And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard Review

When high school senior Paul Wagoner walks into his school library with a stolen gun, he threatens his girlfriend Emily Beam, then takes his own life. In the wake of the tragedy, an angry and guilt-ridden Emily is shipped off to boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she encounters a ghostly presence who shares her name. The spirit of Emily Dickinson and two quirky girls offer helping hands, but it is up to Emily 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.

Plot:

This . . . was not what I expected. I kind of was imagining some sort of mystery–Emily not knowing why her boyfriend died and going away to figure it out with the aid of Emily Dickinson. That was not this story.

I actually can’t say much without giving the book away, though. But to anyone planning on reading this? The story is actually more realistic and depressing.

I thought the plot unfolded in an interesting, albeit sometimes annoying way. We barely know anything at the beginning, but as the story goes we’re given puzzle pieces. By the end, they all add up to being what really happened that day in the library. Why Paul threatened her, why he died at all, and, most of all, why Emily blamed herself.

And We Stay was a relatively normal story when you looked underneath the prose. Just one told in a very unusual way.

Plot: 3 out of 5

Characters:

BUT (there’s always a but) the characters were not so masterful. It may have been the writing style, it may have been me, it may have been her, but I had almost no connection to Emily through this book. The only way that I even began to connect to her was through her poetry, and only barely. I like to write. Not always poetry, but the manner of turning feelings into words is pretty much the same in most types of writing.

And because I couldn’t connect to Emily? I had a hard time connecting to anyone else. Emily appeared to have a hard time connecting to anyone else. I liked her teacher and that was about it. I had plenty of chances to like KT or Amber or even the people from her past. But Emily didn’t give herself that connection, so I didn’t get it either.

Characters: 1 out of 5

Writing Style/Setting:

I’m not sure where I stand on the writing style. At first, it ticked me off. It was like reading a narration. I didn’t feel connected to Emily and I felt more like a bystander watching some movie I didn’t care about on a consignment store TV. As it went, I found it to be kind of pretty. Almost poetic. I liked it, but it wasn’t enough to save the story itself.

One thing that I loved about the writing style from the get go was how it included so many of Emily Beam’s poems. You could be guaranteed one at the end of each chapter, and if you got lucky? There might even be some in the chapter. I enjoy reading poetry sometimes, and it made the story kind of fun.

The setting wasn’t so bad either. It was limited and not always well described, but I liked the history components in it. I was able to learn bits about the history of Emily Dickinson, which I found fascinating. We were taken into her house and her garden. We also went to her grave. Even though the setting description wasn’t the best, learning bits of history made it worth it.

Writing Style/Setting: 3 out of 5

Overall: 3 out of 5 stars. I can’t say everything that happens in the book without giving away the plot, but I recommend this book for 15+ due to some of the themes. If you’re interested in buying, you can preorder And We Stay for $12.74 on Amazon.

I received an eARC of And We Stay via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.