently. Liz's illness forces them to accept help which the Murphys offer-as do their landlords, a Methodist couple who moved out of the farmhouse after their only child (a boy just a year older than Tamara) died there.

"Just another coming of age novel" this is not. It captures a time and place, rural America in 1954, with a lack of sentimentality that should refresh even the most jaded of readers.

--Reviewed by Nina M. Osier, author of "Love, Jimmy: A Maine Veteran's Longest Battle"

Rating:
Summary: It's the little nuances perfectly captured in this story
Review: The story begins with the Anderson's arriving at their new home after yet another move. The story's heroine, Tamara, reflects (somewhat bitterly) on many such moves during her young life. Her father is a painter and once he's exhausted the artistic possibilities of a location, it's time to uproot his family and move on.

For a young girl becoming a young woman, these uprootings have become more and more difficult.

The author, Sarah Willis, gives Tamara's voice wit and intelligence, with the slight edge of bitterness. Ms. Willis takes the most mundane of objects or circumstances - a galloping cow, painting 'couch pictures', siblings arguing, a father's exasperation, manila envelopes, church services - and gives them importance and deeper meaning. Her writing style is so smooth and easy, her characters so normal, yet intriguing and special.

A satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: exquisite, resonant and elegant coming-of-age novel
Review: The truth of the matter is that Sarah Willis' "Some ThingsThat Stay" should be rated much higher than five stars. It isone of the most powerful and affecting works of fiction I have read inrecent years. Thematically rich, with characters who are so real youimagine them sitting with you as you read, the novel literallyembraces us with the almost desperate ambivalence and profoundemotional tensions the compelling protagonist, Tamara Anderson, feels.That this is Ms. Willis' first novel makes the achievement all themore stunning. Rest assured, this work will find its way on therequired reading lists of both secondary and university readinglists.

In a seamless fashion, Sarah Willis has managed to convey thelife of an anachronistic family in the mid-1950s with accuracy andempathy. In an era which celebrated conventional nuclear families,the Andersons are peripatetic wanderers, the journeys fueled by afather whose need for fresh landscapes to fuel his painting requiresthe family to move from house to house each spring. Indeed,Ms. Willis explores the definitions of family and home throughout,both in her evocation of place and her contrasting the Andersons withtheir cross-street neighbors. These neighbors, whosereligion-centered lives contrast with the rational/scientific mind ofTamara's mother, provide both ballast and turmoil to Tamara'sworld-views.

In addition to the author's sensitive treatment of theaforementioned themes, she is at her very best in dealing with thewrenching illness of Tamara's mother and the protagonist's discoveryof her own body and growing awareness of herself as a sexual being.The descriptions of Tamara and her partner-in-discovery, Rusty, arealone worth the reading of the novel. Ms. Willis poses many seriousquestions: What is the best way for a family to handle medicaltragedy? What responsibility to parents have in guiding theirchildren? How do children accept the loss of a parent? What is themeaning of "home" in the life of a family? What is thenature of belief?

It is my hope to meet the author some day and topersonally thank her for this work. Sarah Willis will emerge as oneof our nation's most eloquent and wise interpreters; I anxiously awaither next novel.