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kllamb's review against another edition
4.0
This book started off slow for me. But then I became intrigued, less by the mystery of his mom, but more about her story unfolding and how she reconciled her past/present.
ktamen's review against another edition
2.0
I read about half way through, but just couldn't keep interested in the story.
jamuckley's review against another edition
5.0
"The Leavers" by Lisa Ko is an important book. It deals with a lot of complex issues regarding immigration, race, as well as complex issues about family of origin, adoption, and other more dicey social issues that don't have good or easy answers.
"The Leavers" is the story of a Chinese woman, who takes out a loan from a loan shark to leave China and sneak into New York illegally. She is pregnant and gives birth to a boy, Deming Guo. She works long hours in a sweatshop sewing clothes, she can't take care of her son while she is working so she arranges a relative to bring him to her father's house in Fuzhou, China to care for him until he is old enough to go to school in America.
After years living in China, Deming returns to his mother in New York and starts school there. Then, one day at the age of 11, Deming's mother never returns. The effect of this disappearance forever alters his life.
This book is about identity, belonging, nationality and borders. It spans continents as it takes place in New York City, upstate New York, and Fuzhou, China. This book deals with adoption, especially adoption of older children that have already made memories with their family of origin, and strong bonds with a primary caregiver. It is unique in that the child is permanently separated, estranged from his mother, and there is no news about where she went and what happened to her. This book goes into "roles" that children play in both their family of origin as well as in an adoptive home. Another obvious theme is the immigration piece, and being seen as and treated as "the other." Racism, discrimination that comes with being a person of color in America. He is called Chinese rather than Chinese-American, despite his parents assertion that he is American-born, from New York.
There is a lot here. While the book leaves most of the answers for the reader to decide, there is a lot to chew on and this would make for a lively book club discussion about a wide range of topics. I really loved this book!
"The Leavers" is the story of a Chinese woman, who takes out a loan from a loan shark to leave China and sneak into New York illegally. She is pregnant and gives birth to a boy, Deming Guo. She works long hours in a sweatshop sewing clothes, she can't take care of her son while she is working so she arranges a relative to bring him to her father's house in Fuzhou, China to care for him until he is old enough to go to school in America.
After years living in China, Deming returns to his mother in New York and starts school there. Then, one day at the age of 11, Deming's mother never returns. The effect of this disappearance forever alters his life.
This book is about identity, belonging, nationality and borders. It spans continents as it takes place in New York City, upstate New York, and Fuzhou, China. This book deals with adoption, especially adoption of older children that have already made memories with their family of origin, and strong bonds with a primary caregiver. It is unique in that the child is permanently separated, estranged from his mother, and there is no news about where she went and what happened to her. This book goes into "roles" that children play in both their family of origin as well as in an adoptive home. Another obvious theme is the immigration piece, and being seen as and treated as "the other." Racism, discrimination that comes with being a person of color in America. He is called Chinese rather than Chinese-American, despite his parents assertion that he is American-born, from New York.
There is a lot here. While the book leaves most of the answers for the reader to decide, there is a lot to chew on and this would make for a lively book club discussion about a wide range of topics. I really loved this book!
mondyboy's review against another edition
3.0
As much as I enjoy Lisa Ko’s prose and as much as I appreciate a novel about immigration and the adoption of children from other cultures I have struggled to engage with The Leavers.
There’s such an ease to the writing that reading the book has not been a chore. (I no longer finish novels where each word is a hot poker to the eye). And yet, I’ve been easily distracted while reading The Leavers, whether it’s a Twitter or Facebook notification or the delight of watching fan-made Doctor Who trailers. Mostly this is because I’m tired of characters who, for whatever reason, are self-destructive. Deming’s justification for becoming a gambling addict, a thief, a college dropout and a poor excuse for a friend make perfect sense given his less than ideal childhood. A mother abandoning you is going to leave scars compounded by being handed over to a well meaning but culturally clueless white couple. And yet as Deming continued to making stupid decisions, kept letting people down, kept finding ways to sabotage himself, I found that if he’d stopped giving a shit so had I.
The one plus is that a significant chunk of the book is from Deming’s mother’s perspective and while we initially view her unsympathetically as a woman who abandoned her son, as her reasons become clearer we can’t help but engage with her. Polly’s story is the true highlight of the novel.
Given it’s won an award and is a finalist for the National Book Award I’m sure this lack of engagement is a minority view.
My full review can be found here: http://mondyboy.com/?p=8480
There’s such an ease to the writing that reading the book has not been a chore. (I no longer finish novels where each word is a hot poker to the eye). And yet, I’ve been easily distracted while reading The Leavers, whether it’s a Twitter or Facebook notification or the delight of watching fan-made Doctor Who trailers. Mostly this is because I’m tired of characters who, for whatever reason, are self-destructive. Deming’s justification for becoming a gambling addict, a thief, a college dropout and a poor excuse for a friend make perfect sense given his less than ideal childhood. A mother abandoning you is going to leave scars compounded by being handed over to a well meaning but culturally clueless white couple. And yet as Deming continued to making stupid decisions, kept letting people down, kept finding ways to sabotage himself, I found that if he’d stopped giving a shit so had I.
The one plus is that a significant chunk of the book is from Deming’s mother’s perspective and while we initially view her unsympathetically as a woman who abandoned her son, as her reasons become clearer we can’t help but engage with her. Polly’s story is the true highlight of the novel.
Given it’s won an award and is a finalist for the National Book Award I’m sure this lack of engagement is a minority view.
My full review can be found here: http://mondyboy.com/?p=8480
katheady2009's review against another edition
5.0
The Leavers is a beautifully written story that left me thinking about the plight of immigrants. New York City, where most of the story is set, is a mini-universe of cultures and languages. Lisa Ko's story brings the sorrows and joys of being a Chinese immigrant to life, along with the difficulties of the main character's young son, who was born in New York, but is definitely Chinese.
heymargaretjames's review against another edition
4.0
Incredibly eye opening to the struggles of immigration, belonging as a first generation citizen, and internalized oppression.
willbearsmom's review against another edition
5.0
I can’t imagine reading a better book this year. Highly recommended!
rmarow's review against another edition
3.0
The story was really touching in the end but there was so much in the book that felt like it just made it way longer than it needed to be.
kaleidoscopeeyes8's review against another edition
3.0
I have not decided what I want to rate this yet. It took me a while to get into it and isn’t really a plot that interests me but it is overall well written, with beautiful turns of phrase at points.