Sign in with Facebook
Loading...
203rd out of 395 books
—
364 voters
Some Things That Stay
by
Sarah Willis
A stunning first novel about a young girl's coming-of-age in the 1950s.
Tamara Anderson's father is a landscape artist who quickly tires of the scenery, so every year her family seeks out new locations for his inspiration. When the Andersons move to a farmhouse in Sherman, New York, in the spring of 1954, fifteen-year-old Tamara and her mother want to settle down and make i
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
May 1st 2001
by Berkley Trade
(first published 2000)
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
904)
Oct 11, 2008
Bonnie
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone interested in a well-written story
Recommended to Bonnie by:
Candas Jane Dorsey (author of Black Wine, etc.)
Shelves:
reviewed-books
Excellent prose (great lines I wish I had written/could write); perfect-pitch POV 15 year-old; deeply moving.
I really felt like I was reading this girl's (Tamara) diary and the true feelings that she had. I could empathise and understand why she would feel certain ways because of her life experiences and what she had been taught all her life.
I liked how it ended; just like an ending to a diary - nothing fantastical or life changing, but just life goes on and we will have to see what happens next when she writes in a new diary. One thing to be warned is that it does have a fair amount of swearing and a...more
I liked how it ended; just like an ending to a diary - nothing fantastical or life changing, but just life goes on and we will have to see what happens next when she writes in a new diary. One thing to be warned is that it does have a fair amount of swearing and a...more
I liked this book enough to stay interested but not really enough to be memorable.
The writer's style is easy to read and paints a detailed description of where everything was set.
The main character Tamara is both lovable and completely annoying in a teenager way. I found myself wondering why she was such a bitch all the time and then remembered..."Oh yah, I was like that."
I would recommend this book for a plane trip but I probably won't remember it long enough to suggest it.
The writer's style is easy to read and paints a detailed description of where everything was set.
The main character Tamara is both lovable and completely annoying in a teenager way. I found myself wondering why she was such a bitch all the time and then remembered..."Oh yah, I was like that."
I would recommend this book for a plane trip but I probably won't remember it long enough to suggest it.
This is about a family who are always on the move so that the father can find new landscapes to paint. They land up in a remote, bleak country area which begins to feel like home. The novel has faded in my mind a bit since I read it, but I do remember that it gives a powerful feeling of what it is like to live in the middle of nowhere. I also remember the central mother/father/daughter relationships being strongly drawn.
INitially the turns of phrase and fresh insight on the part of the fifteen year old narrator was really impressive, and I thought, wow, four stars in the making. Then I started to wonder, is this a YA book??? (which would be a really odd experience and quite a shift) in which case it's a good YA book but a lousy adult one. Then at a certain point it wasn't even a good YA book and so we end at two stars.
Basically it's a coming of age novel whereby an angry and attitudinal teen has to move all the...more
Basically it's a coming of age novel whereby an angry and attitudinal teen has to move all the...more
Jun 03, 2010
Karen
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone, fans of The Glass Castle and memoirs, fans of coming-of-age stories
This was a good book. Heck, a darn good book! Maybe I am being a little stingy with my stars, but I don't want to be swayed by all the 4 and 5 star reviews here. I won't succumb to peer pressure to give this book 5 stars when I don't think it deserves it. It is a very quick and easy read, and it is a satisfying read. The author does a very good job of creating characters that are real. The narrator and main character, Tamara, is caught between not-quite-a-kid and not-quite-a-woman. She asks good...more
This was a sweet and tender coming-of-age story set in rural New York in the 1950's. I was hooked from the first sentence," We move each spring, like birds migrating, except we don't go to a familiar place." Tamara Anderson is turning 15 and adolescence is difficult enough without the complications of her unconventional nomadic family. Besides the yearly move to satisfy her artist father's needs, there is the life size nude portrait of her mother hanging in the living room and her insistence on...more
The first part of the book is four stars. The rest of it is barely two stars. This has all been done before---rural setting, coming-of-age, offbeat parents. Tamara's voice starts off strong but just as you're starting to care about her, she veers off into that all-too-familiar detached teenage girl voice that ruins so many novels. The book won a lot of praise from high places (NYTimes, Stephen Crane Award, Cleveland Arts Prize, Publishers Weekly) so I thought it was odd that the book cover chose...more
Apr 20, 2009
Khaya
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommended to Khaya by:
Mintzis
Shelves:
intense-sad-dark-or-bleak
What can I say -- I agree wholeheartedly with Margueya's review, because it very accurately describes my experience of this book. Tamara, a cranky 15-year-old with perpetual PMS, has moved constantly throughout her childhood with her family in order to satisfy her father's artistic muse. This aspect of the book reminded me of The Glass Castle A Memoir at first, leading me to expect a similar story. It became clear, though, that Tamara's family was far more functional although they were certainly...more
1 like · like · see review
view all 4 comments
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 jus...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
A quirky coming-of-age tale set in the New York countryside. Tamara, the protagonist, has gotten used to moving every time her father finishes a painting. But now that she's 13, and finally settled in a place next door to a boy she likes, she begins to question the kind of life her family has been living. It's a fun first novel and the writing rings true.
A coming-of-age story about a girl whose family moves frequently to satiate her father's artistic needs...(How funny that I read this one immediately after "The Glass Castle"). The book focuses on the most recent move and the various changes it provokes.
It is an easy read, the kind that just rolls over you.
It is an easy read, the kind that just rolls over you.
I traveled frequently as a child; my father was an officer in the Navy. This book reminded me of my own feelings about being the new kid, and showed me a different perspective on the experience. Written from the point of view of a young teenage girl, real emotions ring out.
A surprisingly good story about growing up, making connections, learning to love and dealing with loss. At times it seems like I've read every possible coming of age story at there. It's always a thrill to find an author who still has something to add to a genre that can feel tired and old.
I loved the characters in the story and really related to the feelings of loss Tamara experienced due to constantly moving... and I've never moved in my life. My senses were sparked by this book, I could see...more
I loved this book. It's a coming of age story with engagingly real eccentric characters. The story takes place in the 50's and centers around a 15 year old girl and her family. Her father is a painter and mother was once his nude model. The family moves every year so her father can be inspired by a new corner of America. But the 15 years old longs to "stay" somewhere and live a normal life. She has an age appropriate relationship with a mother one where she loves her dearly but also wants to bre...more
A fine coming-of-age story, a category that I generally avoid now. Whereas I had almost decided not to read Mirabilis because a librarian had inadviseably classified it as "Christian" fiction (even though it would undoubtedly offend most readers looking for that class of fiction), I almost put Some Things That Stay back on the shelf because nothing in the jacket copy reminded me why I would have made an exception to my injunction against coming-of-age novels. That copy, however, had overlooked o...more
I enjoyed this book because it was easy for me to relate to the main character, Tamara, a teenage girl who is tired of being dragged around the country for her father to paint. There was nothing outstanding about this novel, but I would recommend it for most young women.
Some Things That Stay is set in the 1950's in rural America and is about a sort-of dysfunctional family that moves to a different town each year because the father who is a painter always needs new inspiration. The story is told from the perspective of fourteen year old Tamara, who is fed up with moving and hopes the move to Mayville, New York is her last one. I call this a coming-of-age novel, but definitely not for young adults (probably not under age 16) due some language and sexual content i...more
I noticed that a few reviewers praised this novel as bringing something new to the coming-of-age genre. While I did enjoy the read, I can't quite agree...the character had her own story but the overall feel was pretty typical. The protagonist is feeling her way in the area between child and adult, exploring responsibility, belief, and sexual contact. Her background is unique...she's 15 and has moved annually with her family in support of her dad's art and she was raised by athesist parents who a...more
The story begins as 15 year old Tamara arrives in Mayville, NY in the spring of 1954, along with her parents, her younger brother and sister. Each year, her father, who is a painter, insists on moving so that he has new material to paint. As a result, his three children have never had the opportunity to make lasting friendships with anyone other than each other. Their bonds are tested when Tamara's mother becomes critically ill and Tamara must take over running the household and caring for her s...more
Technicolor characters, great pacing and plot, my only criticism is the book is set in 1954, but sometimes I can see 21st century petticoats peeking out from under the poodle skirts.
This is one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. I tend to like most books, even though I am a critic and can pick things apart. But this book, I love. This book is SO authentic. The writing is spare and unadorned, and there isn't even a lot of dialog. But Willis can paint such a picture with so few words. The characters are fully realized and the story is heartbreaking and uplifting all at once. I moved a lot as a child and so maybe it spoke to me more than it would others, but...more
Lovely book about a family that constantly moves as the father, a painter, travels around the country to paint his surroundings. Sweet, touching story.
I read this a while back but I really loved it. I had a few of my friends read it as well and they agreed with me.
A story of an angry 15 year old who is NEVER happy... unless she's letting Rusty the red-haired Baptist neighbor feel her up in the fort. Good times?!?!?
The premise of this book was much better than the book itself, though I did appreciate the part where she was trying to explain to her dad that she needed feminine supplies- however, I was irritated she wasn't more resourceful- her dad told her something along the lines of "Everything will be okay". She responded with something like, "Easy for...more
The premise of this book was much better than the book itself, though I did appreciate the part where she was trying to explain to her dad that she needed feminine supplies- however, I was irritated she wasn't more resourceful- her dad told her something along the lines of "Everything will be okay". She responded with something like, "Easy for...more
Some people on Amazon totally fawned over the prose in this book, which is why I picked it up. I have to say, I was underwhelmed. The story is pretty compelling -- set in the '50s, an already unconventional family is thrown into disarray when the mother is diagnosed with TB and quarantined indefinitely -- and the characters seemed real and relatable. I had no trouble finishing it in just a couple of days. But somehow, it just didn't quite grab me the way it did other people; I didn't fall in lov...more
easy read, very sweet story
Sep 25, 2008
Norabee
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Everyone that loves a Good Coming of Age Story
Tender Story of Love, Heartache & Finding Home
This story centers on Tamara, a young woman living in rural Mayville, NY in the 1950’s. By the age of 14, she’s moved more times than she can count. Well, she can count them, but she’s not happy about the loose ends she always feels upon relocation. Once she realizes that the other kids in school have histories with their classmates and roots, she feels cheated and wants to settle down.
Her family is somewhat dysfunctional but very loving – her f...more
This story centers on Tamara, a young woman living in rural Mayville, NY in the 1950’s. By the age of 14, she’s moved more times than she can count. Well, she can count them, but she’s not happy about the loose ends she always feels upon relocation. Once she realizes that the other kids in school have histories with their classmates and roots, she feels cheated and wants to settle down.
Her family is somewhat dysfunctional but very loving – her f...more
This book was a preciouse story about wanting to belong someplace, to set down roots. If you move a lot and have children, encourage them to save some momento from each place they have lived so that they will make a fond memory of that place. Write down the people you come to know and something special about each of them. I wish I had done this since I did move a lot and have no real roots anywhere.
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
![Some Things That Stay: [A Novel] (Hardcover)](http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1182544745s/1292686.jpg)
Share This Book
No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »
“Last night I fell asleep quickly, into a place beyond sleep, deep and silent, the place I imagine caterpillars go to turn into butterflies.”
—
5 people liked it
“It is so hot that even with the windows open, I am suffocating. I kept a frog in a box once. The box had a lid so he wouldn't jump out. It was during a summer like this. When everyone moves slowly because the air is too thick to breathe. I forgot about the frog for a few days. It was dead by the time I remembered.
Tonight, as I lie in bed, I start to cry because I once killed a frog. It's just a little cry, and I stop myself quickly.”
—
3 people liked it
More quotes…
Tonight, as I lie in bed, I start to cry because I once killed a frog. It's just a little cry, and I stop myself quickly.”
