The Leavers by Lisa Ko is a beautiful, well-written immigrant story. The story begins with Deming and his mother Polly their little apartment in the Bronx. The first chapter ends with Deming’s mother leaving him. This is shapes the character of the boy who is constantly afraid of abandonment. The story is narrated through a dual narrative by Polly and Deming. Polly’s narrations were more moving perhaps because they were in first person unlike Deming’s. I found myself looking forward to her sections and especially to her narrations of life before the US.

Despite enjoying the writing and the story, I didn’t like this book as much as I thought I would. I couldn’t connect with Deming or Polly. I enjoyed Polly’s narrations at least however, nothing worked for me as far as Deming was concerned. I didn’t understand him and most of his actions. I felt detached to the characters and this affected my reading experience.

This is a sad story especially in its portrayal of the broken mother-son relationship. There are a number of heavy themes that are covered in the story such as cultural identity crisis. I like how the author tackled this issue showing how Deming struggled with identifying as Chinese and American. The portrayal of his struggles with fitting in with his new adoptive family was well done. I think the author also tackled the issue of immigration in detail which was great for readers like me who haven’t read a lot of books about the theme. In the end, I am torn about this book. There is so much to like about it but at the same time, I did struggle with a few of its aspects in relation to characterization of the MCs.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of The Leavers.

Young Deming wakes up one morning to find that his mother has disappeared without word or warning. Being left without a strong family network, he finds himself quickly swept up in the foster system, and then adopted into a home, where his name is changed to Daniel, and English his his primary language. As a child he grows up confused and resentful at having been abandoned by his mother. But as he grows, he learns that the truth was much more complicated than it once seemed.

This was very interesting and informative. It's also the second book I've read recently that addresses what it must be like to be adopted into a family that doesn't share the same ethnicity as you (The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane). However, the big difference between the two was how uninterested Deming's family was in keeping him connected to his heritage and language. (Nancy, if you're reading this, note the text-to-text connection :) Either way, I appreciated the candidness and nuances in both of their experiences, as well as their journeys in finding the truth about their parents.

I found this book to drag a bit. I wanted to really like it but the narrative jumped all over the place chronologically. In some of the places I wanted more information it wasn't detailed like Daniel's/Demings Mother's deportation. We find this out at the end but it's a really big part of his life. The book was ok and I'm glad I got to read it.

I found this really sad and whilst neither character was particularly likeable you really felt for them.
What his Mother went through at the detention camp was shocking. Imagine not being able to get hold of your family. No one listening to you.
I didn't understand why both characters got settled somewhere and then felt a need to move on. I know that is what the title was about but especially Polly leaving her life and starting again at the end.
A very good read.

4.0 - heartfelt coming-of-age story; took a while to become engrossed, but became absorbed with Daniel/Deming's story

https://www.goodreads.com/review/edit/30753987

https://marysreadallaboutit.wordpress.com/

In the current political climate, I’ve been drawn to novels tied to relevant subjects, no matter how loosely tied. Because of this, the description for Lisa Ko’s The Leavers drew my attention and interest. Though the core of the novel revolves around the personal natures and relationships of the main characters, the circumstances that serve as a backdrop for these characters do a fantastic job of subtly highlighting the intricacies of the United States’ immigration system and many injustices that stem from it.

For more than a decade Daniel Wilkinson knew nothing about his birth mother’s disappearance. One day she had been with him, talking about possibly moving to Florida, and another she never came home from work. But then an old friend from his childhood contacts him out of the blue with a clue to start him on the path towards finding her again and learning the truth about why she’d left him.

I’m a sucker for stories focused on characters searching for a sense of identity so this novel was right up my alley. I found the exploration of American foster and adoption processes is remarkably nuanced acknowledging the unique position of adopted children (particularly those adopted at older ages and who still possess significant memories of their birth parents) with feelings of love, gratitude, and appreciation for their adoptive parents but also the ways that those same feelings can be twisted and used against them—the betrayal they can feel regarding their birth parents, the line between gratitude and resentment as the generosity of their adoptive parents can make them feel obligation and indebtedness, that acknowledgement of appreciation isn’t enough. Through Daniel/Deming’s story, the vulnerability of those children is front and center; he never has a genuine say in what happens to him during that confusing and traumatic period of his mother’s disappearance.

Just as compelling as Daniel/Deming’s emotional and psychological journey is the journey of his birth mother, Peilan “Polly” Guo. Through her eyes the reader gets to see what her life and prospects were in China as she grew up and why she ultimately chose to move (illegally) to the United States. The novel shows just how unglamorous life for illegal immigrants often is—the compromises that get made when options are limited, the fear (and excitement) of being somewhere so culturally different, the threat of being caught and sent back. With her own attempts at defining herself violently interrupted, Polly/Peilan was—in many ways—just as lost as Daniel/Deming while the question of what happened to her son haunted her.

Narratively, The Leavers jumps around in ways that can be disorienting. The perspective shifts from Deming’s childhood view of life in New York City before his mother’s disappearance to that of Daniel, his troubled young adult self. The chapters in Peilan/Polly’s perspective are also first person, which makes it easier for the narrative to shift back and forth between incidents from her past and what’s happening in her present but also means everything from her perspective can (and probably ought to be) taken with a grain of salt; in many ways she is self-aware but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s being completely honest. Even with the jumping around in perspective, the pacing for the novel is carefully plotted to serve the emotional core of the novel most effectively.

Loved every moment of this charming and subtly humorous read. Recommending to all of my students!

THE LEAVERS by Lisa Ko is newly published book which won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Award for Socially Engaged Fiction due to its exploration of the US immigration system. THE LEAVERS has been getting some positive "buzz" lately; here's a link to The Atlantic's review. The story of Deming/Daniel and his mother made me think of the movie The Lion since that main character also struggles with questions of identity and is torn between a birth family and an adoptive one. There were elements of Girl in Translation and Lucky Boy also, since Peilan/Polly (his birth mother) struggles to adapt to the United States and deal with the ramifications of her illegal status.

I felt though that the story dragged a bit at times and that the characters, especially Deming/Daniel with his gambling habit, did not promote much empathy. Nevertheless, THE LEAVERS received starred reviews from Library Journal and Publishers Weekly and you may want to add it to your summer reading list. Be sure to check out and enjoy the many, many suggestions posted on this Summer Reading LibGuide by Deborah Lazar, retiring Northfield Librarian.

Links in live post:
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/lisa-ko-the-leavers-book-review/526179/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3741834/
http://treviansbookit.blogspot.com/2017/01/lucky-boy-by-shanthi-sekaran.html
http://newtrier.libguides.com/c.php?g=564725&p=4742794

ne morning Deming (Daniel) Guo's Mother, Peilan (Polly) goes to work at the nail salon where she is employed and does not return. For awhile Deming (Daniel) continues to live in the home they shared with Polly's boyfriend, his sister and her son. Just where did Polly go? Before she went missing she was talking about moving to Florida to earn more money and have a higher standard of living. She wanted the American dream of having a better life for her and her son. Having a better life was hard as she was an undocumented Chinese immigrant.

Initially no one really knows where Polly went. Did she leave? Did she abandon her son? Is she in Florida? Is she alive? Why did she leave without telling anyone? What will happen to her son? Who will look after him? All Deming/Daniel knows is that his Mother is gone. He thinks that if he becomes a better student, she will return. She doesn't return and one day, Vivian (Polly's boyfriend's Sister) takes him for a walk. A walk that ends with him being placed in Foster care. This is a hard and confusing adjustment for Daniel (previously Deming). He is a child, he does not know where his Mother is or why she never came home. His foster parents also have an adjustment to cope with. They have been married and child free for twenty years. Are they making the right decisions? Are they suited to be parents?

Daniel grows up with pressure to do well academically and struggles tremendously with this goal. He also wants to pursue music and has a problem with gambling. He is a lost young man, unsure of himself in the world and with questions that have never been answered.

But then there is his Mother's story. Polly was an unwed Mother at the age of nineteen. She worked hard to make a life for her and her son. She had to send her son to live with her father until she could afford to raise him. She wanted to be a good Mother but fate was not on her side. She wants to go to Florida in order to have a better life. She works hard at the nail salon and has no idea that one day her life will be changed forever.

From the title it is obvious this book is about leaving. What does it mean to leave a place you call home behind? To leave those you love behind? To leave your hopes and dreams behind? What does moving on entail? There are a lot of themes in this book: immigration, family (what makes a family), hope, new beginnings, deep sadness, identity, loss, etc.

This is one of those book, that stays with you after you read it. I found that I liked the book more after I sat and thought about it. There were parts I enjoyed more than others. I enjoyed learning Polly's tale more than Daniel, mainly in part because it answered some questions for me. This is a debut book which is quite impressive as it is very polished. The above mentioned themes along with the story-telling are what shine in this book. Where Polly went is not a real mystery or surprise here. I think most readers will have figured out what happened, but the magic of this book is about how it affected a young boy/man's life. How one's path in life can be changed. How does one cope when their life changes instantly? How does one cope when their name is changed? When their idea of family is changed? What happens when you are removed from one culture and placed in another? That is where the magic in this book occurs.

I received a copy of this book from Algonquin Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Many people use websites like Ancestry.com to help them understand where they came from, to figure out where their roots lie, and what cultures help make them who they are. But these people also do this from the luxury of their computers, of the places they call home, they feel safe–where they don’t feel completely different from everyone around them. But what if we couldn’t do this? What if we were put somewhere we know we didn’t belong with no connection to who we were or where we came from? These are the questions we’re forced to grapple with when reading Lisa Ko’s PEN/Bellweather winning novel, The Leavers.

Deming Guo was born in New York City but spent the first few years of his life in a small, rural Chinese village with his grandfather until she can make enough money to take care of him. Now eleven and back in New York, Deming lives with his mother, her boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s sister and her son. The apartment is cramped, but Deming is happy. Until his mother doesn’t come home from work and his life is turned upside down. When the woman he’s living with puts him into foster care, a white couple from the suburbs adopts him. They make it their mission to turn him into their perfect American boy. No one knows, or will tell him, what happened to his mother.

Now college aged, Deming is known by Daniel–the name his adoptive parents gave him and is completely unsure of what he wants to do with his life. His parents want him to go to college. He wants to live in New York City and play music.

Or does he?

In his search for the answers for what happened to his mother, Deming/Daniel is also searching for his true identity as he comes of age. Is he the Chinese boy named Deming, who, even though was born in America, belongs back in China? Or, is he Daniel, the college class going, perfect son for his adoptive parents who live in a town where no one else looks like him? Or is he neither, and someone else who belongs somewhere else altogether?

Told from the perspectives of Deming/Daniel and his mother, Polly, Ko weaves together one part mystery, one part coming of age tale infused important views on the treatment of immigrants, the false narratives often pushed by social justice activists, and a look at what it feels like to be in a world where no one else looks or sounds like you. It is hard to walk away from this book without calling your own prejudices and actions into question.

"A white sheep comes home to roost" - A.

The Leavers by Lisa Ko is told from an very unique dual point of view. Half the book is told from Daniel's "Deming" (the son of a Chinese immigrant) point of view and half the book is told from his mother's "Polly" point of view. The narration is very unique and adds interest, but I am not sure if I really liked it. In my opinion, it was a little hard to follow. However, the point of view definitely lets the reader see "both sides of the story."

Part of the book happens in New York and other parts of the book is set in China. The dual setting definitely gives the reader some insight into where Daniel and Polly came from and what obstacles were overcome to integrate into American life.

"The Leavers"' theme is exactly what the title suggests, - leaving. Leaving one's homeland, culture, family, loves, etc.

I have never read any of Lisa Ko's previous books. I enjoyed her writing in this book, but I am not sure if I would seek any future books by this author just because it was written by her.

"The Leavers" goes back and forth in time between a young boy "Deming" or "Daniel" and his mother, "Polly". Deming was born in America, but was sent back to China to live with his grandfather so his mother could work. After he was brought back to America when he was school age, the reader learns of many struggles he faces as a child growing up around a strange culture and language. His mother abruptly leaves him for apparently no reason one day. Much of the book is spent on Deming's search of his mother and the reason why she left. After Deming is left by his caretakers, he is eventually adopted by white, older, American college professors who have never had children. Deming becomes "Daniel", a Chinese American who struggles to live up to the standards of his new parents. Daniel spends his adult life going in and out of his adoptive parents' care. He has another adopted Chinese friend named "Angel" who emphasizes with his struggles, but adapts much better to her new life than he does. They joke that maybe it's not the "black sheep" that are the bad ones, but maybe the white ones that are the real trouble-makers. After Daniel comes home once, Angel says, "The white sheep comes home to roost."

My Literary 2 Cents...

The best part of this book for me was the ability I had as a reader to "walk in the shoes" of an immigrant boy. I am an ESL teacher and work every day with children who struggle to fit in with others because they don't speak the same language as everyone else, or are in the minority because of the color of their skin. I deeply feel for these children, but I think hearing this story told from Deming's point of view really hit home for me. I felt that I came away from this book with a deeper appreciation of what my students must feel every day.

I only gave this book 3 stars because the book got a little drawn-out and tedious at some parts. By the end of the book, I was just ready to be done with it. The ending was a little anti-climatic and I wished it had a little better ending.

As a Christian, this book spoke to me because I want to be able to minister to people who are different than I am. I Cor. 9:19-20 says, "for though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law.." I don't feel like one can effectively empathize with anyone else until you have walked "2 moons in his moccasins". This book gave me a different perspective on those children that I am around every day and for that, I am grateful and walk away a better person.

It was only after I touched the hardback in my indi Book store -- silky smooth to touch... gorgeous vibrant orange color...stamped as an "Literary Award Winner"....did I ask myself, "what the hell is wrong with you?" Why was I hesitating reading this book? I knew about it - read a few things about this story - Great Reviews-- but I THOUGHT I HAD READ ENOUGH DEBUT NOVELS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS- legal 'or' illegal!!!

WHAT ELSE WAS I POSSIBLY GOING TO LEARN? WHAT COULD I *REALLY* TAKE AWAKE FROM THIS BOOK THAT I HAVEN'T FROM EVERY OTHER WITH SIMILAR THEMES OF HARDSHIPS - DEBT- MEAGER EXISTENCE- STRUGGLES.....unraveling of The American Dream??? Would I end up just feeling sad - and that life is frickin unfair? -- and VERY HARD for some people??? Or maybe -- ( oh God, just maybe one of these books WILL be THE BOOK THAT MAKES THE POWERFUL GLOBAL SHIFTING DIFFERENCE?)......

Well, I DID SHIFT!!! I AM DIFFERENT than when I started this novel. I hope my local book club picks 'Lisa Ko's, "The Leavers", for one of our monthly picks. This novel calls for some serious- worthy discussions!!!!

First off -- the storytelling is powerful and consistently compelling. Mother and son are both living between two worlds --- there is hardship and triumph- heartbreak and love.
There are sooo many things I want to talk about in this novel - I honestly don't know where to begin -
EVERY CHARACTER is so vivid - real - so fully developed-- we could talk about each 'one' of them -in length from many perspectives. Pelican, for example, is a fascinating woman -restless spirit-independent thinker -liked to curse -could hold a firece grudge. Leon reminded me of a man that tried so hard to please everyone -
Deming was my hero in ways. No kid was 'left' more. He grows up as Daniel with new parents Peter and Kate.... ( who have their own issues about parenting).
All the supporting characters.....Michael - Roland - Angel - Vivian - etc. add to this story and are also in your thoughts.

It's impossible to say all I want to say in this review-- so I'm going to add a 'few' things that that have changed me PERSONALLY FOREVER.....
Rather than tell about the details of this story....( I'm guessing you can find that in other reviews).....I going to share a few GUT WRENCHING images that I've taken away:

NOBODY comes to America hoping to pick gao gao out of strangers toes and scraping calluses the size of a nose off of the heel of a woman's heel..... ONLY TO GET A SHIT TIP!!!!!

NOBODY SHOULD HAVE TO WORK A 6 HOUR SHIFT IN A FACTORY WITHOUT A BREAK!!!

I WILL NEVER *EVER* SEE A NAIL SALON THE SAME WAY AGAIN AFTER READING THIS BOOK!

WORKING IN A SLAUGHTERHOUSE has got to be one of the worse jobs on the planet -- on so many levels: physically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally.

Deming, born in Manhattan, New York, was sent to Minjjang, China, to live with his grandfather for the first six years of his life. Why did Peilan, his undocumented mother stay in America? Why not go back to China with her son where she could have family support raising her son without the separation?

I HOPE A MOVIE IS MADE FROM THIS BOOK!!!!! I can see it!!!

Exquisitely written ......deeply human meditation on despair, loss, love, immigration, identity, diversity, hope, human longings, consequences, .......multilayered and deeply felt!!!!

Thank You Netgalley, Algonquin Books, and Lisa Ko

This book was engrossing and one that I will be recommending frequently. It reveals the challenges and complexities of lives effected by poverty and imperfect systems that break apart families. This story has stuck with me days after reading it and inspires me to want to learn to advocate for those living in desperation. I'm grateful to the publisher for the ARC.

This is a difficult book to read because it communicates so well the pain of loss, of addiction, of growing up, of parenthood, of adoption, of relationships, of assimilation, of immigration, of deportation, and more . It is worth the endurance required to get through it because it involves you and informs you.

Deming Guo is an eleven-year-old boy, raised by his single mom Polly in the Bronx. They live with Polly’s boyfriend Leon, his sister Vivian and her son, Michael. While unrelated by blood, the surrogate family forms a strong bond over their shared experience as Chinese immigrants in America. Although she is an undocumented immigrant, Polly works relentlessly as a nail technician to support her family, hoping to one day get ahead and live the American dream. However, that dream disappears when Polly fails to return home from work one day, never to be seen again.

No one knows whether Polly disappeared by choice or if something tragic happened to her. Without knowing if Polly will even return, Vivian is forced to surrender Deming to the foster care system, where he is eventually adopted by a married couple – older, white college professors who are desperate for a child. Moved upstate with Peter and Kay, Deming is renamed Daniel Wilkinson and forced to assimilate into his mostly white community. His adoptive parents have wonderful intentions, but they cannot truly understand what their son is going through.

Ko perfectly captures the confusion and pain of a young boy in a complicated and difficult situation. Polly’s disappearance is never fully explained to Daniel, and he is haunted and damaged by what he feels as her abandonment. The memories of the family he left behind cast a shadow over his seemingly idyllic childhood, and it is not until much later that Daniel understands that his mother may not have had a choice to leave him.

The novel catches up with Daniel at age eighteen – he has dropped out of college and is living on his best friend’s couch, playing unsuccessful gigs with his band. Through his music, he reconnects with his surrogate brother Michael, and Michael’s mother Vivian. Although they still do not know what happened to Polly, Daniel uses the information they give him to follow a trail back to China, where he is able to fill in the details about Polly’s past. He begins to understand why Polly made the choices that she did, both by coming to America and by sacrificing everything to give her child a better life than she had.

The alternating perspectives of Polly and Deming/Daniel create intriguing parallels between the two, as they both struggle to do the right thing for themselves and their loved ones. Both mother and son feel out of place in their worlds, and they are continually torn between their pasts and possible futures. These are very complex characters – they’re not always likeable and they make poor decisions in retrospect, but I couldn’t help but admire their strength, and their ability to grow and adapt to their circumstances. The Leavers is an eye-opening account of the immigrant experience and its effects on the children for generations to come. This stunning debut novel won the PEN/Bellwether Prize for a novel that addresses issues of social justice, and it is well-deserved and well worth the read.

I received this book from Algonquin Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really thoughtful, moving novel about a Chinese family that is torn apart in the United States. Peilan grows up in China in a small village but dreams of exploring the world, so she travels to New York for factory work at better wages. She has Deming while still very young herself, and while she loves him, she’s barely able to care for him.

When Deming is in the fifth grade, Peilan disappears without a trace; she just doesn’t come home from her job at a nail salon. Deming is left with his mother’s boyfriend Leon, Leon’s sister, and her son Michael. They call Immigration but learn nothing. Deming grows up never knowing if his mother abandoned him, and if so, why.

The book is told mostly from Deming’s perspective as an adult. Losing his mother in such a horrible way leaves him insecure and unable to focus on what he wants, which is above all a career in music. He has problems with school and develops a gambling addiction. Most of all, he won’t let himself get close to anyone else.

The strength of this book lies in the powerful relationship established between Peilan and Deming from the very first pages, even though they spend little time together. This part in the first chapter made laugh (I love everything bagels) but it’s also a perfect illustration of their relationship.

He would have her to himself, an ambling walk in the park or along the river, making up stories about who lived in the apartments they saw from the outside – a family named Smith, five kids, father dead, mother addicted to bagels, he speculated the day they went to the Upper East Side. “To bagels?” she said. “What flavor bagel?” “Everything bagels,” he said, which made her giggle harder, until they were both bent over on Madison Avenue, laughing so hard no sounds were coming out, and his stomach hurt but he couldn’t stop laughing, old white people giving them stink eye for stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. Deming and his mother loved everything bagels, the sheer balls of it, the New York audacity that a bagel could proclaim to be everything, even if it was only topped with sesame seeds and poppy seeds and salt.
I appreciated this book for all of its layers. It’s about Chinese culture and living as an outsider in America; it’s about the perils of immigration; but mostly it’s about family and identity. Everyone will be able to relate to some aspect of this book. I found the issues of identity most interesting. Both Deming and Peilan go by two names, one Chinese and one American (Daniel and Polly). This division between their “Chinese self” and “American self” is fascinating because it's so complex. Peilan, for example, chooses different identities throughout her life. Deming, on the other hand, has this divide forced on him and grows up feeling torn in pieces. There’s his Chinese life, his Chinese-American life with his mother in New York, and then his life in a white family, and mostly white neighborhoods and schools after he goes into foster care. He’s also torn between his love of music, and his foster parents’ desire for him to finish school and have a respectable career. Mostly he’s torn between feeling betrayed by his mother and Leon, and missing them desperately. He needs to know what happened, but he’s also afraid to know, and the people around him keep advising him to let it be.

If Deming wasn’t really screwed up, this book wouldn’t be believable. At the same time, I think the weakness in this book is that Deming is hard to like, and at times you really want to give up on him. He makes bad decisions and hurts the people around him. It’s like he’s in this fog and just won’t take control of his life, which at times made me want to shake him.

The characters in this book are really interesting, especially Deming’s mother. Sometimes her narrative rambles a bit, but she’s a fascinating mix of strength, selfishness, ambition, and love. She’s never idealized or romanticized; she can be tough, loud, demanding, but she's always her own person. At times the foster parents come off as a bit one-dimensional, but I think that reflects the way Deming views them. He describes the wall he’s erected to keep from caring too much, and this means their relationship is basically one-sided. They give, and he seems to give just enough back to be what they want him to be, but not enough to allow them to be a real family.

This is author Lisa Ko’s first novel. On her website, Ko describes herself as the first in her family to be born in the U.S. She grew up as “one of the only kids of color” in a New Jersey suburb. You can also find her interview about writing with Barbara Kingsolver.

This book reminded me of Commonwealth in terms of the complexity of its characters and the scope of the story, and in that it’s not overly emotional but still very moving. No one’s life is simple or easy, and everyone makes mistakes. It's not an "us" versus "them" novel, but it is about how hard it can be for immigrants to make their lives in this country. It's an important book to read right now, when immigration and deportation are so much a part of the everyday news.

Note: I received an advanced review copy of this book from NetGalley and publisher Algonquin Books. This book was published May 2, 2017.

Deming's mother leaves for work one day and never comes home. When Chinese Deming is adopted by two white college professors, they change his name to Daniel and try and turn him into the son they have always wanted. The book then shifts to his mother Polly's point of view, outlining her childhood and how she came to America.

I didn't think the back and forth between Daniel and Polly really worked. It may have been different if the author introduced Polly's pov earlier, or alternated in smaller chunks. Instead, it was jarring when Polly was introduced, and she seemed somewhat alien. Overall, not a bad book, just not one I would re-read.

A beautiful, engaging, timely, and important novel. It helps illuminate for the reader the struggle of the undocumented immigrant, but manages to be non-preachy, entertaining, and authentic at the same time.