Madeline Ffitch

Helen, a young woman from Seattle, and her boyfriend move from Seattle to remote Appalachia, looking for something new. Helen spends all of her life savings to buy a plot of wooded land, and then her boyfriend leaves her and she is alone with only this land: no friends, no house, no job. She decides to stick it out, and manages to survive by living in a trailer and foraging from her land. She meets a lesbian couple who live in a Women's Collective. When the couple gives birth to a son, they aren't allowed to stay at the Women's Collective, so Helen convinces them to move onto her land with her, where the three women build a cabin, live off the land, and raise their son.

The book switches point of view between the three women and the boy, so you see different sides of the events.

I really don't know what to think of this book. All of the main characters are frankly horrible and unlikable, even if ffitch does manage to make them somewhat sympathetic. A lot of terrible things happen to them, but it's kind of hard to feel sorry for them because they bring their problems on themselves. A lot of reviews say the book is funny, but I didn't find it humorous at all. Despite all of this, I found myself unable to put the book down. I don't exactly regret reading it, but I'm not sure I'm glad I finished it.… (mer)

"Stay and Fight" is a very curious and funny book that goes deep into a group of people living almost off-the-grid in Appalachia, just trying to live as free as possible. But they have a constant struggle against certain aspects of our society and their always precarious finances. This is a completely fascinating collection of characters who have formed a community around a family of two moms, Lily and Karen, and their young boy, Perley. The boy was born in the rough house that this small group built mostly all on their own. A generous woman, Helen, offered part of her nearby land for the house they built without many of the skills and the knowledge needed to produce a house that is straight, square, and capable of keeping out winter’s cold and the many black snakes seeking warmth.

Rudy is a true “character” and friend who lived nearby in the beginning, and then almost on their crooked doorstep when he pitches a tent near the young fruit trees he planted down one side of Helen’s plot. Old Rudy is a rough and freethinking man who simply doesn’t understand the clients of his arbor business who refuse the free fruit trees he offers with every job he does. Eventually he takes it upon himself to play an aggressive version of Johnny Appleseed, one who comes secretly in the night to plant fruit trees on his ungrateful clients’ land. Rudy is known far and wide as being resolutely odd, and he’s taken this small, independent group somewhat under his wing. He sometimes hires one of them to help with his tree work, and he offers them help and advice—if they want it or not.

The black snakes gather in ever-increasing numbers inside the porous house, and play a major role in the plot. The normally friendly snake that shared Perley’s bed, bites him badly in the night when the boy rolls on top of him. When the school he’s just started sees his injuries and asked him about his home life, the answers got Children’s Services involved very quickly, and he’s removed to a foster home. The couple is given a 90-day plan of required improvements to bring the house up to snuff. The snakes are definitely on the list, along with the sad state of the house and a number of other items, but it’s their concern about the in-house five-gallon shit bucket is the biggest problem. The thousands needed for a septic system are far beyond their current income.

I won’t continue with the plot, just know that the novel’s action soon splits as Karen leaves to raise the funds for the septic system. The book also brings one of the oddest lawyers in literary history into their fight to get Perley back, which was entirely understandable when you know that Rudy had recommended his close friend for the job.

I related strongly to these people’s struggles when they constantly did things counter to our society’s norms. There was also a definite kinship to their constant search for the funds to live a life that they valued. There are so many things that I loved about Ffitch’s first book, just know that it’s well worth the reading for its multifaceted and fascinating characters, and some extraordinary writing that will stay in your head for some time.… (mer)