Stay

I read the majority of this book in one sitting, because any time I put it down to eat or something, I felt inexorably pulled, like a magnet, to dive back in.

I love how the author took the pronunciation of Aud's name to a whole new level and made it a legit, meaningful recurring theme rather than just inserting a one-time "this is how you pronounce it" example.

The character growth throughout the book, not just with Aud but with the people around her, is extraordinary. The motif of Aud growing from larva into imago is beautifully, painfully, laboriously executed as she works through her grief, breaks out of her protective armor, and comes to an understanding with the world and people around her.

Griffith is in a league of her own. Also, show more her descriptions of nature are so exquisite I have the strongest desire to run off into a forest and never be seen again. show less

Aud Torvingen blames herself for her lover's death from gunfire a few months ago (Aud wasn't fast enough, wasn't clever enough, and most of all, wasn't sufficiently aware of anyone but herself when the fight started up). She's been living apart from civilization, focused on the tangible project of making an old cabin habitable again, and seeing visions of Julia as she was before she died. When an old friend asks Aud to investigate the disappearance of his fiancee -- a woman Aud has never even liked -- she's torn between following her final promise to Julia to stay in the world, and continuing to mourn in isolation. In pursuing the mystery, Aud discovers what has happened and works to make it right, while battling personal demons and show more anxieties about much more than Julia's death.

Stay is violent and suffused with grief and abuse, but our hero triumphs in both plot and personal progress. The final emotions of the book are much more uplifting book than those of its predecessor, but the rest of the book is much darker. The whole thing felt to me like 20% Marlen Haushofer's The Wall and 70% Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (neither of which was actually an influence on this book). If either the former's focus on physical labor to avoid heartbreak and facing life's futility or the latter's abuse and detective mystery appealed to you, you should consider checking this book out. I loved it, but this is one of those books for which I expect my reaction may not be entirely representative of the population at large. show less

11/2012 The ice is cracking in Aud. She's so sure she's got all the answers in the first book, and in this one she doesn't even know how to frame the question. I love the growth, the way the plot unspools, and all the fully-fleshed out minor characters. Not to mention the Narnia bits.

6/2009 In this book Aud becomes more human. Coping with tragedy, she begins to realize that it's not all black and white, not all controllable. She's still superhuman, still incredibly compelling to me, and Griffith's writing shines. It's taut and gripping, the situations are sordid but plenty believable, and the resolution satisfactory. I keep thinking maybe if I believe hard enough in Aud she will become real, like the Velveteen Rabbit.

Aud is grieving for Julia (who died at the end of the first book) when she is asked by her friend Dornan to find his fiancee Tammy. Despite the fact that Aud doesn't like Tammy, she agrees and this starts a chain of events as Aud discovers just how evil the man Tammy has become involved with really is. Interspersed with all this are descriptions of the wooden cabin Aud is restoring and of the wildlife on the acreage around the cabin. Aud makes mistakes, but I enjoy her uncompromising attitude and inability to suffer fools.

This is not yer typical dykey dectective story. Aud, the lead, has just lost her lover in a tragedy. While she is used to being almost super-humanly competent in nearly every area of life, grief is not something that she has ever expected to deal with. In addition to that trauma, she also has fairly interesting psychological issues to come to grips with.

An acquaintance asks her to find his girlfriend who has gone off to live with another man in mysterious circumstances. Aud takes on the task, while attempting to rebuild her own life. It's not the plot that makes this compelling, it's the psychological suspense story going on in Aud's head.

Griffith has written a couple of excellent sci-fi novels ('Ammonite' and 'Slow River'). 'Stay is more of a thriller/crime novel, but since I had liked her other books so much, I decided to pick it up.
What I didn't realize is that it is also a sequel (to 'The Blue Place'). It does work as a stand-alone, but I wish I had read 'The Blue Place' first.
In 'Stay' we meet Aud Torvingen - a Scandinavian ex-policewoman & private detective, who is in the middle of reclusively renovating an Appalachian cabin, and dealing with the emotional trauma and guilt of the death of her lover, a woman who had hired her to protect her from assassins.
However, an old friend shows up at the cabin, saying that his on-again off-again girlfriend has disappeared, and show more he suspects she may be in serious trouble - can Aud help find her? Even though Aud had never liked this woman, she feels obligated to help - and soon is off to New York City to try to find out where she went... uncovering a web of violence, psychological torture and exploitation in the process.
Quite a good thriller - a bit of a slow start, but the writing and characterization really transcend genre fiction. (Although Aud's detecting skills and ninja-type abilities stretch believability just a tiny bit.)
The atmosphere of the novel reminded me just a little of 'Smilla's Sense of Snow,' which is one of my favorite books in this genre. show less

Third in a series of books featuring Aud Torvingen, who started out seeming like a sort of lesbian James Bond, but is evolving more complexity by this book. This is a well-crafted novel with two intertwined plots -- a "stay up too late to finish it" sort of novel.