Declare Epithetical Books Cockroaches of Stay More (Stay More #4)
| Title | : | Cockroaches of Stay More (Stay More #4) |
| Author | : | Donald Harington |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Anniversary Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 300 pages |
| Published | : | April 15th 2004 by Toby Press (first published 1989) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Humor. Fantasy. Literature. American |
Donald Harington
Paperback | Pages: 300 pages Rating: 4.12 | 244 Users | 40 Reviews
Description During Books Cockroaches of Stay More (Stay More #4)
Cockroaches of Staymore: A Place in the ChoirCockroaches of Staymore by Donald Harington was chosen as a group read by On the Southern Literary Trail for December, 2014. Special thanks to Trail Member William who nominated this novel.
The Cockroaches of Staymore, First Ed., Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, New York, 1989
Donald Harington, December 22, 1935-November 7, 2009
All God's critters got a place in the choir
Some sing low and some sing higher,
Some sing out loud on a telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, or paws, or anything they've got now--
Bill Staines, 1966
Cockroaches of Staymore is my third visit to Staymore, Arkansas. With each visit, I have been sad to leave it. I have wished that I could Stay More, as its inhabitants are known to implore you to do. not that they genuinely mean it. It's a recognized courtesy in that little community, a compliment you pay to the value you attach to the members of your community and your guests to it. If you stop and think about it, not many of us have that attitude towards our company these days. We don't say it, but our silent thought is, "When the Hell, ya'll gonna get home? Time's a wastin'. The wife's not too sleepy. The supper's done. I might just get lucky tonight. Too bad, buddy, if it's not in your stars tonight. Well, ever dog has his day. Too damn bad if this ain't yours." But we keep that to ourselves. Humans have a way of reading our unsent signals though. The way we cut our eyes, look at our watch. Cut the volume up a little on the TV. Mutter a little something about needing to get an early start on tomorrow's day. And before you know it, the party's over.
But in Staymore, well, in Staymore, things just move at a little slower pace. It's nice. Folks just never make you feel like you're being hurried along. That's nice. Don't you think?
I discovered Staymore, Arkansas, and its creator Donald Harington as a result of reading an issue of Oxford American Magazine, the Journal of Fine Southern Writing. Harington was recognized as the winner of the Oxford American's first Lifetime Achievement Award for Southern Literature in 2006. Oxford American and its fine staff have frequently put remarkable works in my hands. I owe it to them for connecting me to Donald Harington.
My first visit was what I believed to be the first Staymore novel, Lightning Bug. I knew immediately I had fallen into the hands of a master author who held me spellbound, the creator of a world in which I longed for, to live in, to escape to, to never leave. My review is here. Lightning Bug.
I quickly realized that it was easy to establish the order in which the "Staymore" novels were published. Almost simultaneously I discovered that the plots of the dozen or so tales do not flow chronologically from a historical perspective. If you've not ventured into Harington Country before, I'd actually recommend you start with The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks. For here are the origins of the very founding of the town, its early history, and its earliest residents. For background on Staymore, here's my review. Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks.
When William nominated Cockroaches of Staymore, my immediate reaction was Trail Members visiting Staymore for the first time would possibly think Mr. Harington had taken a trip with Carlos Castaneda or Timothy Leary. In the most benevolent light, first time Harington readers would view him as a man whose cheese had slid from his biscuit. I am ever indebted to my good friend Jeffrey Keeten who acquainted me with this expression. It has frequent application. I appropriate it with proper attribution--of course.
After all, this is a book about cockroaches. Or, as these critters are referred to--roosterroaches. "Cock" has such negative connotations in polite society, roach society, that is. Though, sex is a very naturally received fact of life among them, both male and female. And the intricacies of the courtship are quite...intricate, shall we say? Ah, pheromones do make things much less complicated. Much more natural. Shall we say spontaneous? Among us human kind, spontaneity can be such a squelching factor in these days and times. How does your calendar look tonight? Not good. Is tomorrow good for you? Uhm...We have dinner with the .... then. OH.
Of course, I lived through what I'm told was a sexual revolution completely oblivious of one having taken place. Late bloomer. Well, you can't go home again. So it goes.
And we silly humans. Has anyone figured out why Man and Woman are in separate bath tubs in those Cialis ads? Oh. And those little blue, purple, and yellow pills that the ads tell all us guys over forty that we probably need? The average act of roosterroach coitus takes three hours. Uhm...and males roosterroaches have three, uhm...you know. And they don't have to go to the emergency room if those thingies are uhm...inflated in excess of three hours. Don't anybody get titillated out there.
But this is what we're talking about people! Would you read a book about these?
American cockroach, Periplaneta americana, one of the oldest life forms on earth. They have been with us forever.
Be honest. You have a flyswatter in your home. Right? There's that can of RAID under the kitchen sink. You've laughed at the RAID commercials. You like your Orkin Man. You are not an organic gardener. Bugs make your tomatoes ugly. You believe in better living through chemistry. Down at the lawn and garden center you are known as "Ortho Man." You know that's you. You think Donald Harington's a Nutcase!
But, my friends, for you are all my friends, I must disabuse you of your preconceived notions, your biases, your prejudices. You are wrong.
This is something, I know, not easily accepted. So, we will take this in little steps. Consider it an exercise in gentle desensitization.
First, think of that little photograph above and think of those two insects being in love. Betrothed to one another. They're singing a little song.
Oh, we don't know what's coming tomorrow
Maybe it's trouble and sorrow
But we'll travel the road
Sharing our load side by side
There now. Think about it. Now, we're going to take a little break to let all of you think about this. Actually, I'm being threatened with my life by the Queen and Cousin Kathleen, who is much like the Queen. Together they are they who must be obeyed. And we shall continue this upon my return to FREEDOM!
Having sung, "Let my people go" numerous times, only to be ignored or given baleful stares, I am free. Cousin Kathleen is busily packing. Her flight out leaves this afternoon. I do hate to see her go. Really, I wish she would stay more. I have told her so. She has replied in kind that the Queen and I should just fly back to Dallas with her and stay there a spell. We finally wound the discussion down with the general agreement that we would do this again real soon. That's true Staymoron style.
So, back to Harington's highly original and inventive Cockroaches of Staymore. These critters, you will discover, are quite like us humans. Actually, Harington probably used them as an example to us, pointing out just how foolish we men and women can be.
The world of the roosterroaches in inexorably intertwined with that of the humans of Staymore. And the roosterroaches have taken on the class structure of Staymoron society. Each of the little critters is a familiar of the former human residents of Staymore.
At the high end of roosterroach world are the Ingledews, just as it was in the human society of Staymore. It was the Ingledews that founded the town after all. And all the other former residents of Staymore have their roosterroach doppelgangers.
However, things are not as they once were in Staymore. The town, once teeming with its citizens is now abandoned except for the presence of two humans. One is a man, an outsider, Larry Brace, living in "Holy House" as it is known to roosterroach society as encouraged by Brother Chid Tichborne, the Reverend Frockroach who preaches the Gospel of Joshua H. Chrustus, Son of Man. Man is no less than Larry Brace.
It's only natural that the roosterroaches worship Man. For it is on the refuse of Man on which the roosterroaches survive. Religion can get right complicated. Brace's house is Holy house because he, uhm...drinks alcohol. A lot of it. And when he is far gone in his liquor, when he sees a roosterroach skittling across the floor to what they call the cooking room, he pulls out a revolver and lets off a round or two. So, Man's House is Holey because Larry has shot it full of holes. In the process, Larry's wild stray rounds may blast away an unfortunate roosterroach. Tichbourne explains that the departed has "gone West," been "Raptured," and gone to live at the Right Hand of Man.
Frankly, Brace has become a rather undependable "Lord." Tichbourne thinks of changing worship from that of Man to that of Woman. The other human residing in Staymore is Sharon, the granddaughter of Latha, former Postmistress of Staymore, owner and operator of the town's General Store, and the heroine of Lightning Bug. Sharon lives in Latha's former residence which she shares unknowingly with the Ingledew roosterroaches. The Old Squire has a cabinet in the kitchen, where the best victuals in Staymore are to be found. His son, Sam, has taken up quarters in an eight day clock overlooking Sharon's bed. Sharon's home is known to the roosterroaches as "Parthenon."
Sam Ingledew is an exceptional roosterroach. Consider him as a non-Chrustian, an Existentialist. Sam refers to himself as Gregor Samsa. Ring a bell? For all his self perceptions, Sam has managed to fall in love with Sharon and wonders what it might be like to make love with her. That would be quite a metamorphosis. To linger over Sharon's face as she sleeps, he has lived in the clock too long. The chimes of the clock have made him deaf. Once again, Harington inserts a bit of himself into his own novel. Harington lost his hearing almost completely at the age of twelve. He has previously appeared as such characters as "Dawny" in Lightning Bug where he was hopelessy in love with Latha.
Leda and the Swan, Giovanni Rapiti: Stranger Metamorphoses have happened. Right?
The pickings for roosterroaches in Holey House are becoming slim. Man has become an unpredictable provider. Frockroach Tichbourne develops a scheme to convince lowly Jake Dingletoon that he is in fact an Ingledew, entitled to claim kin to the Old Squire and Sam Ingledew. If Tichborne can insert Dingletoon into Parthenon, generous, but slow witted Jake will open Parthenon to all the roosterroaches of Staymore.
Harington artfully interweaves the roosterroaches' lives with those of Larry and Sharon. Roosterroach society is divided when Frockroach Tichborne decides to worship Woman instead of Man. And Tichborne will stop nothing short of "INSECTICIDE" to put his plans to take over Parthenon in place.
Two worlds, insect and human, begin to swirl out of control. When Larry shoots himself in his gitalong-er-leg, can the roosterroaches save him? Can they get word to Sharon?
Did you ever think an IBM Selectric Typewriter could be a thing of value?
What's a white mouse doing in Staymore?
Oh...and for all you doubters in Joshua Crust--read Cockroaches of Staymore to learn about the biggest and baddest of all roosterroaches, the Mockroach. He'll put you in mind of Uncle Screwtape. You know. The Uncle who wrote all those letters to his nephew.
While I was quite melancholy at the beginning of this quirky novel to find Staymore abandoned by the human characters I had come to love, I became enchanted by the world Harington created in the society of the roosterroaches. The little critters are more like us than any of us would care to admit. And Harington uses them to point out all the foibles, weaknesses, strengths, and the best of what it is to be human.
Cockroaches of Staymore could easily turn out to be my favorite of Harington's Staymore novels. This is a brillianty sharp work of humor and satire that skewers class structure, religion, politics--you name it. However, it's too early to tell this novel will be my favorite visit to Staymore. I have nine more journeys to make to that magical place. Harington has written the most original anthropomorphic work since Aesop's Fables
EXTRAS!
Biography of and Interview with Donald Harington by Edwin Arnold
Donald Harington and his Staymore Novels A Thirty Five Year Celebration, by Bob Rasher
SOUNDTRACK
The Bug, Dire Straits, 1992
It's a Bug's Life, Randy Newman
The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson
Specify Books Conducive To Cockroaches of Stay More (Stay More #4)
| Original Title: | The Cockroaches of Stay More |
| ISBN: | 1592640729 (ISBN13: 9781592640720) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Stay More #4 |
Rating Epithetical Books Cockroaches of Stay More (Stay More #4)
Ratings: 4.12 From 244 Users | 40 ReviewsCommentary Epithetical Books Cockroaches of Stay More (Stay More #4)
It may not be necessary for all, but I suggest if you're going to read Mr. Harington, you start with Lighting Bug as a few things will make more sense.You might also find it beneficial to NOT read all the wonderful 5-star GR reviews of this beforehand - just let it unfold into your life.Told from the viewpoint of the cockroach inhabitants of the remaining bits of Stay More, AR, you begin to think of them as people. Wait, I need to think about that.......You grin, you giggle, you cheer, you beginDonald Harington has created a complex society of cockroaches in the town of Stay More. I never would have guessed I would grow so fond of this group of little critters in the Ozarks, but the story won me over after a few chapters. The writing is humorous and satirical with a bit of philosophy thrown in. Heartwarming and fun!This was a December group read for the "On the Southern Literary Trail" group.
Very well written, but quite an odd story. If you every find yourself pining for a novel about the religious, sexual and socials workings of a colony of cockroaches, this is your book. Otherwise, I don't quite know what to say about it.
Cockroaches of Staymore: A Place in the Choir Cockroaches of Staymore by Donald Harington was chosen as a group read by On the Southern Literary Trail for December, 2014. Special thanks to Trail Member William who nominated this novel. The Cockroaches of Staymore, First Ed., Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, New York, 1989 Donald Harington, December 22, 1935-November 7, 2009 All God's critters got a place in the choirSome sing low and some sing higher,Some sing out loud on a telephone
Quick fun read. Ending is quite good. I think it wouldve served better as a short story instead of a full novel, but still very good with some real laughs.
It's a retelling of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, except with roaches. It took me a little while to remember where I had read that plot line before, but once I did it made it more amusing.
I don't honestly know what I just read, but it was highly enjoyable. And unique. So, so unique.
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