Review: And We Stay

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Title: And We Stay
Author: Jenny Hubbard
Series: none
Age Group: young adult
Format: hardback
Pages: 224
Release Date: January 28, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Source: public library

Senior Paul Wagoner walks into his high school library with a stolen gun, threatens his girlfriend, Emily Beam, and then takes his own life. In the wake of the trauma, an angry and guilt-ridden Emily is sent to boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts. Two quirky fellow students and the spirit of Emily Dickinson offer helping hands, but it is up to Emily Beam to heal her own damaged self.
This inventive story, told in verse and in prose, paints the aftermath of tragedy as a landscape where there is good behind the bad, hope inside the despair, and springtime under the snow.

Hello, everyone! A small update about my life: I know have a job! Unfortunately, that means less time to dedicate my summer to reading, but I'll survive. Now, on to the review. I'm not a big poetry reader. I think the most recent poem I read was "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe. And that was about three years ago. I do have these bookmarks with Emily Dickinson poems. Very cute.

So, when I picked up this book at the library and read the summary, I almost put it down and moved on. As I was flipping through the pages, I noticed, the whole book isn't in poetry, so I checked it out. I'm so glad I did. One of the reading I went on a book hiatus is because of the young adult repitition. There always has to be a love story thrown in, and it's usually the main focus, instead of building a good plot.

Although And We Stay does involve a romance story, that is not the main focus. Emily Beam has to get over her past, and move on with her life. It's the reason the setting is at a boarding school, far away from home. As a person who values her friends on the same scale as family, I loved how Emily grows through her friends. It's beautiful! Additionally, she finds comfort in her writing, something which I can relate to.

I could go on and on about how this book is different, and a great contemporary novel, but you will just get bored with me. Honestly, it's a small book. It was definitely a quick read. Go pick up this book either if you are a big fan of poetry, Emily Dickinson, or love a book that emphasizes friendships.

My Rating: