It took me a while to get into the book. I did find that watching the characters struggle throughout the story made me sad. ( )

Dening Guo’s mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to her job at a nail salon and never comes home. This is the story of her 11 year old son who is left bereft and her story on what happened. ( )

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? ( )

Contemporary fiction about a Chinese-American youth abandoned by his mother at age ten, who is adopted by a white couple. Feeling like he doesn’t belong, he longs to find his birth mother. The author provides insight into the heart-wrenching struggles faced by illegal immigrants with American-born children.

I had mixed feelings about this book. I thought it did an excellent job of showing how fear of abandonment can leave a lasting impact on a child’s life as he matures into a young adult and I was appalled at the treatment meted out to illegal immigrants at the detention center. . On the other hand, I didn’t feel the book was fully engaging. It jumps around in time and it is not always evident where we are in the timeline. I also thought the adoptive parents could have been more fleshed out – they appeared to be cardboard cut-outs. Since this is a debut, I am sure Ko will evolve in her ability to facilitate a connection with the characters, so I will pick up something from her in the future. Recommended to those interested in stories centered around immigration, adoption, or Chinese culture. Contains language. ( )

(9.5) Although the book was a little slow to engage with in the early chapters. My perseverance was worthwhile. Such an important story to be told. There are so many injustices facing immigrant people. It also highlights how patronising well meaning people can be. ( )

Wow, “The Leavers” is a completely heartbreaking story that needs to be read, especially in today’s political climate. Deming/Daniel spends his childhood moving around… in New York, in China with his grandfather, then back to New York to be with his mother. Then one day his mother vanishes, and Deming is given up to foster care and adoption by a white couple.

It’s a heart-wrenching story, especially as the narrative unfolds and we learn the truth about what happened to Deming’s mother—who in his ten year old mind must have abandoned him—and the poverty she has struggled to escape her entire life. The emotional consequences of their separation, despite people trying to care for Deming int eh aftermath, despite food and shelter being offered, are so poignantly rendered, and so critical to understand. 5/5 stars.

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader.
( )

A chinese-American boy's mother is deported. He is fostered by an American professional couple. The story is told through his eyes as well as his mother's. While fiction, the author based it on articles she had read of children being taken from their illegal parents. This was enlightening and certainly gives you a different perspective of transcultural adoption and of children of illegal parents in this country. It was very well written. ( )

I was glad that Daniel aka Deming went back to his legal parents, after all, they loved him and tried to do the best for him. I can't imagine their disappointment if Deming had chosen to stay with his birth mother (it's all fictional but I thought that is just the right thing to do, to show gratitude to the people who bring you up and love you). Leavers here refers to Deming and his mother, both seeking the life they are happiest in. Deming's mother, Polly, is established as a language teacher in China and she has an understanding husband but she chose to uproot and move to Hong Kong. Deming went back to his roots and reunite with his mother but chose to return to the U.S. Whatever the choices are, it all takes courage. ( )

Lisa Ko's 2016 PEN/ Bellwether Prize winning novel centers around two narrators, Polly who puts herself in debt for 50,000 dollars to immigrate to the US, and her son, Deming who at first is sent back to China to stay with his grandfather while his mother makes some money and then is returned to live with her at age five in NYC. For five years we read of their existence, living with her boyfriend Leon and his sister Vivian and her son Michael. They scrape by, trying to live a semblance of the American dream until one day his mom disappears. The novel then alternates narration as the two tell of the ensuing years and struggles. For Deming, who is eventually adopted by wealthy white parents, his name is changed to Danial, he feels unmoored and isolated in school until he meets a friend, Roland, whose similar love of music bonds them." the real him remained stubbornly out there like a fat cruise ship on the horizon, visible but out of reach, and whenever he got closer it drifted farther away". He is forever a bit angry that his mom left him and it is the mystery of her disappearance that propels the action of the novel. Ko relates in an interview that she first got the idea for the novel from an article she read about a woman held in a detention center whose American son gets adopted by white parents. "Nearly a quarter of those deported are parents of U.S.-born children who remain in the country, so you have all these families that have been permanently fractured."
Highly recommend this novel and look forward to her future work.
Lines:
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.

His mother could curse, but the one time he’d let motherfucker bounce out in front of her, loving the way the syllables got meatbally in his mouth, she had slapped his arm and said he was better than that.

You had to hunt for her beauty, might not even catch it at first. There was a sweetness to her mouth, her lips lightly upturned, lending her a look of faint amusement, and her eyebrows arched so her eyes appeared lively, approaching delighted.

Music was a language of its own, and soon it would become his third language, a half-diminished seventh to a major seventh to a minor seventh as pinchy-sweet as flipping between Chinese tones. American English was loose major fifths; Fuzhounese angled sevenths and ninths.

Four shots and Leon was reshaped into the man he had been when I first met him, a prize I had wanted to win, whose attention was sudden, precarious, instead of this man whose aging sometimes took me by surprise, like when he was putting money on his card at the subway station and I noticed how his body was stiffer, his neck thinner, the skin around his throat loosening. ( )

"In the city, he had been just another kid. He had never known how exhausting it was to be conspicuous."

I have been sitting on this review for almost two weeks because it is so beautiful. The Leavers by Lisa Ko is the story of Deming, a transracial adoptee who thinks his mother abandoned him when he was eleven. He grows up trapped between two worlds and never reconciles his feelings about his mother being gone. Polly, his mom has her own story and issues she is dealing with and she never stopped thinking about her son. An email from his old friend Michael set Deming, now Daniel on a path to possibly finding his mother and reconnecting with his Chinese roots.

The story is told from both perspectives and you get an in depth view of what each of them is going through. The writing really carries this story through the slow start. Both characters have flaws but I was invested in both of their stories until the end. There were points in the story where I wanted to rip the pages because the adoptive parents are so cringey and I know that there are actual people out there that share their beliefs. I found it difficult to garner any empathy for them at all.

I loved this book because I got to see the other side of the story. Media glorifies celebrity transracial adoptions but you never get to hear the stories of the adoptees themselves. This a story that many adoptees will be able to identify with.

The thoughts that stay with me after I finished were:

🌸 The U.S. deems white mothers to be more fit parents than immigrant parents.
🌸 The U.S. immigration policies are racist and continue to separate families.
🌸 Older transracial adoptees are forcibly assimilated and lose their connection with their home country.
🌸 The English only narrative harms more than helps.
🌸 Women still don't have the same economic and educational opportunities as men in many countries.
🌸 Women are expected to be mothers and wives and not have career goals and expectations for themselves.
🌸 Transracial adoptions is another way that the U.S. perpetuates ethnic cleansing and cultural erasure.
🌸 The pathway to citizenship for Blacks and POC is full of impossible red tape.

Bookdragon rating 4.75 🔥 ( )

One of the most powerful and informative sub-genres of fiction is one that focuses on the stories of immigrants to a new country. What and why are they leaving? What are they looking for? Why are they willing to take risks and what are the outcomes? "The Leavers" by Lisa Ko is perhaps the most moving and effective novels on immigration, present-day immigration into the US. Polly Guo emigrates from China to New York, eventually bringing her son Deming with her. When she literally disappears, Deming is taken from his familiar Bronx neighborhood and adopted by a couple in upstate New York. Deming has no explanation for his mother's absence and has to not only navigate his new all-white middle-class world, but figure out where he fits in. When at 21 he decides to search for his mother, the narrative shifts to Polly and we learn about the complicated and sometimes soul-crushing background to immigration from China. All of the questions I posed at the start of this review are answered. Ko skillfully provides a voice to both Deming and Polly and provides us with a novel that leaves us deeply moved and so much more aware of what might lie behind the surface when we are aware of individuals who have recently immigrated. . I believe this novel, though being nominated for the National Book Award and winning the PEN / Bellwether Award has not received the widespread readership it deserves. ( )

About half way thru this book I realized that I had already read it but it wasn't on my Goodreads list and I wasn't entirely sure. I kept thinking did I finish it. Well I remember the perfect ending and my frustrations with some of the characters so yes, already read. However, I'm counting it towards this year because I didn't count it before. ( )

I enjoyed this more than my usual expectations for contemporary fiction, and the subject feels extremely timely, what with all these border detentions and MAGA losers. ( )

I decided to read this book because it had been a National Book Award Finalist, though I am beginning to be disappointed with these books lately. The book was educational for me because it dealt on a human level with the issue of immigration, cross culture adoption and the impact on all of those caught up in the complexities. The main story is about Polly and her son Deming. Polly is an illegal immigrant from China who ends up in New York City, like many illegal immigrants just melting into the system of low wage work and a poverty existence. The book gets into the details of her life, but the ultimate story surrounds her disappearance when her son is 11 and his subsequent adoption by a white couple from upstate New York. The book does a good job getting into Demings head(name changed to Daniel) as he has to come to grips with his dual life of his past and present. The book deals with many issues but at the heart is the problem of immigration and racial stereotypes on all sides. This was first novel and the writing was okay and I agree with other reviewers that it was a little stuffed with information that didn't help the story. All in all it was a worthwhile read. ( )

I may bump this up to 5 stars, depending on how it sits with me over time. I think this is an important book for us now as Americans - if reading fiction is supposed to make us more empathetic, as the studies say it does, then this book needs to reach people who don't see or understand the urgent need for compassion for undocumented persons. This is a very humanizing story, and it doesn't seek to depict pristine martyrs. Ko created characters that are people, not symbols. They aren't perfectly good or perfectly bad - they are three dimensional, and that makes it easier to see ourselves in them.

As an adopted person, this book probably held some special interest for me, even though the circumstances of my adoption could not be more different than Deming's. Adoption is not a topic that I often see depicted in adult literature, and it was interesting to see it explored in this context. ( )

It's really a 3.5 star book for me. ( )

This is one of those stories where your opinion of the characters fluctuates based on their actions and what they reveal during the novel. There were times when I thought a character couldn't change or defend their behavior, but surprised me. Like many people, you don't know what they've been through or what their present circumstance might be. Although a slow start and certainly some parts I enjoyed more than others, I liked it. It helped that I was reading it at the same time as my friend, Jim. Reading is more fun with a friend ;) ( )

At the beginning of the reading the book slowly started, but then I was conquered. The language is excellent and versatile. Deming-Daniel felt the music in all his senses, a burst of colors and emotions, both walking the streets, traveling, meeting people. The feeling of suffocation is also here in full force - Lack of belonging to any of the worlds and the desire to be one of them all. A particular place in the book said he did not know how exhausting it was to be inconspicuous. Not an exact quote but that's the feeling: Please do me to be like everyone else. And of course the harrowing subject of the illegal immigrants. The expectations that not realized, the administrations that are trying to brutally expel them back to their bitter fate, the lack of conditions and the futility of improving the situation, there is always someone else who is increasingly exploiting you, still the illegal immigrant at the bottom of the food chain. There was a reason why he had left his natural habitat and gone to graze in external fields. The United States has a long history of xenophobia and persecution, and now in the Trump era, the matter is once more floating and becoming a subject. ( )

ALMOST 5 stars. I really enjoyed this. It comes from a perspective so different from my own, and it was written so interestingly. Deming and his mother's relationship was so fascinating to watch. ( )

This is a book of bad decisions and unrealistic expectations. The novel centers a Chinese mother and son. She comes to the United Stated illegally and tries to fashion a here. There is a big build up till mother and son are separated. The other theme is about when the son (now older) goes on a quest to find his mother and find out why his mother abandoned him. This issue seems to force him into making into really poor decisions and leave him goalless life (except finding mom) The book is well written and deserves all the plaudits it has received, Read the book. Don's listen to it on CD as the narrator is a drama queen. ( )

Anytime a book makes me gasp out loud as a major revelation becomes clear, I know it's a good one. This novel was beautifully written, often heartbreaking, and so very honest in its depiction of difficult relationships. The Leavers is a standout from start to finish. ( )

I thought I would like this book a lot more than I did. After all it won 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for fiction. A lot of the reviews I read said it depicted life for immigrants fairly well. If so, I am a fortunate person. But I didn't like the characters that well. They were so unlikable. It took me a week and a half to read because I wasn't compelled to keep picking the book back up. ( )