Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Houghton Mifflin Company
Pages
308
Description
When her sister kills herself, sixteen-year-old Leila goes looking for a reason and, instead, discovers great love, her family's true history, and what her own place in it is.
Collection
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2007-09-10
Physical description
308 p.; 7 inches
ISBN
0618884041 / 9780618884049
UPC
046442884044
Similar in this library
Lexile
780L
User reviews
LibraryThing member caitief
Have you ever closed a book and just smiled because you were really happy that you read it? That is what this book was like for me. I thought it was a great coming of age story with a character that was very likeable. I though Lelia was great, she was a very caring young women who wanted to please
I loved her relationship with Eamon. Yes, he was significantly older, but he waited until she was 17, insisted that he met her guardians, and made sure that he took things slowly so she knew he was not just after one thing. While her ex-boyfriend thought Lelia was stupid, she really was very mature for her age. I saw a lot of reviews saying the relationship was “icky” or “pedophile”. For one, she is 17. That is the age of consent and pedophilia is being attracted to undeveloped bodies, not 17 year olds. And it was not portrayed as being “icky” at all. He really cared about her and the author portrayed it that way.
It was by no means a perfect book, after the 15th mention of her dyslexia I wanted to yell out that I got it already and while the writing was mostly very good, there were awkwardly worded passages that could have been better.
Show More
others, but also looked out for herself. She worked hard at everything she did and was one of those YA characters that I could see myself being friend with.I loved her relationship with Eamon. Yes, he was significantly older, but he waited until she was 17, insisted that he met her guardians, and made sure that he took things slowly so she knew he was not just after one thing. While her ex-boyfriend thought Lelia was stupid, she really was very mature for her age. I saw a lot of reviews saying the relationship was “icky” or “pedophile”. For one, she is 17. That is the age of consent and pedophilia is being attracted to undeveloped bodies, not 17 year olds. And it was not portrayed as being “icky” at all. He really cared about her and the author portrayed it that way.
It was by no means a perfect book, after the 15th mention of her dyslexia I wanted to yell out that I got it already and while the writing was mostly very good, there were awkwardly worded passages that could have been better.
Show Less
LibraryThing member MeriJenBen
Leila is an only child of a second marriage. Her capable mother and distant father love her, but struggle to include her in their lives. She was close to her father's first wife Julia, and to her oldest half sister, Rebecca. But Julia's death from cancer, the 9/11 attacks on NYC, and most notably,
I honestly don't know how I feel about this book. Freymann-Weyr writes beautifully, her books have a lyric quality that I find beautiful and moving. However, I don't know anyone who acts like this. Her characters seem to move in a world of effortless money and privilege that is completely foreign. This isn't bad, necessarily, but it is distracting, and creates distance between the reader and the characters. The whole book seems skewed towards painting Eamon's and Leila's relationship as normal; but as a parent, I can't help but be skeeved out at the idea of a 17 year old, especially one as sheltered and naive as Lelia, embarking on a relationship with a 31 year old. Beautiful, but not recommended.
Show More
Rebecca's sudden suicide, throw Leila's father into a tailspin. He throws himself into his work, leaving Lelia with her sister Claire while he and Leia's mother set up a teaching hospital in Warsaw. While living with Claire, Leila meets Eamon, a 31 year old screenwriter. Despite being attracted to Lelia, he refrains from pursuing a relationship with her, because he "doesn't date teenagers." However, as the book progresses, he and Leila grow closer, eventually begining a romantic and sexual relationship.I honestly don't know how I feel about this book. Freymann-Weyr writes beautifully, her books have a lyric quality that I find beautiful and moving. However, I don't know anyone who acts like this. Her characters seem to move in a world of effortless money and privilege that is completely foreign. This isn't bad, necessarily, but it is distracting, and creates distance between the reader and the characters. The whole book seems skewed towards painting Eamon's and Leila's relationship as normal; but as a parent, I can't help but be skeeved out at the idea of a 17 year old, especially one as sheltered and naive as Lelia, embarking on a relationship with a 31 year old. Beautiful, but not recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member laVermeer
The story is very simple -- a sixteen-year-old girl lives through the year after her older sister commits suicide -- but the narrative is strikingly complex and richly ornamented. I recommend this book highly.
LibraryThing member kbpup903
The book Stay With Me is a wonderful story about love and loss and how one can lead straight to the other. Leila Abranel feels that she has been left behind when her much older sister, Rebecca, decides to take her own life. Rebecca was 20 years older than Leila and they had just truly begun to get
In the midst of the mourning and grief, Leila's parents decide that it might be best if they went ahead as planned and moved to Poland for a year, only with a slight change. Since Leila is only 16 she was going to be staying with Rebecca while they were gone but now they must ask her other sister, Clare, if she could take care of her while they are gone.
Leila never really felt like she fit in with her other sisters but she felt like she fit more with Rebecca because Clare was more the smart, workaholic type. Leila is dyslexic and so has always had trouble fitting in and feeling like she belongs but once she moves in with Clare, they start to learn new things about the other and form a close, sisterly bond.
Raphael also helps take care of Leila while her parents are in Poland. His mother was married to their uncle before she met his father and so he is their semi-cousin. Raphael and Clare once had a relationship but it didn't work for reasons that weren't really mentioned. Shortly after Leila moves in with Clare, Clare breaks up with her boyfriend and then once again starts a relationship with Raphael, forming a type of family for Leila to rely on.
While, Leila has tried to move on from her sister's death, she still feels like she is missing something and decides that she should try and find the reason Rebecca killed herself. In her quest for answers she gets a job at Cafe Acca, the last place she saw Rebecca. In a way Rebecca led Leila right to Eamon. Eamon is a 31 year old writer for TV shows and he immediately takes an interest in Leila, not knowing that she is only 16. Throughout the book Leila and Eamon go through many different phases and finally settle on dating even if other people think it is wrong of them.
In the end, Leila realizes that maybe Rebecca didn't really have a reason for killing herself, maybe she just gave up. She knows that what Rebecca did was selfish and inexcusable. Rebecca was only thinking of herself, not the people she would be leaving behind. Leila finally learns that she doesn't really need to know everything about her sister but that in her own way Rebecca led Leila right to her love, if not her great love then her great love for now.
Stay With Me is a story about coping with the sudden death of someone you love and how maybe you don't get over that, maybe you just find new ways to shape your life around it.
Show More
to know one another. Leila was beginning to feel like she could talk to Rebecca about things that she couldn't talk to her parents about and then she overdosed on pills and ended any chance of a relationship Leila thought they might be able to have.In the midst of the mourning and grief, Leila's parents decide that it might be best if they went ahead as planned and moved to Poland for a year, only with a slight change. Since Leila is only 16 she was going to be staying with Rebecca while they were gone but now they must ask her other sister, Clare, if she could take care of her while they are gone.
Leila never really felt like she fit in with her other sisters but she felt like she fit more with Rebecca because Clare was more the smart, workaholic type. Leila is dyslexic and so has always had trouble fitting in and feeling like she belongs but once she moves in with Clare, they start to learn new things about the other and form a close, sisterly bond.
Raphael also helps take care of Leila while her parents are in Poland. His mother was married to their uncle before she met his father and so he is their semi-cousin. Raphael and Clare once had a relationship but it didn't work for reasons that weren't really mentioned. Shortly after Leila moves in with Clare, Clare breaks up with her boyfriend and then once again starts a relationship with Raphael, forming a type of family for Leila to rely on.
While, Leila has tried to move on from her sister's death, she still feels like she is missing something and decides that she should try and find the reason Rebecca killed herself. In her quest for answers she gets a job at Cafe Acca, the last place she saw Rebecca. In a way Rebecca led Leila right to Eamon. Eamon is a 31 year old writer for TV shows and he immediately takes an interest in Leila, not knowing that she is only 16. Throughout the book Leila and Eamon go through many different phases and finally settle on dating even if other people think it is wrong of them.
In the end, Leila realizes that maybe Rebecca didn't really have a reason for killing herself, maybe she just gave up. She knows that what Rebecca did was selfish and inexcusable. Rebecca was only thinking of herself, not the people she would be leaving behind. Leila finally learns that she doesn't really need to know everything about her sister but that in her own way Rebecca led Leila right to her love, if not her great love then her great love for now.
Stay With Me is a story about coping with the sudden death of someone you love and how maybe you don't get over that, maybe you just find new ways to shape your life around it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member satyridae
10/2012 I wanted to revisit this one after my uncle's suicide, and I'm glad I did. There's more depth for me here now, though I didn't get any more answers than Leila did.
5/2006 Clear, quiet and entrancing coming-of-age story. Leila is as real a character as you could wish for, and she inhabits
5/2006 Clear, quiet and entrancing coming-of-age story. Leila is as real a character as you could wish for, and she inhabits
Show More
her odd, semi-detached family with a certain prickly ease. We learn here about the ripples cast by Leila's older half-sister's suicide, and what a family can do after a tragedy like this. Just lovely. Beautiful writing, fully realized characters, and instantly recognizable situations. Show Less
Awards
Call number
YA A Fre