Product Description

Jacob and Noah Ingledew trudge 600 miles from their native Tennessee to found Stay More, a small town nestled in a narrow valley that winds among the Arkansas Ozarks and into the reader's imagination. The Ingledew saga - which follows six generations of 'Stay Morons' through 140 years of abundant living and prodigal loving - is the heart of Harington's jubilant, picaresque novel. Praised as one of the year's ten best novels by the American Library Association when first published, this tale continues to captivate readers with its winning fusion of lyricism and comedy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #70796 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Harington follows the fortunes of the brothers IngledewJacob and Noah and their descendants, founders and proud citizens of Stay More, Ark., for 150 years. PW praised Harington's "lyric tongue-in-cheek satire."
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Harington has succeeded in creating one of the finest novels in recent years. -- Library Journal

You don't have to be from Arkansas to to appreciate this robust and rollicking novel... -- Columbus Dispatch

About the Author
Acclaimed by critics as "an undiscovered continent" and "America’s greatest un- known novelist" Donald Harington is a brilliant creator of fictional worlds, rooted in his native Arkansas. His imagination is no less expansive than Gabriel Garcia Marquez and his language is rich in a uniquely American, southern idiom. Winner of the Robert Penn Warren Award, the Porter Prize, and the Heasley Prize, we’re delighted to be publishing With, his thirteenth novel, as well as three new editions of other novels in the Stay More cycle.

Customer Reviews

One of the best Unknown Books
The Architecture of the Arkansas Ozarks is a sprawling epic. It spans at least five generations and it all takes place in the Arkansas Ozarks in a town called Stay More (the residents of which are called "Stay Morons.") It begins when Jacob Ingledew and his brother Noah arrive and are greeted by the only remaining Native American: Fanshaw (who lives with his wife in a bigeminal hut that resemble large and pointy breasts). This is where the story begins and it doesn't stop...never losing momentum...the plot always moving forward...and as the plot moves forward so does the setting, and this book is as much a history lesson as it is a character study. We experience, through these marvelous characters, The Civil War, World War I, the Depression, World War II and all the PROG RESS that comes in between.

It is also important here to point out the book's greatest virtue: it's humor. This book is absolutely hysterical. I found myself laughing out loud all throughout. There isn't a page where you won't smile either externally or internally. The humor is the best sort of humor you can find in a novel---the type of humor where it won't be funny unless it's in the context of the book. Harington creates a world and the humor he finds in it are all "inside" jokes that you, the intrigued reader, get to be a part of. And the narrator himself is a fascinating presence--omniscient, but a real part of the story. The last few chapters will absolutely blow your mind.

An architect who can write!
I was drawn to this book because I am an architectural historian and avid reader of historical novels. I was unprepared for the book's incredible creativity and humor. The author's genuine love and compassion for the simplest of his characters is heartwarming. And best of all, this is a shaggy-dog story to end all shaggy-dog stories. PS I learned a lot about architecture along the way!

Ozarkian epic
As an Arkansas native and as one who has spent decades living and working in the Ozarks I felt qualified to add a few comments. The area he describes as "Stay More" is an area I have covered on foot doing research and recreation. Some of my best friends are from that region, Murray, Swain, Edwards Junction, and Deer, so it really "hits home".
When Harrington writes about ,"Stay More" he is inspired but when he strays from this less than idylic community the inspiration thins. Regardless, I would reccommend this book to anyone and am proud that an Arkansas author has picked up the torch that was once carried by Vance Randolph. Oustanding!