Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2016
352 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
An irresistible novel that confronts the ambivalence of modern motherhood head on and asks, what happens when a grown woman runs away from home?
Every woman who has ever fantasized about driving past her exit on the highway instead of going home to make dinner, and every woman who has ever dreamed of boarding a train to a place where no one needs constant attention - meet Maribeth Klein. A harried working mother who's so busy taking care of her husband and twins, she doesn't even realize she's had a heart attack.
Surprised to discover that her recuperation seems to be an imposition on those who rely on her, Maribeth does the unthinkable: she packs a bag and leaves. But, as is often the case, once we get where we're going we see our lives from a different perspective. Far from the demands of family and career and with the help of liberating new friendships, Maribeth is able to own up to secrets she has been keeping from herself and those she loves.
With bighearted characters - husbands, wives, friends, and lovers - who stumble and trip, grow and forgive, Leave Me is about facing the fears we're all running from.
"Starred Review. Popular teen author Forman's adult debut examines just what it means to be a working mother - beholden to everyone, seemingly obligated to forget who you really are. Maribeth's search for her birth mother and the way she settles into her new - albeit temporary - life away from home will strike a chord with readers, especially those who enjoy Jennifer Weiner and Meg Wolitzer." - Booklist
"With humor and pathos, Forman depicts Maribeth's complicated situation and her thoroughly satisfying arc, leaving readers feeling as though they've really accompanied Maribeth on her journey." - Publishers Weekly
"While it may leave fans of Forman's previous books wanting more, this novel is sure to be in demand and will especially interest adoptees and their families." - Library Journal
"Award-winning teen author Forman's (I Was Here, 2015, etc.) adult debut nails the frustrations of working motherhood, though the love complications conveniently disappear and the frayed ends of Maribeth's life are retied too easily. An appealing fairy tale for the exhausted and under appreciated." - Kirkus
"How do we reinvent ourselves when we can't even recognize the body we are in? Can you know where you're headed if you don't know where you came from? These are the questions faced by the prickly Maribeth, the complex and fascinating character at the center of Leave Me. In her first novel for adults, Forman reminds the reader that the answer to both questions involves getting to the heart of the matter." - Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving Time
"Told with humor and heart, Leave Me reveals that sometimes you have to leave everything you treasure in order to find your way back home. A moving testament to the persistence of love and the healing power of forgiveness." - Tayari Jones, author of Silver Sparrow
"Here's to complicated women and the authors who write them! Whatever the age of her characters, Gayle Forman is a compassionate, gifted observer of women's lives." - Gabrielle Zevin, author of The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
This information about Leave Me was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Gayle Forman is an award-winning author and journalist whose articles have appeared in numerous publications, including Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, The Nation, and The New York Times Magazine. She lives in Brooklyn with her family. Her book If I Stay was adapted as a motion picture.
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