I love to read diverse books. It gives me the opportunity to learn about another culture or another way of life. I get a chance to look through a window and experience something I wouldn’t normally have access to.
I just finished the book The Leavers by Lisa Ko. This is the story of Deming/Daniel, a Chinese American trying to find himself. This is also the story of Peilan/Polly, Deming’s birth mother and the hardships she endured to try to make a better life for herself and her son. The book takes us from China to New York and back again as we experience life for both Deming and Peilan. Much of the book centers on Deming. He is abandoned by his mother and adopted into a white family in a town where he is the only Asian. Deming struggles with a gambling addiction as he struggles to find his path forward in life and solve the puzzle of his past.
This is a good storyline and shares some important insights into the life of Chinese immigrants but I struggled to get through the book. The writing style was not engaging enough for me and I found that the book moved very slowly. Between the switches in characters and moving backward and forward in time, I found it very hard to get acclimated and as soon as I did, things would switch again.
I was happy I got through this book. I’ve tried a few other books recently about Chinese Americans and did not finish them because of the slow moving plots. This is such important subject matter and it is important for all of us to get a glimpse into the life of an immigrant.
Speaking of important subject matter, I wanted to take this opportunity to talk about two books, one of which is on the banned books list, that should be required reading for every high school student. Speak and Twisted, both by Laurie Halse Anderson. Speak is the story of a girl in high school who is hiding something and only speaks through her art with the help of her teacher. Twisted shows how easily things can be manipulated on social media to frame someone. Speak is told from a female perspective and Twisted is told from a male perspective but both share important life lessons for all genders. I encourage everyone to read them and talk about them before we lose the opportunity to do so.
