Stay and Fight: A Novel - Ffitch, Madeline Review & Synopsis

 Synopsis

"Like Bastard Out of Carolina, ffitch's electrifying debut novel is a paean to independence and a protest against the materialism of our age." -O: The Oprah Magazine 

"Delightfully raucous." -Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal

Helen arrives in Appalachian Ohio full of love and her boyfriend's ideas for living off the land. Too soon, with winter coming, he calls it quits. Helped by Rudy-her government-questioning, wisdom-spouting, seasonal-affective-disordered boss-and a neighbor couple, Helen makes it to spring. Those neighbors, Karen and Lily, are awaiting the arrival of their first child, a boy, which means their time at the Women's Land Trust must end.

So Helen invites the new family to throw in with her-they'll split the work and the food, build a house, and make a life that sustains them, if barely, for years. Then young Perley decides he wants to go to school. And Rudy sets up a fruit-tree nursery on the pipeline easement edging their land. The outside world is brought clamoring into their makeshift family.

Set in a region known for its independent spirit, Stay and Fight shakes up what it means to be a family, to live well, to make peace with nature and make deals with the system. It is a protest novel that challenges our notions of effective action. It is a family novel that refuses to limit the term. And it is a marvel of storytelling that both breaks with tradition and celebrates it. Best of all, it is full of flawed, cantankerous, flesh-and-blood characters who remind us that conflict isn't the end of love, but the real beginning.

Absorbingly spun, perfectly voiced, and disruptively political, Madeline ffitch's Stay and Fight forces us to reimagine an Appalachia-and an America-we think we know. And it takes us, laughing and fighting, into a new understanding of what it means to love and to be free.

Review

 An Amazon Best Book of July 2019: Winter is coming! And if you're on your own in Appalachian Ohio, you'd better come up with a good game plan. For Helen, this means enlisting recently displaced neighbors Karen and Lily, along with the couple's precocious son, Perley, to create a homestead with her on 20 acres of land. Perley is an intrepid soul, and by the time he expresses interest in leaving their isolated existence to go to school, you're almost used to his normal: living (and sometimes sleeping with) black rat snakes, minding the "humanure" pile, and foraging for dinner when the daily game of "survival dice" doesn't win a trip to the grocery store. Social services, however, is decidedly more fazed, so when an innocent accident attracts their attention, the family's imperfect, but preferred, utopia is upended. First-time novelist Madeline ffitch's background as an environmental activist is evident in Stay and Fight, which deftly pivots from family drama to an encroaching political one that poses even more of a threat to their way of life. If that sounds stress-inducing, it is, but it's tempered by the characterizations of this unconventional family, particularly the exquisitely endearing Perley, who is uniquely bonded to each member of this motley crew and provides the motivation behind the book's title. Stay and Fight is an earnest and heart-wrenching celebration of family, and what it means to be free. --Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book ReviewMadeline ffitch cofounded the punk theater company Missoula Oblongata and is part of the direct-action collective Appalachia Resist! Her writing has appeared in Tin House, Guernica, Granta, VICE, and Electric Literature, among other publications. She is the author of the story collection Valparaiso, Round the Horn.

Stay and Fight

"Like Bastard Out of Carolina, ffitch's electrifying debut novel is a paean to independence and a protest against the materialism of our age." —O: The Oprah Magazine "Delightfully raucous." —Sam Sacks, The Wall Street Journal Helen arrives in Appalachian Ohio full of love and her boyfriend’s ideas for living off the land. Too soon, with winter coming, he calls it quits. Helped by Rudy—her government-questioning, wisdom-spouting, seasonal-affective-disordered boss—and a neighbor couple, Helen makes it to spring. Those neighbors, Karen and Lily, are awaiting the arrival of their first child, a boy, which means their time at the Women’s Land Trust must end. So Helen invites the new family to throw in with her—they’ll split the work and the food, build a house, and make a life that sustains them, if barely, for years. Then young Perley decides he wants to go to school. And Rudy sets up a fruit-tree nursery on the pipeline easement edging their land. The outside world is brought clamoring into their makeshift family. Set in a region known for its independent spirit, Stay and Fight shakes up what it means to be a family, to live well, to make peace with nature and make deals with the system. It is a protest novel that challenges our notions of effective action. It is a family novel that refuses to limit the term. And it is a marvel of storytelling that both breaks with tradition and celebrates it. Best of all, it is full of flawed, cantankerous, flesh-and-blood characters who remind us that conflict isn't the end of love, but the real beginning. Absorbingly spun, perfectly voiced, and disruptively political, Madeline ffitch's Stay and Fight forces us to reimagine an Appalachia—and an America—we think we know. And it takes us, laughing and fighting, into a new understanding of what it means to love and to be free.

So Helen invites the new family to throw in with her—they’ll split the work and the food, build a house, and make a life that sustains them, if barely, for years. Then young Perley decides he wants to go to school."

Stay and Fight, a Novel

This novel tells the story of an unconventional family, Karen, Lily, Helen, and Perley, living in a manner dictated partly by circumstance, partly by choice, in the hills of Appalachia. They attempt to build a life on their own terms but are torn from each other. Most of the story is about the women trying to get Perley, the child back from foster care.

This novel tells the story of an unconventional family, Karen, Lily, Helen, and Perley, living in a manner dictated partly by circumstance, partly by choice, in the hills of Appalachia."

The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts

A Today Show Most Anticipated Book of 2023 An Electric Literature Recommendation for 2023 A Goodreads Buzziest Debut of 2023 'A beautiful ode to the power of storytelling' Eleanor Shearer 'A brilliant, compelling exploration of familial legacies. A mythic and edifying read' Irenosen Okojie, author of Speak Gigantular Growing up in Brooklyn with their Caribbean parents, Zora and Sasha Porter's days were enchanted by stories from the islands - the mischievous spider Anansi both seductive and vengeful; the flame-breathing Rolling Calf who haunts butchers; and ocean-dwelling Mama Dglo, said to be half snake, half human. Now they are teenagers, and life at home has become unbearable. Their parents' tempestuous relationship has fallen apart, their mother Beatrice desperately ill, their father Nigel living with another woman. While an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home. But they can't hide forever. The Anansi Stories that captivated them as children begin to creep into the present, revealing truths about the Porter family's past they must all face up to. The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter and Other Essential Ghosts is an extraordinary debut novel, a celebration of the power of stories that asks - what happens when ours are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?

... I love the way this novel understands that sometimes nothing will sustain us except the right story that is truer than true ' Madeline ffitch , author of Stay and Fight THE HUMAN ORIGINS OF BEATRICE PORTER & OTHER ESSENTIAL GHOSTS."

Perjalanan Ajaib Edward Tulane

Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories.

Edward Tulane, a cold-hearted and proud toy rabbit, loves only himself until he is separated from the little girl who adores him and travels across the country, acquiring new owners and listening to their hopes, dreams, and histories."

Deciding for Ourselves

In a time of social and ecological crises, people everywhere are looking for solutions. States and capitalism, rather than providing them, only make matters worse. There’s a growing sense that we’ll have to fix this mess on our own. But how? Deciding for Ourselves, in the spirit of the Zapatistas, demonstrates that “the impossible is possible.” A better world through self-determination and self-governance is not only achievable. It is already happening in urban and rural communities around the world—from Mexico to Rojava, Denmark to Greece—as an implicit or explicit replacement for nations, police, and other forms of hierarchical social control. This anthology explores this “sense of freedom in the air,” as one piece puts it, by looking at contemporary examples of autonomous, directly democratic spaces and the real-world dilemmas they experience, all the while underscoring the egalitarian ways of life that are collectively generated in them.

... of An Indigenous Peoples ' History of the United States This wonderful book feels like a lively late - night conversation with just the kinds of people you most want to be talking to . MADELINE FFITCH , author of Stay and Fight In a ..."

Karena Winn-Dixie

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie.

Ten-year-old India Opal Buloni describes her first summer in the town of Naomi, Florida, and all the good things that happen to her because of her big ugly dog Winn-Dixie."

Sang Harimau

Rob, who passes the time in his rural Florida community by wood carving, is drawn by his spunky but angry friend Sistine into a plan to free a caged tiger.

Rob, who passes the time in his rural Florida community by wood carving, is drawn by his spunky but angry friend Sistine into a plan to free a caged tiger."

White Oleander

The unforgettable story of a young woman's odyssey through a series of Los Angeles foster homes on her journey to redemption. Astrid is the only child of a single mother, Ingrid, a brilliant, obsessed poet who wields her luminous beauty to intimidate and manipulate men. Astrid worships her mother and cherishes their private world full of ritual and mystery - but their idyll is shattered when Astrid's mother falls apart over a lover. Deranged by rejection, Ingrid murders the man, and is sentenced to life in prison. White Oleander is the unforgettable story of Astrid's journey through a series of foster homes and her efforts to find a place for herself in impossible circumstances. Each home is its own universe, with a new set of laws and lessons to be learned. With determination and humor, Astrid confronts the challenges of loneliness and poverty, and strives to learn who a motherless child in an indifferent world can become. Oprah Winfrey enjoyed this gripping first novel so much that she not only made it her book club pick, she asked if she could narrate the audio release.

Oprah Winfrey enjoyed this gripping first novel so much that she not only made it her book club pick, she asked if she could narrate the audio release."