The Leavers

Lisa Ko wrote The Leavers and she was tricky about it. The story is about a boy  named  Deming who is abandoned in the Bronx, New York by his mother. He is eventually turned over to social services and adopted. In the process of adopting him his well meaning college professor parents strip him of his cultural identify including his name. Deming comes to believe, like children do, that it was his fault he was abandoned. His birth mother is a complicated person and an undocumented worker from China. The separation between Deming and his mother haunts both of their lives. I can see how this book won a national award. I wish I could read it in a book club because I knew I would get more out of it hearing the views of other readers.