If You Want Me to Stay

by Michael Parker

In Michael Parker’s new novel, Joel Dunn Jr. tells the story of how he did everything he could to save his family after his mother left and his father’s tenuous hold on sanity unraveled. On a journey from the town of Trent, North Carolina, to the coast, Joel and his little brother Tank thread their way back to their mother, fueled by potato chips, Coke, and the soundtrack of the powerful soul music that their daddy taught them to love. Always keeping the faith that their mother is waiting for them, they move from one kindly stranger to another on their odyssey, Joel ever certain they are being guided to her “I was being passed from person to person,” he says, “on my way back into her wide open window.”

Caught between the endless idealism of childhood and the sobering tests of adulthood, Joel and Tank bravely negotiate their way through a landscape of love and beauty, abandonment and betrayal, to learn that the one sure thing is often right by your side.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club

177 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

MICHAEL PARKER is the author of five novels – Hello Down There, Towns Without Rivers, Virginia Lovers, If You Want Me To Stay, The Watery Part of the World and two collections of stories, The Geographical Cure and Don’t Make Me Stop Now. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in various journals including Five Points, the Georgia Review, The Idaho Review, the Washington Post, the New York Times Magazine, Oxford American, Shenandoah, The Black Warrior Review, Trail Runner and Runner’s World. He has received fellowships in fiction from the North Carolina Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Hobson Award for Arts and Letters, and the North Carolina Award for Literature. His work has been anthologized in the Pushcart, New Stories from the South and O. Henry Prize Stories anthologies. A graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Virginia, he is a Professor in the MFA Writing Program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His website is www.michaelfparker.com

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book I've read by Michael Parker and I'm amazed at how well he gets into the heads and souls of the many different characters. Reading this, one can think it is lived experience it is so real. It is lovely, sad, tragic, dripping with guilt. A quote from another author on the back of the book says "....this is the one that takes the skin off". That's accurate.

[Patti Hill · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the writing style very difficult to follow. The story was heart wrenching and told through the mind of a 14 year old struggling with saving his family. But he kept trailing off mid thought and was hard to keep up with what was going on

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book was powerfully heartbreaking. It was difficult to read for two reasons: one, the writing style was narrative. Not unusual, but the narrator was a 14 year old boy who spoke in long, rambling, without punctuation, sentences. Once I got into the rhythm of the narration, I could adjust, well, to a degree. There were many times I had to re-read the sentence to be sure I understood what he was saying.

But I admired such writing. How difficult it must have been to write this but so freaking creative. I enjoyed the writing style immensely.

I enjoyed the characters. Well, there are some unsurly ones here but I won't reveal who they are. This is a must read, although, if you can read without your soul breaking apart, then, I don't know, something's wrong with your soul.

[Tommy Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Michael Parker brings Joel, Jr. to life in a powerful and unique fashion. The authenticity of the dialog between JJ and Tank, eloquent expression of JJ's thoughts and imagination, and his reliance on quality R&B, specifically the Memphis and Muscle Shoals Sound, rings so close to home for me, it's almost scary. I noticed that the first 18 reviews I read we're all from the opposite gender, and maybe the title or cover might not immediately draw in those with my interests. As a better reader than reviewer, it may be best for me just to say I'd rank this book right along side works by Larry Brown or William Gay.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sad but totally captivating book about a 14 year old struggling to keep his family together after his mother leaves him with two young brothers and a mentally ill father.   The book is so well written that I found myself taking on the family's pain as I read and left with a lingering sense of sadness when I had finished the book. The lifeline they found in soul music was a welcome diversion from this sadness although I did think it was somewhat overdone.   The book is creative and moving and leaves the reader with food for thought about the power of love and the plight of the mentally ill and their families. It is a short and powerful read and one that I definitely recommend.

[Goldjeepgrl · Rating 3 out of 5]

FYI : lots of cussing, especially F-bombs, a story of mental illness at its worst entwined with a soundtrack of beautiful soul music, I didn't care for the cussing but I couldn't stop reading every time Otis Redding and Al Green crept into the madness of this poor family's life. A story of a young boy coming to terms with his fathers craziness and his mothers abandonment and learning not to love so much and yet loving hard. Incredibly sad, you want to reach in and rescue what remains of him.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Southern Gothic tragedy (with a soundtrack), this is a heart-wrenching story of family violence. Parker's writing is gripping.

[Timothy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a rocket soul opera. Should be read out loud. Parker has created a character with a voice that will knock you down.

[Ferrer Joey Fesico · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wish. the edge is always frightening but the fall is worthwhile.

[April · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book jacket promised laughter and sadness. I found nothing but tragedy and despair. In the Dunn family dad suffers from mental illness and "goes off" while mom has simply left the four children to fend for themselves and deal with dad. Then the eldest - the one sister - leaves as well. When the book starts 3 young brothers assumed to be middle school and below are sitting outside in a hot pickup for hours to hide from their father. What ensues is a disturbing look into the mind of a child as he accepts the fact that not only are his parents unfitting they also don't even love him. The author takes the reader through the child's excuses, reasons, and attempts to get something he can't - the love of a parent.

The author's use of stream of consciousness as internal narrative was also confusing.

[Shannon Johnson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m torn on how to rate this book. I’d say really it’s 2.5 stars simply because the stream of consciousness style of it is at times hard to follow and mostly just annoying. But then again, it has moments where the style of writing adds something to the story that is helpful, as you see into the mind of the teenage boy, Joel Jr., struggling to make sense of his horrible family life.

The story is rather sad and disturbing, but at times I didn’t want to put the book down because I was so hopeful for some good news for Joel Jr. and his younger brother Tank. Sadly, that never happened, as the ending is more tragic than I anticipated. This was definitely NOT a “feel good” story, so readers beware.

[William Becker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michael Parker's "If You Want Me To Stay" is an Odyssey to lost innocence. It's a touching story about a broken family. What drags it down heavily is the narrative voice: while strong and certainly unique, it requires you to filter out information. There's a child-like voice from the protagonist which is intentional, but it leads to a reading experience that is akin to listening to an eight year old tell you everything about his life.

By the end of it, if you can fight to pay attention to the story beyond "stylistic punctuation" and long rambles about jazz music, you'll be emotional. But God, there's a lot of semi-relevant information about music. So much. If it were sixty pages shorter and just focused on what the characters go through, it would be five stars

[Vikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this book nearly as well as Prarie Fever. Although I do think Michael Parker has a way with words and know and likes his characters. This is the story of a fourteen year old trying to keep his family together after their mother left. The father has mental health issues. Heartbreaking, hard read.

[JL Salty · Rating 1 out of 5]

a terrible way to life. R for life situations and language.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

(no 30 of 2022)

[Emily O · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not a big fan of the summer novel. I tend to read exactly the same kind of novels during the summer as I would any other time of year. That said, I honestly think that If You Want Me To Stay is the perfect book for summer. It's one of the rare books that manages to be exciting and readable without compromising on quality. Full disclosure: Michael Parker is one of my professors at UNCG, and his class on the contemporary novel was one of my favorites. It was partially because I loved his teaching that I decided to pick up his collection of short stories (review here) and then one of his novels. I can tell you now that I have not been disappointed. Set in North Carolina during a hot summer (much like the one we're having now), If You Want Me to Stay is a luminous example of the power of voice in creating a truly enjoyable reading experience.

Narrated by a 14-year old boy, If You Want Me to Stay is above all an incredible example of the effective use of narrative voice. Joel Jr. is an incredibly interesting narrator with a voice that is both unique and believable. Having lived in North Carolina for a good portion of my life, I can tell you that I have met boys who talk exactly like Joel. He is sometimes funny, sometimes cynical, almost always honest, and completely real. But Parker's use of voice goes far beyond the simple mastery of dialect. Where Parker really shines is in how he gets into Joel's head. If You Want Me to Stay starts with a sort of free narrative style, with Joel as the narrator. He tells the story, but with little asides, thoughts, and observations thrown in that make it feel like a real person talking or thinking. What I really loved about the style was that as the novel progressed Joel's narration became more stream-of-consciousness than not. The last few sections are in a nearly impressionistic style, painting the images Joel sees and mixing them with his thoughts, feelings, memories, and the music that courses throughout the novel. It's a great device, because the narrative gets more stream of consciousness as the boys get more tired and confused, making the style match the content and theme of the novel. Parker's use of voice and narrative style was by far my favorite part of If You Want Me to Stay, and I would recommend it for that alone.

As I mentioned in my review of The Geographical Cure, Parker is also incredibly talented at building setting, able to put readers right into a place without a lot of exposition or superfluous description. If You Want Me to Stay is no different. In this novel, Parker creates the perfect atmosphere of central and coastal North Carolina; the muggy summers, the boggy forests, and the beach towns all come to life in a way that is both delightful and unobtrusive. Having lived in North Carolina for a majority of my life, I can tell you that he absolutely nailed the setting. But what's great about Parker is that while he makes the place a real and integral part of the story and of the characters, he doesn't hit you over the head with it. Instead, the setting is woven into the story in much the same way as it is woven into our lives. It is important in that it is always there, but not so important as to steal the scene from the characters or themes. Instead, it creates a kind of atmosphere that I found very effective and enjoyable to read.

Now, there were a few things that I thought could have been better about this novel. While I loved the way that Parker weaved music into the story, I thought that it was occasionally too much, especially towards the end. I understand why he chose to use the music, and it worked very well thematically, but sometimes it was so much as to make Joel's character seem unrealistic. No-one thinks about music that much, no mater what they've been through. Since Joel was otherwise an incredibly lifelike and well-drawn character, this stuck out a bit and bothered me. Also, while I found the story be be generally well-paced and well-structured, there was a part just before the end that went on for too long, and that threw the structure off and made it drag a bit. Other than those two things, the book was very well put together and flowed perfectly from one scene to the next. Those two problems were more slight annoyances than real issues.

Overall, If You Want Me to Stay was a thoroughly enjoyable novel. It was fast-paced and interesting without sacrificing good writing or round characters. While it isn't something I'd call a modern classic, it is definitely something I would recommend to anyone who wants their summer reading to be both enjoyable and intelligent. I can assure you that I will be picking up another of Michael Parker's books again in the near future.

Rating: 3.5 stars
Recommendations: Realistic characters, great setting, a great summer read. Some profanity and violence.

[Zena Bailey-Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very slow read. Not holding my attention. - When I started.

This is a 1Chang in there 1D book. I vacillated between like and dislike through 80% of this book. Parker 19s writing style reads like thoughts as they enter your head, interrupted by songs from the past, spilling out onto the pages. It 19s written the way everyone thinks, but no one speaks. This is not a story you can read while multi-tasking. You must stay fully aware of every action of each character or risk getting lost in the imagery, song references and rambling pace of the story. The way he incorporates song titles, lyrics, names of well known R & B artists, and even some real life trivia adds a nostalgic flavor to the lives of the characters. It reminds you of the way music is woven into our lives so deeply that certain songs and especially lyrics can automatically take you back in time to the places, the people, aromas and emotions of the past.
I found this passage particularly moving;
1C 26.nothing f**** you up like loving another person. They list all those means of death, call it cancer or AIDS, high blood pressure or blunt trauma, but it 19s one and only love that lays you out in a dark daytime grave. 1D

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joel Dunn, Jr., 14, has a distinctive voice. As he goes off in search of his mother (his father has "gone off" again), with his little brother, Tank, in tow, Joel tells us everything in his heart and head (and it is all fascinating). He interprets his entire life through soul music, which was almost too much, but just danced away from the edge. I wanted to meet Joel. More to the point, I wanted to save him. I found this a most interesting read that addreses rather accurately the way a serious mental health issue can hold a whole family hostage.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick but moving read. Anything that involves children in peril always worries me because I'm apt to shed real tears over such a state. I shed real tears for Joel and Tank and older brother Carter and worried for them as their fates played out in those pages. The music in Joel's head matched the tough musicality of Parker's writing and I could feel him listening to sounds as he wrote, which is a great thing. The tale of boys seeking their "lost" mother is not necessarily a new one but this was certainly an innovative spin and I'll be looking for more from this guy.

[Carrie Rolph · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up because of the brothers in a less than ideal family situation plot, and it had that entire dark, souther US, Faulknerian vibe to it, and the ending was terrible and perfect and obvious and unforgettable all at the same time, so I guess it was worth it. Or the last chapter was, anyway? Plus, the cover's pretty.

[Mona · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I picked up this book on a discount shelf and thought I would give it a try. The story seemed heart wrenching about young boys and their tormented childhood. The story was essentially good but I could not stand the dialect and all of the music references were just too distracting. The last couple of chapters were good but overall I lost interest after the first couple of chapters.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started this one today, and....no! Read the first few pages and couldn't stand the dialect. I'm really not prejudiced, but reading all the "y'alls, aints, and "done-did-that's" make me nuts! Good thing I only paid one cent plus shipping. (I LOVE Amazon's Marketplace!!!)

[Mary Jane · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just could not get into this book. I was recommended to me because of the writing but I just couldn't get into it or understand the way it was written. I had a feeling even if I could understand the writing, it would depress me so I gave up on it.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

a tough read about a boy trying to parent his younger brothers after his mother abandons them with their mentally ill, and sometimes dangerous, father. Early R&B music provides a haven for all three boys.

[Jeff Laughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Represent, son.

[Eunice · Rating 4 out of 5]

A person can hear the music and experience the pain page after page.

[Elizabethevola · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't like this one too much - too many music references that took away from the main story line.

[Kristi Brendle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me laugh & cry at once. Great story, but highly disturbing.

[sjams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad, tragic, good writing, mostly sad.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book is sad i am still reading it put it a great book