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Jenny Hubbard

Author of And We Stay

2+ Works 596 Members 47 Reviews

Works by Jenny Hubbard

And We Stay (2014) 327 copies
Paper Covers Rock (2011) 269 copies

Associated Works

Taking Aim: Power and Pain, Teens and Guns (2015) — Contributor — 37 copies

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female

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Set in an all boys boarding school in 1982 after a tragedy has happened: 4 boys are goofing off and drinking down at a near-by lake when one dives in from a tall rock, hits his head, and drowns. Alex (our main guy) is racked with guilt about not saving his friend. He starts to write down what happened and what is happening in the aftermath... (and about his crush on the English teacher, and his dream of being a writer.) Clay already took the fall for the alcohol, but Glenn and Alex aren't sure that it's completely over, especially when the female English teacher starts asking questions. Alex also starts questioning whether Glenn's paranoia is really just about the alcohol, or is there more to it??

This was a hard one for me to review.... On one hand I could totally see why it was nominated for the William C. Morris Award for Debut Authors because the writing is beautiful. Really great, almost too good for YA. But on the other hand, did I really like the actual story? I don't know. I mean it was okay, but did it really go anywhere? I feel like nothing really changed from beginning to end. I'm left with the same feeling about Alex, and I feel like he hasn't moved on either.

The setting through me off in that I didn't really understand the reasoning behind it being set in the 80's. And the gay stuff was a little bit confusing.

It was a beautifully written book, but I guess I wished there was more closure at the end. The author never said if what was suspected of Glenn was actually true. And did Miss Dovecott really have feelings for Alex like he did her? She went on and on about how he was special, but did that romantic line get crossed in her mind?

I think it would've been better if the book was Alex writing about this incident as a grown man looking back. Then all the adult-like prose would've made more sense, and maybe we would've found out more about what really happened, or at least had a perspective of someone who has had the time to reflect on it.
This is definitely a reader's novel. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who doesn't love reading because it is full of symbolism and other literary stuff. While it is fairly short, it's not a quick read because of those things.
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Michelle_PPDB | 20 other reviews | Mar 18, 2023 |
I started this 224 page book in June 2019 and finished it March 2022. It was my bathroom book. I start reading a book in my bedroom or in my reading chair and if I can't really get into it I take it into the bathroom to read while taking a bath or whatever in the bathroom. If the book suddenly hits me I end up taking it out of the bathroom and finishing it up. This book just never hit me. I found it slow at times and I just couldn't get into it. Maybe it was the back and forth between the present and the past or just the talk of poetry, but I just never really got into this book. I wanted to really like this book, but I just never did.… (more)
 
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LVStrongPuff | 25 other reviews | Nov 30, 2022 |
Emily is sent to boarding school after her boyfriend brings a gun to school, threatens her, and then kills himself. She's pretty much on her own dealing with her grief and guilt, working it out through poetry, and keeping it all a secret from her new classmates. If it all comes out, what then?

I picked this up because of its Printz honor. I thought the author got the teenage voice right, though the writing in general was not as polished as I expected. There's a major focus on Emily Dickinson (not my favorite poet, I'll admit), so fans of her poetry might enjoy this more than I did. For me, it was just okay.… (more)
½
 
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foggidawn | 25 other reviews | Jul 18, 2022 |
El Extraño Gato del Cuento

2.5

No sé como sentirme con el libro.

Me tomé mi tiempo para pensar en qué poner sobre este libro. ¿No les ha pasado que a veces no están seguros como sentirse con cierto libro? Ya me pasó antes y cometí el error de no detenerme un rato y pensar en serio sobre lo que siento. Un poco dramático lo que intento decir, espero se haya entendido. (Si se preguntan con qué libro es que tuve ese desacuerdo emocional, fue con The Duff, no me arrepiento de lo que puse en la reseña porque en ese momento lo creía, pero después de meditarlo un poco más, la cosa cambió)

Entonces, un mes después más o menos de leer el libro y después de mucha investigación, creo que ya logré poner en orden mis ideas (un tip por si les pasa en algún momento lo mismo que a mí es leer reseñas, muchas de ellas, tanto negativas como positivas, a veces ese algo que no nos deja tranquilo es una pequeña cosa que no le logramos poner nombre pero otro sí). Lo primero que podría decir de And We Stay es que es un libro interesante, una de esas novelas donde la escritora nos lleva de la mano a través de muchas emocionas, digo de la mano porque es de a muy poquito que nos vamos enterando que pasó esa mañana y los días previos, además que las emociones tan ambivalentes que pueden generar los personajes.

En lo negativo, puedo decir que si bien tenemos la historia de Emily Beam, And We Stay me pareció más la historia de su tocaya, Emily Dickinson, la verdad es que estaba mucho más intrigada por la historia central y la historia con esta poetiza me cansaba bastante.

Si te gusta la poesía, este libro va a gustarte, entre cada capítulo hay al menos un poema, del cuál entendía un 2% de todos los qué hay. Lo mío no es el simbolismo, obviamente. Lo que sí, me hizo recordar mis clases de literatura (cuatro cinco cuatro cinco)

Me ha gustado, pero no me ha encanta'o, como se dice

Reseña completa: El Extraño Gato del Cuento
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Ella_Zegarra | 25 other reviews | Jan 18, 2022 |

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