You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Compassionate. Endearing. A beautiful journey that kept me invested till the end. It's sad at times and breaks your heart a few times more but you come out stronger after it.
Tough, poignant and tender this is a heart-breaking read made easier by the light touch of Kit de Waal.
England 1981: Leon is nine years old and thrust into the impossible situation of caring for his baby brother and his mother who is single, unemployed and suffering from mental health issues. Social services intervene. Leon and his brother are taken into foster care and his mother is sectioned. What follows is a heart-breaking account of Leon's life as a mixed-race child with little hope of adoption and the inevitable separation from his brother.
The first half of this novel delivered on every level. We're invited into Leon's chaotic and unpredictable world and experience the trauma of neglect, upheaval and distress through his eyes. I particularly liked the author's courage in making Leon a difficult child. He's unpopular, uncommunicative and untrustworthy. And why wouldn't he be considering everything he's experienced? It's impossible not to care for him and hoping for a satisfactory conclusion propelled me through the novel. Unfortunately the superb set up of the first half was not maintained. Leon befriends a group of gardeners at the local allotments and the story shifts to focus on these relationships. Sadly they were less interesting and I found myself racing to the crux of the story: Leon's future with his mother and brother.
My Name is Leon is a powerful social commentary that addresses weighty issues with sensitivity and humour. The author judged the tone perfectly and this would have been the perfect novel if the structure had maintained its intensity in the second half. Nevertheless a solid four stars and a highly recommended read.
England 1981: Leon is nine years old and thrust into the impossible situation of caring for his baby brother and his mother who is single, unemployed and suffering from mental health issues. Social services intervene. Leon and his brother are taken into foster care and his mother is sectioned. What follows is a heart-breaking account of Leon's life as a mixed-race child with little hope of adoption and the inevitable separation from his brother.
The first half of this novel delivered on every level. We're invited into Leon's chaotic and unpredictable world and experience the trauma of neglect, upheaval and distress through his eyes. I particularly liked the author's courage in making Leon a difficult child. He's unpopular, uncommunicative and untrustworthy. And why wouldn't he be considering everything he's experienced? It's impossible not to care for him and hoping for a satisfactory conclusion propelled me through the novel. Unfortunately the superb set up of the first half was not maintained. Leon befriends a group of gardeners at the local allotments and the story shifts to focus on these relationships. Sadly they were less interesting and I found myself racing to the crux of the story: Leon's future with his mother and brother.
My Name is Leon is a powerful social commentary that addresses weighty issues with sensitivity and humour. The author judged the tone perfectly and this would have been the perfect novel if the structure had maintained its intensity in the second half. Nevertheless a solid four stars and a highly recommended read.
Was a sad read.
Thought more was going to come of the end.
Loved the characters.
Heartbreaking at times.
Thought more was going to come of the end.
Loved the characters.
Heartbreaking at times.
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A riveting yet gutting story convincingly presented from inside the head of a 8/9 year old black boy as the adults in his life fail him, replacing nurture with layers of loss. We see Leon’s life become steadily more unmanageable as his family unit breaks causing a domino effect of mounting frustration which most of the adults in his life fail to understand.
This is the care system of 1980s Britain. Racial tensions explode into riots at the same time as street parties "celebrate" a royal wedding. Leon's white baby brother is adopted. Leon is crushed after being separated from his brother and his fragile mother, and spends his time plotting ways to reunite with them. Along the way, he discovers the harsh realities of how the odds are stacked for him along with indiscriminate racism.
Whilst the narrative takes us through visceral pain and anger stoked by neglect and not being heard, there is nonetheless a hanging thread that does give some hope amidst deep childhood despair at having no agency.
Survival and the kindness of strangers are central themes despite all the blows. I loved the child's view of social workers and the spontaneous Curly Wurlys that littered the pages and how Leon refuses to blame his mother with a childlike logic (despite her many obvious failings and bad choices), that puts love and family above all else.
This is the care system of 1980s Britain. Racial tensions explode into riots at the same time as street parties "celebrate" a royal wedding. Leon's white baby brother is adopted. Leon is crushed after being separated from his brother and his fragile mother, and spends his time plotting ways to reunite with them. Along the way, he discovers the harsh realities of how the odds are stacked for him along with indiscriminate racism.
Whilst the narrative takes us through visceral pain and anger stoked by neglect and not being heard, there is nonetheless a hanging thread that does give some hope amidst deep childhood despair at having no agency.
Survival and the kindness of strangers are central themes despite all the blows. I loved the child's view of social workers and the spontaneous Curly Wurlys that littered the pages and how Leon refuses to blame his mother with a childlike logic (despite her many obvious failings and bad choices), that puts love and family above all else.
Well written kid's voice. Leon's father was black, but his baby brother had a white father, and thus is more adoptable, after their mother has a breakdown.
Sweet tie into the allotment (the public garden), and how growing things helps the soul.
Life is hard, and life is unfair, and it all seems to be bad for Leon.
Sweet tie into the allotment (the public garden), and how growing things helps the soul.
Life is hard, and life is unfair, and it all seems to be bad for Leon.
This book started out very strong but for some reason it lost me a little in the middle.
Heartbreaking immersion into the mind of a troubled child from a family with more issues than he needed for his young age. I loved that the author could pass on this childlike view of the world, while inserting some grown-ups and their part of the story into the mix. It was really hard to read about , hard to understand what something like that can do to a young mind. A good read overall.
Spoiler
separation from his brother
Leon is a 9-year-old boy in 1980's London. His mother, who is on her own, has a new baby. Leon is biracial. His mother and brother are white. Leon is a loving, gentle boy who does his all for his mother as she slips into post-natal depression. As things deteriorate, social services come in and Leon and his brother are put in foster care.
Maureen, the foster mother, is a working class woman, middle-aged, and not in great health. She is affectionate and cares deeply for the boys. Rather that get into more details of the story, I will let you discover it for yourself. This is a London when people were poorer, the working class "just got by", and racial and ethnic tensions were growing.
Kit de Waal, the author, is the daughter of an Irish mother and a Caribbean father. She worked for a number of years in child services, so this is a world she knows. This book has been much lauded, and deservingly so. Leon is a boy you won't forget You will worry about him and hope he makes it through some of the people and events that cross his path.
Maureen, the foster mother, is a working class woman, middle-aged, and not in great health. She is affectionate and cares deeply for the boys. Rather that get into more details of the story, I will let you discover it for yourself. This is a London when people were poorer, the working class "just got by", and racial and ethnic tensions were growing.
Kit de Waal, the author, is the daughter of an Irish mother and a Caribbean father. She worked for a number of years in child services, so this is a world she knows. This book has been much lauded, and deservingly so. Leon is a boy you won't forget You will worry about him and hope he makes it through some of the people and events that cross his path.
The novel is quirky and at times funny, just what you'd expect from a novel told through the eyes of a nine-almost-ten year old boy.
Although the description of the novel says the book is about Leon trying to find his baby brother who was adopted, this takes only a small part of the novel towards the end. You don't expect it in the beginning when everything is told through Leon's perspective, but there are various social events that were written about: the inner city riots between the police and the minority groups, or Charles and Diana's Royal Wedding. The social confrontations, zoomed into by the constant conflict between Tufty and Mr. Devlin, draw close attention. I didn't know about these conflicts, and at times these parts of the novel were a bit tedious to read. however interesting to learn about. Another interesting thing to pay attention to is the myriad of social workers designated to a case, how in this novel you get the sense they are all "the bad side", but you have to understand that they try. I especially liked Zebra, as Leon calls her.
The novel is heartbreaking. Just when you think you've read the saddest sentence of the novel, you reach another passage that's more heart-wrenching. There is more than one passage that shows Leon's inability to fully grasp what happens to him and his little brother. I loved how Maureen cared and loved Leon, how she treated him not like another case in a social worker's folder, but like a real child. Despite the care he receives, Leon still wants to live with his mother and little brother, and slowly makes plans to find him. It's interesting how because we see the events from Leon's perspective, we're not as shocked and surprised when we learn of his stealing habit, his interest in weapons, and the plotting that gradually takes up all his energy; it somehow makes sense given his unfortunate history, and it's just a way to cope with things.
The ending is not happy as Leon would expect it, but it's good and what he needs. (He wouldn't have appreciated this sentence, btw.) I was pleased with how the novel ended, it wasn't forced to make things into a happy bow and call it a day.
All in all, I recommend this novel. It is the author's first novel, but it is well-written, the characters are complex, the development of the events is believable - a good novel.
I received an advanced ebook copy of this book from the publisher via Net Galley. All thoughts expressed here are my own.
Although the description of the novel says the book is about Leon trying to find his baby brother who was adopted, this takes only a small part of the novel towards the end. You don't expect it in the beginning when everything is told through Leon's perspective, but there are various social events that were written about: the inner city riots between the police and the minority groups, or Charles and Diana's Royal Wedding. The social confrontations, zoomed into by the constant conflict between Tufty and Mr. Devlin, draw close attention. I didn't know about these conflicts, and at times these parts of the novel were a bit tedious to read. however interesting to learn about. Another interesting thing to pay attention to is the myriad of social workers designated to a case, how in this novel you get the sense they are all "the bad side", but you have to understand that they try. I especially liked Zebra, as Leon calls her.
The novel is heartbreaking. Just when you think you've read the saddest sentence of the novel, you reach another passage that's more heart-wrenching. There is more than one passage that shows Leon's inability to fully grasp what happens to him and his little brother. I loved how Maureen cared and loved Leon, how she treated him not like another case in a social worker's folder, but like a real child. Despite the care he receives, Leon still wants to live with his mother and little brother, and slowly makes plans to find him. It's interesting how because we see the events from Leon's perspective, we're not as shocked and surprised when we learn of his stealing habit, his interest in weapons, and the plotting that gradually takes up all his energy; it somehow makes sense given his unfortunate history, and it's just a way to cope with things.
The ending is not happy as Leon would expect it, but it's good and what he needs. (He wouldn't have appreciated this sentence, btw.) I was pleased with how the novel ended, it wasn't forced to make things into a happy bow and call it a day.
All in all, I recommend this novel. It is the author's first novel, but it is well-written, the characters are complex, the development of the events is believable - a good novel.
I received an advanced ebook copy of this book from the publisher via Net Galley. All thoughts expressed here are my own.