What a beautifully written story! I had a little trouble getting into the book at the beginning, and I found that some thoughts and dialog attributed to one of the main characters, Deming Guo, when he was still a child were too adult for a child, and therefore, unbelievable, but once the book moved past his childhood, and particularly when the story was being told from the perspective of his mother, Polly (Peilin) Guo, the story was magnificent. ( )

Switching between the POV of Deming (Daniel) a young Chinese American boy suddenly abandoned by his mother at age 11 and eventually adopted by a family in upstate New York and his Chinese mother Polly (Peilan) who made many difficult choices in her life, many that she regretted. The novel puts us inside the heads of the main characters and helps the reader experience their situations and their feeling of never quite belonging.

I like a book that helps me understand the unfamiliar and this story touches on a lot of unfamiliar things: Adoption, immigration, illegal status, non-traditional families. A good glimpse, I think, into a very different American experience and one that feels especially important in today's political climate.

Thumbs up. ( )

This is a quietly powerful book about identity and acceptance. At first, I struggled a bit to get into this. The pace is fairly slow and I was probably not in the right frame of mind to fully appreciate the depth of this book when I started it. I debated with myself whether I should just DNF, but then felt drawn back into the story and I am truly glad I stuck with it until the end.

I can in all honesty say that for most (if not all) the book, I profoundly disliked Deming/Daniel. He is a difficult character to accept, but at the same time he is a difficult character to relate to, in light of his experiences and profound suffering. Moving along with him, it slowly becomes clearer and clearer that Deming is essentially a lost child, suffering the loss of his mother and of his own identity. No matter how many years have passed, he cannot accept his situation, but even more so, he cannot accept this new persona that was imposed on him by his adoptive parents.

Polly's disappearance hangs as a permanent shadow of Deming's life, hurtful as it is incomprehensible. When we readers, are finally made aware of the truth behind it, it is tinted with the quiet pain of those who are used to seeing things go differently from what they had hoped. Through the struggle and long-lasting pain of Polly and Deming, this book provides a striking commentary of modern society, and the human impact of immigration and integration policies.

Extremely delicate in its weaving of the tale and in its social commentary, The Leavers brings to light the reality of what it means to be foreign, to be different in a society that values appearance and homogeneity above all else; it explores the struggle to rebuild your life from scratch without losing sight of where you come from and who you are; and above all else, it doesn't shy away from the pain and suffering of losing those dearest to you and what it means to never lose hope.

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way. ( )

Part 1: Deming is a Chinese-American boy in NYC whose mother is an undocumented immigrant. One morning she disappears. Deming is adopted by well-meaning white professors and moves to a college town outside of the city. Part 2: Bit by bit we find out what happened to his mom. Two more parts follow. Can Deming figure out where and with whom he fits in this world? ( )

The Leavers by Lisa Ko is a Book of the Month pick this month, but I will be honest in stating I did not pick it as one of my selections for the month. My box already had my 3 choices, so when it came out, I picked it up on my own. I am glad I did as it is a book that had me thinking, it stuck with me, and it was just a great read even in the midst of the difficult topics.

The book opens with Deming Guo and his mother Polly. They are living in a tiny apartment in NYC with relatives and life is a struggle, but all seems well. Polly goes off to work one day and does not return. Deming is brought to child services where he is adopted by a NY suburban couple and is given the name Daniel.

Daniel isn't the perfect child, he struggles in school, he kind of coasts through life, and winds up with a gambling addiction and isolates himself from his friends.

Daniel is haunted by his memories of his previous life. He knows he is not Daniel, but Deming and he knows his mother is out there somewhere, so he begins his search for her and what happened that day.

The narrative shifts to Polly's story. It is a story of coming into NY as an undocumented pregnant woman who is dropped off alone in the world. She has always been independent, but now she is in NY and must work low wage jobs to make ends meet. She has to make tough choices in her life to protect her son. Her life is a life of struggle and frustration as she knows this isn't the life she wants. Her narrative takes us back to the day she left Deming behind because she was arrested and deported in an immigration raid (not a spoiler).

A lot more happens, but I would start walking into spoiler territory, so I am going to end there.

I have to write, I loved the parallel lives. Both Daniel and Polly are in places and situations they don't want to be in. They are missing their identities and travel the world kind of lost. Both have major struggles, but they are incredibly different struggles. It was a great piece on identity and not being content with oneself.

The writing in the book drew me in and I just flew through this book. The story doesn't ever really slow at all and at times I didn't want to put it down. It isn't that a lot happens, but you do care about Daniel and Polly. The emotional pull of almost resenting Polly for what she did and the pull back to loving her because she had no other choice, but to give up Deming was a roller coaster.

I cannot recommend this one enough. This is a pure drama, so don't expect comedy breaks or a beach read. This is just a great book that needs time to marinade with.

I gave this one 5 stars.
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