Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
* “Small moments will stay with readers. . . . The vivid characters in Leila’s extended family are all realistically flawed but tender with each other, as they learn that while they are ‘never to be the same . . . it’s enough that we’re each still here.’”—Publishers Weekly, starred review “The outstanding strength of this book is Leila’s narration. Leila is a character readers will care about and want to know. It is a perfect book to hand fans of Sarah Dessen or Laurie Halse Anderson.”—VOYA When her half sister commits suicide, sixteen-year-old Leila Abranel has only one question: why? That question sets Leila on a journey toward discovery, uncertainty, and love. Rich with an intricate and mesmerizing family history, Stay with Me is a story of an unforgettable girl coming of age in the midst of grief, mystery, and, ultimately, awakening.
Synopsis
Sixteen-year-old Leila Abranel was born some twenty years after her sisters. Her elegant sisters from her father’s first marriage have lives full of work, love affairs, and travel. Leila doesn’t know either of them very well, but she loves hearing about them—details of Rebecca’s ruined marriage, Clare’s first job, and the strings of unsuitable boyfriends.
When Rebecca kills herself, Leila wants to know why. She starts by spending time with Clare and finally comes to know her as a person instead of a story. With Clare’s reluctant help, Leila tracks down Rebecca’s favorite places and tries to find her sister’s friends. Along the way, Leila meets Eamon.Eamon is thirty-one and writes for television. He thinks Leila is beautiful and smart, but he does not, he tells her, date teenagers. And yet, the months go by and Leila turns seventeen and learns that you can love someone you are not dating.
Maybe letting Eamon love her back is a mistake. Maybe she’ll never know why Rebecca did what she did. Maybe, Leila, decides, most people have a hard time figuring out which way is left or knowing when to let go and when to stay.
Claire Rosser - KLIATT
Freymann-Weyr writes about privileged New York teenagers; she makes all those popular books (Gossip Girl series, etc.) about the same young people seem like light fluff. Her characters are brilliant, with fascinating families. In Stay with Me, the narrator is Leila, the youngest of three sisters. She struggles in school because she is dyslexic, but she is especially gifted at understanding relationships. As the story begins, Leila's family is in disarray: Leila's 30-something sister Rebecca has committed suicide, and no one understands why. Each person is grieving. The girls' father and his wife, Leila's mother, decide to spend a year in Poland where they will be immersed in work at a hospital; Leila will stay in NYC to finish school, living with her sister Clare in the apartment Clare and Rebecca shared. Many characters are fully realized, including the adults, and Leila is observing everything, awash in her own feelings. Leila takes a part-time job at a cafe where she had caught a glimpse of Rebecca sitting with an unknown man just before the suicide?—?Leila thinks perhaps she will discover who that man was and what he might know about Rebecca's despair. In fact, she does eventually solve that dilemma, but in the meanwhile, at the cafe she meets a man in his early 30s (Leila is just turning 17) who is exciting?—?much more exciting than Ben, Leila's sometime boyfriend. To summarize the plot any further doesn't work well. What I need to convey here is Freymann-Weyr's ability to bring this world to her readers?—?a world in which adolescents and their families and friends have meaningful conversations. Leila is reflective, loving and caring. She stumbles through life,as do the people around her, but always tries to understand what is happening. KLIATT Codes: SA*—Exceptional book, recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2006, Houghton Mifflin, 308p., Ages 15 to adult.
Editorials
From the Publisher
"[Freymann-Weyr's] characters are brilliant, with fascinating families." KLIATT 11/01/07 KLIATTChildren's Literature -
Leila Abranel, an Egyptian-American young adult, tries to understand her half-sister's suicide by learning the story of her family. She forms a strong attachment to her father's former wife so that she can learn more. In the end, she realizes that everyone has a different version of the story and that stories change over time depending on the teller's current perspective. Leila realizes the importance of family lore in continuing traditions and keeping loved ones alive in some small way. Young adult readers will identify with Leila's hunger for family identity and enjoy the way Freymann-Weyr weaves the different stories into one. The author's engaging writing style is well-suited to this story of a girl's search for answers through family stories. Young adult readers who have experienced trauma or negative experiences in their families will identify with Leila's poignant and real struggle to understand her sister's decision to die. Reviewer: Briana DevaserVOYA
Leila Abranel is sixteen when she begins to tell her story. The offspring of a second marriage for her father, she has two sisters who are twenty-plus years her senior. When Rebecca, the one to whom she is closest, kills herself, Leila is determined to find out why. She searches for answers slowly and methodically, a manner in which she has trained herself because she is severely dyslexic. As she remarks, "Deciding quickly on an answer or conclusion-about anything-makes me wrong more than is already necessary." Leila's quest brings her closer to her other half-sister, Clare, and introduces her to Eamon, a thirty-one-year-old who thinks that Leila is smart and beautiful, much to her amazement. Leila's passion lies in theatre and set designs, whereas Eamon works in television, so they connect on several levels despite their age gap. As their relationship develops and Leila continues to ask questions, she finally comes to the realization that although she is determined to see things through and persist, Rebecca simply gave up-on life itself. The outstanding strength of this book is Leila's narration. Her deliberations and thoughtful contemplations on the huge questions about love, life, family, and friends ring with sincerity and truth. Although parts of the family interrelations seem overly complex, Leila is a character readers will care about and want to know. It is a perfect book to hand fans of Sarah Dessen or Laurie Halse Anderson. VOYA CODES: 4Q 4P J S (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; Broad general YA appeal; Junior High, defined as grades 7 to 9; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12). 2006, Houghton Mifflin, 320p., $16. Ages 12 to 18.—Mary Ann Darby
KLIATT
Freymann-Weyr writes about privileged New York teenagers; she makes all those popular books (Gossip Girl series, etc.) about the same young people seem like light fluff. Her characters are brilliant, with fascinating families. In Stay with Me, the narrator is Leila, the youngest of three sisters. She struggles in school because she is dyslexic, but she is especially gifted at understanding relationships. As the story begins, Leila's family is in disarray: Leila's 30-something sister Rebecca has committed suicide, and no one understands why. Each person is grieving. The girls' father and his wife, Leila's mother, decide to spend a year in Poland where they will be immersed in work at a hospital; Leila will stay in NYC to finish school, living with her sister Clare in the apartment Clare and Rebecca shared. Many characters are fully realized, including the adults, and Leila is observing everything, awash in her own feelings. Leila takes a part-time job at a cafe where she had caught a glimpse of Rebecca sitting with an unknown man just before the suicide?—?Leila thinks perhaps she will discover who that man was and what he might know about Rebecca's despair. In fact, she does eventually solve that dilemma, but in the meanwhile, at the cafe she meets a man in his early 30s (Leila is just turning 17) who is exciting?—?much more exciting than Ben, Leila's sometime boyfriend. To summarize the plot any further doesn't work well. What I need to convey here is Freymann-Weyr's ability to bring this world to her readers?—?a world in which adolescents and their families and friends have meaningful conversations. Leila is reflective, loving and caring. She stumbles through life,as do the people around her, but always tries to understand what is happening. KLIATT Codes: SA*—Exceptional book, recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2006, Houghton Mifflin, 308p., Ages 15 to adult.—Claire Rosser