A review by qnawal97
The Leavers by Lisa Ko

4.0

Great novel! Very timely and relevant to the current immigration crisis in the United States. I did feel like it was a slow burn, and that I didn't really feel fully engaged till the last third of the book; however, the subtlety in the emotions, the often unsaid feelings, the bittersweet journeys of both Daniel/Deming and Polly/Peilan, really pull the book together at the end. I really felt for Daniel the entire book and wanted for him to finally reach a happy ending after back to back dead ends. I also find it really nice that we finally see the perspective, as the author said, of the adoptee versus the adopting parents. I also think it's important that the novel didn't glaze over or adopt this "white savior" trope as so many stories like this so often can fall into.