I'd read Nicola Griffith's previous book featuring the same protagonist, Aud Torvingen, about seven years ago and couldn't recall much in terms of plot or mood as I began to read this one.That is until a scene of climactic violence by ways of superhuman ferocity courtesy of the protagonist suddenly erupted about halfway into the book. Things began to fall into place and I remembered what I'd liked and what left me feeling ambivalent about The Blue Place. Aud is a noir superheroine and I'm not too keen on superheroes. Fortunately, her ambiguous, conflicting, yes her "noir" qualities serve as sufficient reconciliation to sustain my interest.Even though superheroes bore me I still enjoy characters that take charge in an intuitive, self-assured manner. Aud Torvingen is full of self-defeating flaws and compulsive deficits, but she's probably the protagonist least likely to allow herself to get side-tracked by self-doubt when there are things at stake. And that may be the quality I relished most about both books - at their core there are journeys of a guarantor for impulse, movement and momentum. She is a beast, an avenging angel, a force of nature...she is personified, miraculous, entropy-reversing fate.Nicola Griffith writes unselfconscious lesbian fiction. All her novels (and I believe to have read all of them excluding her most recent Aud Torvingen opus, Always, published earlier this year) feature female queer protagonists. None of them are preoccupied or stifled by worlds that are prejudiced against their sexual orientation (whether that is a result of inexplicably more tolerant worlds or protagonists that are somehow not affected by such prejudice is never entirely clear.) That earns her a predictable share of criticism from folks that would rather read about the struggles, victories and defeats arising from queerness. I, however, am glad that Griffith doesn't heed those calls to change her game to sophisticate-lesbian, fantasy literature equivalents of Chick tracts (and I mean Chick as in Jack Chick, not as in chicks.)
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 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.
Do You like book Stay (2003)?
This is the second of Griffith's books featuring Norwegian ex-cop Aud Torvingen, and you really need to have read The Blue Place to know what's going on.Spoiler alert for The Blue Place!As well as being an engaging novel of suspense and mystery, Stay is a moving study of bereavement. Devastated by the violent death of Julia, Aud copes by seeking solitude and hard work rebuilding her remote cabin.
—Gill
I really loved this second in the Aud (rhymes with crowd) Torvingen series. I'd already read the first and third, somehow missing this one. Griffith does an amazing job of making her characters, and especially Aud, real people. So much so, in fact, that any description of them (her) here sounds cliche. Aud is a martial arts expert, tuned into both nature and spirituality, lesbian, essentially fearless ... the combination of which makes her sound like a cartoon character. However, in this series, she is decidedly not cartoonish. This book has her recovering/recuperating from the last book (The Blue Place) at the cabin she is building in the Smoky Mountains, and traveling to both NYC and Arkansas to rescue a friend's wife and an immigrant child. This sounds like a formula thriller, but again, it is so much more in Griffith's hand. The sad news is that this series' last book is the 2007 "Always," which I've already read. Griffith needs to write another book in this series!!!
—Sharonm
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.
—Melody
