The Leavers by Lisa Ko - April 2019

April 2019 selection - The Leavers by Lisa Ko

The Fairfax Library Book Discussion Group will meet Thursday, April 11th at 7 p.m. in the meeting room of the Fairfax Library to discuss our April book, The Leavers by Lisa Ko.

Here are some links for additional background and information:

Video visit to Fuzhou, China

Psychology Today article about trans-racial adoption

Fuzhou Garment Company website

2018 NYC Immigrant Annual Report (with lots of colorful graphs)

Coming up, we have the following books to look forward to reading:

Thurs. May 9^th              Days Without End by Sebastian Barry

Thurs. June 13^tt              Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston

Thanks for reading with us. I look forward to seeing you at the Fairfax Library.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:

1. What relevance, if any, does The Leavers have to the immigration issues dividing much of the world today? What are your opinions regarding immigration. Did this book alter those opinions...or confirm them?
2. How is Polly Guo portrayed in this work? Do you admire her...or not? Does she engender sympathy? Does your attitude toward her change during the course of the novel? Early on she is ambivalent about Deming's birth, placing him in a bag and leaving him underneath a city bench...only to return to him, of course. Is she to blame for her ambivalence?
3. Talk about Polly's turbulent past and how it shapes who she has become. She seems driven by dreams of her own. What are those dreams?
4. How would you describe Deming when he arrives back in the U.S. as a six-year-old? What kind of family do Polly and Leon provide for Deming and Michael? What kind of life do they lead in the Bronx? Consider Polly's job in the nail salon. 
5. Deming is utterly bewildered by his mother's disappearance. Talk about the effect it has on him as he grows into adolescence and young adulthood? Consider this observation: "If he held everyone at arm’s length, it wouldn’t hurt as much when they disappeared." Or this one: "He had eliminated the possibility of feeling out of place by banishing himself to no place." 
6. What role do Ko's music and his gambling play; how do they help assuage his pain? At one point, after a performance with his band, Deming slips out, thinking to himself, "It felt good being the one making the excuse to get away." What does he mean?
7. What do you think of Kay and Peter Wilkinson? Are they clueless? Insensitive? Well-meaning?
8. Polly's story is told in the first person while Deming's is in the third person. Why do you think the author made that choice? Is Polly's tale meant to be a journal for Deming?
9. Polly is the one who sees the nature of the immigration system firsthand. How is the system portrayed in the novel? 
10. Lisa Ko says the novel was inspired by a 2009 New York Times article about an undocumented immigrant from China who spent 18 months in detention. She had been arrested at a bus station on the way to Florida for a new job. Does knowing that the novel has its roots in a true story have any impact on how you understand it?
11. From Deming to Daniel and Peilan to Polly, do you think the name changes of the main characters helped them to find a fresh start, or further complicated their search for belonging?
12. The Leavers asks us to grapple with a complicated image of motherhood in Polly’s experience. Did you empathize with her? Did your view of her change as more of her story is revealed?
13. A major theme throughout the book is the fantasy of alternate selves. As Polly accepts that she is having her child, Ko writes, “Peilan continued on in the village, feeding chickens and stray cats and washing cabbages, as Polly lived out a bonus existence abroad. Peilan would marry Haifeng or another village boy while Polly would walk the endless blocks of new cities.” Likewise, Polly and Deming have a game of finding their “doppelgangers” and imagining the lives the alternate Deming and Mama would lead. Why do you think Polly and Deming keep returning to these ideas?
14. Similarly, as Polly and Deming make choices, face different situations, and develop in their stories, Ko continually asks us to consider the way we move into differing versions of ourselves and how how those selves must co-exist, sometimes painfully. Have you had a life experience that brought you to a different version of yourself? What truly changes and what stays the same about Polly and Deming?
15. The novel often goes backwards and forwards in time, and the viewpoint changes with Polly’s story in first person and Daniel’s in third person. How do you think structure relates to the larger narrative, and how did it affect your connection with the characters?
16. Discuss Deming / Daniel. How is he personally accountable for his choices? Are they a result of nature or nurture? Whose actions toward him left the greatest impact, for better or worse – Peter and Kay’s, his mother’s, Roland’s, Vivian’s, even government policy?
17. What was your first impression of the title of this book? How did revisiting The Leavers inform what you might suspect to happen as plot twists appeared throughout the story? Discuss the power a title has in reference to a greater book.
18. The Leavers won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize, an award that was “created to promote ­ction that addresses issues of social justice and the impact of culture and politics on human relationships.” What did you get out of this novel? If applicable, compare it to other novels written on a similar subject.
19. Deming plays a concert at the beginning of the novel and again at the end, neither of which could be considered a success by most standards. Compare these performances and consider what they convey about the journey he has been on.