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Cumberland (1142 KP) rated And We Stay in Books

Apr 1, 2019

And We Stay

Jenny Hubbard | 2014 | Young Adult (YA)

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Powerful

This book follows the story of Emily Beam, a girl who has just transferred to a boarding school. This transfer takes place after her boyfriend threatens her with a gun then takes his own life.
Emily is a really interesting character. She is a mess, and spends the book trying to pull herself together. It takes a while for her to open up to other, and come to terms with everything that has happened.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this book is that Emily uses poetry to help express herself. Each chapter ends with a poem she has written. She feels connected to Emily Dickinson and that connect is explored throughout the book.
The one negative aspect of this book is that at times Emily's parents made decisions for her. This is in part because of her age. It may have also been that she was an unreliable narrator, so she was blaming her parents for some of the things that took place. I could never really decide which of these were the case.

Kudos

Roxanne (13 KP) rated Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster in Books

Nov 14, 2018

Being a part of the Gothic subculture I have followed these events since they happened. I have donated to the charity and I have joined marches through Plymouth in memory of Sophie. This collection of poems truly moved me, it did not matter that the poetry wasn't written in a style I'm more used to, I still very much enjoyed them and believe more people should read them. The subject matter brought tears to my eyes and the last poem made my heart ache. After recently becoming a mum myself I can not even begin to imagine the pain her family felt when she slipped away from them. Even though I did not know Sophie I still feel connected to her and am unbelievably sad that she was taken from this world in such a brutal and disgusting way...just because she and her boyfriend were different.
This is a beautiful collection, handled in a very sensitive way, I hope for this to reach more people as things need to change.
Rest in peace beautiful Sophie.