2017 book 72

Lisa Ko's The Leavers
Ko's debut novel received the Bellwether Prize, which is awarded annually by Barbara Kingsolver to a novel that deals with issues of social justice. But this isn't a moralizing sort of story; it's a personal story about a young man who feels lost, and about belonging, and about the way cultures intersect and don't. The protagonist is a Chinese-American boy in New York City who, after his mother doesn't come home from work one day, is eventually adopted by a pair of white college professors and moved upstate--and renamed. His story is compelling, but I admit that the second half of the novel--when his mother's story comes into play--was a lot stronger for me. The interplay in their narratives was really well-done. Just a moving and well-written story. A-.


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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on May 2nd.