3/5 stars. eBook. This book seems to have mixed reviews on Good Reads, and it is easy for me to see why. The synopsis on the back of the book was promising, but it seems to lack structure and was not very coherent to me. Deming is abandoned by his mother when he is in the 5th grade and is adopted by white parents in upstate New York. Now known as Daniel, Deming deals with an identity crisis for most of the book. He seemed so directionless for most of the book, and I really did not like his character. For all intents and purposes, Daniel is a loser. It is difficult to reveal much more without spoiling the book, but he has no ambition; things seem to fall into his lap, and he squanders them away. For the lack of a better word, Deming is boring. He has a gambling addiction and an interest in music, but his character has very little development from the start.

Peilan/Polly is likeable enough, especially after she explains why she abruptly left Deming, but the author does not give more dimension to the characters, in my opinion. I really enjoyed the sections where she discussed her life, growing up in a Chinese village and leaving for work in a bigger city and eventually making it to America. If the book would have been from her perspective, I probably would have rated it higher.

Overall, the characters are surface-deep, and the writing leaves you wanting more that you are not going to get. Technically, The Leavers checks all the boxes, but it feels like the author did not put her heart into it. There is nothing warm or heartfelt about the story. Some books do not work for certain people, and I think that is the case here. I am not sure I would personally recommend it to anyone.