Social issues in The Leavers

Lisa Ko’s novel The Leavers was published May of 2017, just a few months after President Trump was elected into office. The novel is centered around a young boy, Demming, who eventually is abandoned by his mother, who is an immigrant from China. The novel reflects on the immigration system in the United States, the damage it causes, and other social commentaries, particularly on race, culture, and socioeconomic status.

When Demming’s mother Polly disappears, he is eventually put into the Foster Care system and is taken care of by a white family. The family does care about him, however, there lies a kind of social ignorance. Demming is left to wonder what happened to his mother for years and he sees himself as being abandoned. The person that was meant to love and take care of him did not.

Throughout the novel, the reader is along with Demming for the ride. We do not know what happened to Polly and we too assume that she simply left. However, it is revealed that Polly’s nail salon was raided and she was deported by ICE. She could not come back to America for Demming and she had no way to contact him. Polly is not a perfect character or a perfect victim, but she has done her best and gone through many struggles. Ko does not make Demming a victim of his mother, but rather them both victims of the immigration system. The system separated a family and the reader is with Demming as he goes through this hardship. The story would be vastly different if it was predominately Polly’s story, but it is Demming’s. It is very easy to sympathize with him because he was just a child and full of innocence.

Ko’s novel could not have been perfectly timed politically. The immigration system needs to desperately be reformed by the United States. Ko presents this to the reader in a very personal way. It is first and foremost a story about family and a boy that has lost his mother. Just like it is not about the immigration system first and foremost, it is about the individuals that it is affecting.

Work Cited

Weiss-Meyer, Amy. “'The Leavers' Is a Wrenching Tale of Parenthood.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 14 May 2017,

www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/05/lisa-ko-the-leavers-book-review/526179/.