Eleven-year-old Deming Gao's mother, an undocumented worker at a New York city nail salon, leaves for work one day and disappears. The Wilkinsons, a white couple at a college in upstate New York, foster and then adopt him, changing his name to Daniel Wilkinson in the hopes that he can assimilate more easily in homogenous Ridgeborough. Deming/Daniel feels as out-of-place there as he feels abandoned by his Chinese mother and her friends. He finds some solace and identity in the sounds and colors of his guitar music. Deming's mother, Polly Gao, joins the story, addressing her son in her mind in the second person and filling him in on her grief and suffering at being torn away from him and explains what happened to her on the day she disappeared, an experience which still causes her nightmares. Both stories of being left and leaving caused me to empathize with son and mother, both caught up in legal and economic forces over which they have no control.

This book kept me reading, although at times, I am not a reader who needs to like a character in order to like the book, and Daniel certainly was a disposable character. I became so frustrated with his actions. I think the was most interesting when it was told from Polly's perspective. The story at times became repetitive and did not seem to be moving to a conclusion. The ending was not very satisfying; it seemed that Daniel's life just would keep turning in the same circles. He seemed to make a decision not to make a decision.

This book began very well but when the Tory switched to a decaw later it was very hard to follow. There was disjointed and hard to follow. I gave up. Too bad.

THE LEAVERS is a beautiful and touching love story, not a romance , but a tribute to the enduring love between a mother and her son. Lisa Ko has written the story of Deming and Polly, and of all immigrants who struggle to assimilate in the harsh environment of a new country.

Deming is left confused and mourning his mother when she is seized during an ICE raid, arrested, (tortured) and deported. He spends years as the alienated child of college professors who adopt him, never able to accept the loss of his mother, without the knowledge that she did not leave on purpose and spent years trying to find him.

Because of his deep dissatisfaction with his life in upstate New York, he is drawn back to New York City where he learns of his mother's whereabouts in China. Deming travels to China and the reader learns about Polly's story as the two are reunited.

This book is beautifully written and the author doesn't hand us a facile ending, rather we simply know that love has not ended, Polly and Deming are still searching., but as a reader I was filled with hope for both of them.

Not since Amy Tan has any author captured the Chinese American experience as beautifully as it is depicted by Ko. With our current awareness of what it might mean for a nascent American family to be shattered by the insensitive actions of an uncaring government, this book forces the reader to examine the consequences of punishing immigrants and destroying families.

As an educator, this book will appear on my reading lists for years to come. More importantly, as a caring citizen, I hope to share this book with everyone who empathizes with the plight of people striving for a decent life. This book should not be missed. It was an extraordinary experience.

The Leavers is the story of a Chinese Immigrant, Polly, and her 11 yr old son Deming. One day, Polly doesn't come home from work. And after 6 months, Deming is adopted by an older (white) couple and moves to the (whitest) suburbs. So the story is back and forth, Deming, renamed Daniel, and his mother Polly. Every now and then I thought the momentum kind of lagged, but the dialogue is SO good that it would draw me back in. I literally thought multiple times in my head "wow, that is a really well written conversation right there." The part of the book that, I think, is supposed to be the peak of the plot, was weirdly not the most interesting plot point. Or at least it didn't hit me as hard as maybe it could have. I don't know. Overall I thought this was a really smart, good read that I think will be a great book club pick. 4 stars.

Well deserving of the PEN/Bellweather Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction for an honest look at the issues surrounding immigration, racism and discrimination, and adoption. Full of compassion and empathy, this book left my heart aching for the characters.