Book Review & Giveaway: Stay

Synopsis:

New York Times bestselling and beloved author Catherine Ryan Hyde explores the power of friendship and kindness in Stay.

It’s the summer of 1969. Lucas Painter is just fourteen years old but he’s carrying a huge weight on his shoulders. His older brother is in the military, fighting in Vietnam. His parents argue constantly and bitterly. His best friend, Connor, is struggling with his own family and personal issues.

To escape the chaos swirling around him, Lucas takes long, meandering walks. One day, in contravention of his mother’s express directive, he veers into the woods where he happens upon two huge, frightening dogs. But when he runs from them, the dogs, surprisingly, run with him.

Lucas also discovers an isolated cabin and summons the help that its owner needs immediately. Lucas returns to tend to the dogs and finds an unusual peace running with them every morning. Their owner, Zoe Dinsmore, the inhabitant of the dilapidated cabin, lives closed off from society, haunted by a tragic past. Zoe has given up, lost hope . . . and she doesn’t want to be saved.

Lucas doesn’t want her to go. When he sees an opportunity to bring more than one friend back into the light, he believes it’s either the best or worst idea he’s ever had. Either way, Lucas isn’t giving up on either Zoe or Connor.

Their unexpected connection might be the saving grace that Zoe thought she’d never have, Connor needs, and Lucas has been running toward.

Review:

Author Catherine Ryan Hyde writes about the human spirit in a straight-forward and authentic, but deeply compassionate manner. She showcases her characters’ resiliency, and how being or becoming part of a community inspires them to want to be better — for themselves and those they have come to love. In Stay, employing her signature style, she explores several difficult topics, including suicide, addiction, and post-traumatic stress suffered by veterans. The result is an uplifting story, full of hope, about the futility of isolation, individual choices, and affording others the dignity to make their own choices.

Lucas does not want to be on the track team, but he does enjoy running in the woods — precisely where his mother has told him not to go, warning him that he might get lost. His first-person narrative gives insight into his thoughts and feelings about the stressors in his life. He takes up running because he finds it impossible to “think any real thoughts at the same time. That was the whole point of doing the thing.” His brother, Roy, is stationed in Vietnam, and his parents fight constantly. In fact, they are so busy fighting, Lucas feels that he is largely invisible to them. So he does go running in the woods and, in fact, gets lost. But he happens upon “a genuine log cabin, made with rough-hewn logs, cut unevenly at the ends,” and a small shed, which he realizes is a massive dog house. He thinks to himself, “I never want to meet the dog who lives in that thing,” but, sure enough, he encounters not one, but two huge dogs. He runs half a mile with them chasing him before tripping and falling. And, to his surprise, realizes that the dogs just wanted to run and play with him. So he begins running with them every morning before school.

But one morning, Lucas discovers Zoe, the older woman who owns the dogs, lying in bed in the cabin, unresponsive. He runs home, telephones for help, and in doing so, saves her life. “I think about it from time to time. A thing happens, and it’s a thing big enough to save a life, and you know why it happened. And you sure didn’t know it was such a big deal at the time. But, looking back, you wonder why things work out the way they do.” Lucas’ choice to disregard his mother’s order and make it his habit to run with the dogs each morning sets in motion a series of events that change the trajectory of Zoe’s life, along with Lucas’.

Hyde reveals that Zoe attempted suicide because she has been living with the guilt and far-reaching repercussions of a tragedy that occurred years ago. She has deliberately isolated herself out in the woods, and has no desire to continue living. But when Lucas realizes that she still wants to end her life, but loves the dogs and wants them cared for, he angrily and bravely makes clear that he will not look after them when she is gone. Her attitude spurs his curiosity, and he learns about her shocking history and why she is so determined not to go on living.

The choice to continue living is a theme that Hyde weaves throughout the story, examining it through Connor’s struggle with depression, as well as the problems his mother deals with, especially after his parents’ marriage finally falls apart. Lucas is a true friend to Connor, and Connor’s family problems trouble him greatly. He worries about Connor but is not sure how to help. He will not give up on Zoe, either, and gradually manages to forge a friendship with her. He recalls vividly the moment when they cease to be like “two wild animals who would spook and flee at the sight of each other,” and make “the initial connection on the assembly line of trusting each other.”

Hyde details how Lucas learns life lessons from the cantankerous Zoe, who impresses upon him that “you can’t control other people. You can’t be responsible for somebody else.” Zoe recognizes that Lucas is a boy who takes on everyone else’s struggles, and tries to convince him that he’ll “have a much happier life if you get a strong bead on what’s your responsibility and what isn’t.” That advice informs his relationship with and desire to help Connor come to terms with his own dysfunctional family.

It also figures prominently in Lucas’ relationship with his older brother, Roy, who returns unexpectedly from Vietnam, forever changed. Lucas wants to help Roy, too, and Zoe reminds him “to stay out of the outcomes.” Roy made choices in Vietnam that will impact him for the rest of his life, and Lucas discovers that Roy cannot be helped until he is ready to receive help. As with Zoe and Connor, Lucas learns about supporting a loved one, and facilitating their effort to receive assistance. Through Roy, Hyde challenges readers to consider the impact of war and, more particularly, the Vietnam War, upon soldiers. As Roy observes, “What did they think would happen? Take a bunch of guys straight out of high school and send them into that hell. Take away everything that was ever familiar to them and tell them to kill and die, to watch their friends dying in horrible ways all around them. We were kids. We thought we were men until we got there, and then once we were there, it was so clear that we were just kids.”

Lucas manages to bring Zoe, Connor, and Roy together. Their commonalities and shared challenges enable and inspire them to support and learn from each other. They all come to realize that sometimes survival comes down to having someone else in your life who believes in you . . . even when you don’t believe in yourself.

Hyde’s characters, with all of their faults and flaws, are compellingly empathetic. The dogs play prominent roles in the story because of their connection to the characters and the ways in which the characters’ feelings for and reactions to them illustrate the characters’ core values and traits. Lucas’ voice is heartbreakingly resonant, genuine, and thoroughly believable.

Hyde has observed that in her writing, she repeatedly returns to one question: “What is our responsibility to each other?” She is “fascinated by people who help not because they have to but because they can.” Once again, she has crafted a lovely story about ordinary people facing extraordinary challenges with the best intentions and integrity, but who aren’t equipped with the coping skills required to overcome the issues they face. But they do have resilience, as well as strength and courage that they are surprised to learn they possess. Because Lucas takes a certain path on one morning of his life, four people are brought together to care for each other and come home to themselves. That one choice sets in motion events that have far-reaching, multi-generational consequences. In Stay, Hyde passionately conveys that nothing in the lives of Lucas or his loved ones is a mistake. As always, Hyde’s commitment to her subject matter and affection for her characters is evident, and she provides readers with difficult themes and complicated issues upon which to reflect, and ponder how they might respond to similar challenges.

Also by Catherine Ryan Hyde:

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one electronic copy of Stay free of charge from the author via Net Galley. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own. This disclosure complies with 16 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 255, Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.