“There was a time I would have called Lisa Ko’s novel beautifully written, ambitious and moving, and all of that is true, but it’s more than that now: if you want to understand a forgotten and essential part of the world we live in, The Leavers is required reading.” —Ann Patchett, author of Commonwealth
“Lisa Ko has created one of the most courageous mother characters in recent memory. Polly is brash, brave and heartbreaking and her ferocity is marvelous to behold. The Leavers is about the bonds between parents and children and the many pulls of home. It was a book I did not want to end.”—Kaitlyn Greenidge, author of We Love You, Charlie Freeman
“Courageous, sensitive, and perfectly of this moment.” —Barbara Kingsolver, author of Flight Behavior
“A rich and sensitive portrait of lives lived across borders, cultures, and languages… One of the most engaging, deeply probing, and beautiful books I have read this year.” —Laila Lalami, author of The Moor’s Account
“Ambitious… Lisa Ko has taken the headlines and has reminded us that beyond them lie messy, brave, extraordinary, ordinary lives.” —New York Times Book Review
“In [Polly and Deming’s] criss-crossing stories we see how this novel’s unique doubled consciousness is the one way they can be together, and in their struggle to belong, at least to themselves, there is a vision for America big enough to include them when America does not. A bold reinvention of the Asian immigrant novel as great American novel.” —The National Book Foundation
“Dazzling… Filled with exquisite, heartrending details, Ko’s exploration of the often-brutal immigrant experience in America is a moving tale of family and belonging.” —People
“This is one of the most ambitious novels of 2017, and it delivers.” —Redbook
“[A]n exceptionally well written, fully realized work of art. Ko is so psychologically penetrating, so acute in her passing observations and deft in the quick views she affords of her characters’ inner lives and surroundings, that her skill and empathy give real joy.” —Barnes and Noble Review
“Here is imperative reading: a vivid fictional exploration of what it means to belong and what it feels like when you don’t… Ko gives us an unsparing portrait of the resilience and grit it takes to risk everything to break free of tradition and start over in a foreign land.” —O, The Oprah Magazine
“A sweeping examination of family…. Ko’s stunning tale of love and loyalty—to family, to country—is a fresh and moving look at the immigrant experience in America, and is as timely as ever.” —Publishers Weekly
