The Leaving

The Leaving
Written by Tara Altebrando
Young Adult, Mystery, Contemporary
Published June 1st 2016
Thank you to Bloomsbury Australia
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★★★☆
Six were taken. Eleven years later, five come back, with no idea of where they've been.

Eleven years ago, six kindergarteners went missing without a trace. After all that time, the people left behind moved on, or tried to.

Until today. Today five of those kids return. They're sixteen, and they are... Fine. Scarlett comes home and finds a mom she barely recognizes, and doesn't really recognize the person she's supposed to be, either. But she thinks she remembers Lucas. Lucas remembers Scarlett, too, except they're entirely unable to recall where they've been or what happened to them. Neither of them remember the sixth victim, Max. He doesn't come back.

Everyone wants answers. Most of all Max's sister Avery, who needs to find her brother, dead or alive, and isn't buying this whole memory loss story.
It's been eleven years since six five year old children disappeared from their first day of Kindergarten without a trace, an event locals have called The Leaving. leaving behind broken families and grieving parents, the now sixteen year old teens find themselves only minutes from where they were taken, all wearing the same outfit and all with individual maps in their pocket to ensure they reach home safely. But not all the children have come home.

Avery's brother Max who was also abducted that day is missing, while the others have returned. Avery remembers clutching her teddy bear during the press conference and growing up in a shadow of her brother that may never come home.

The five returned teens each hold one memory from their time in captivity, but all have been educated, in good health and have been taken care of physically. Where have they been and why can't they remember? But as shock turns to skepticism within the community, the teens begun to piece together moments from the last eleven years of their absence and left to decipher what is real and what they've been lead to believe.

My Thoughts

The Leaving was a bizarre blend of contemporary and intrigue that will leave readers wondering what is real and what we're manipulated to believe. Told from several points of view, Lucas and Scarlett who were both taken at five years of age and from the perspective of Avery, who's brother Max was taken and has yet to return with the other five teens. Scarlett is returning to a single mother, a former alcoholic who believes her daughter was abducted by aliens and has immersed herself in a support group of other returnees. Lucas returns to a tragic accident and now being questioned by the police. Based on how they gravitate towards one another, Lucas and Scarlett believe they may have been once in love, but the memory has been altered upon their return, along with Kristen, Sarah and Adam. It's Avery who is waiting for her brother Max to come home, the sixth child stolen and now seemingly missing. Avery doesn't believe that the returned group can't remember where they've been or who Max is, and is determined to conduct her own investigation fueled by jealousy and anger.

The core storyline of the children being taken and returned eleven years later was brilliant. I loved the intrigue as the storyline unraveled as to why the children were taken and where they've been. What did disappoint me was Avery's character. She fluctuated from being jealous of not only the attention the group were receiving, but also of Scarlett and her relationship with Lucas. She's one of the most narcissistic characters I've come across in young adult and I found unable to tolerate her attitude. She could have been forgiven, as her brother is still missing while the others have returned with an unlikely story but in the same breath, she's disappointed that a body recovered was not that of her brother.

Each point of view is vivid and uniquely told using the page formatting to represent each character of Scarlett and Lucas. With memory loss comes confusion and voids within their thoughts and is formatted to give the reader a sense of their inner turmoil. Scarlett's thoughts are scattered with dashes reaching across paragraphs and pages, often in the middle of her thoughts or sentences while Lucas's memories are heard in sounds, such as a gun being loaded and formatted as large black boxed quotes.

It was the final few chapters that left me bewildered. Avery determined to lure Lucas into a romantic relationship even though her brother is still missing was awkward and uncomfortable. It didn't feel genuine and that she pined away for Lucas only because she wanted what she believed Scarlett held. The disappearance of Kristen, Sarah and Adam from the storyline, we see brief updates of their lives only to fade into obscurity and of course the conclusion. It felt almost unplanned and I didn't fully grasp what was happening without having to reread due to it being so utterly random.

Overall, I really did enjoy it despite it's issues. But the ending left me unsatisfied and Avery's character, who also let the storyline down with her constant narcissistic attitude and indulgent personality.

26 comments

  1. I read another review where they mentioned Avery pining after someone seemed really weird with her brother still be missing. Thanks for sharing though. I do like mysteries.

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    1. Me too Lauren. The romance was strange as Avery seemed more obsessed with just having what she thought Scarlett had. It was a little Single White Female and would have been even creepier had the storyline gone down that road. It was still a great read despite it's issues. I'd love to see what you think of it.

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  2. I really really struggled with this one unfortunately. I decided it was best if I just quit because I hated pretty much everyone. I was curious about the ending, so I asked a friend about it and honestly, if I had read the whole book I would have been really mad. I'm glad that you had better luck with it though, Kelly despite the issues you had with the book.

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    1. The ending was a bit confusing and anticlimactic unfortunately. Avery was a terrible character and I really struggled with her motivation too. It would have been such an incredible read if not for her character and the romance. Sorry you couldn't have enjoyed it more Nick, I felt like giving up several times too.

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  3. Oh, this is interesting. I was watching a series on Netflix called, The Returned which has the same concept. It sucks because most came back save for a few. It's a bus full of children who disappeared without a trace then came back exactly the same premise. It was as if they never disappeared at all. But it was heartbreaking for the ones who didn't come back. Anyway, I'm intrigued!

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    1. Ahh, is that based off the book The Returned? I watched part of episode one once, got distracted and ended up forgetting about it. I did enjoy the 4400, which had a similar theme too. It's a great read if you can move past the terrible romance and how annoying Avery is. I'd love to see what you think of it Joy.

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  4. I agree with Joy! This DOES sound interesting! <3 I love the mystery surrounding all of the children disappearing (not that I WANT the children to disappear.....just that it made it more intriguing.) Gosh, do i sound like a horrible person now? Huh..

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    1. No, not at all! I felt the same way. I was enthralled by the storyline, missing kids suddenly returned minus one. It was creepy but at the same time, impossible to put down.

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  5. Yesss, I love your review and I agree with a lot of this! I just wonder why the story bothered to be about 6 kids when only 2 were important? (Well, and the missing kid.) And Avery just was BIZARRE. I mean, priorities woman?!? I get that she didn't know her brother, really, but she seemed weirdly unaffected...psychopathic? HELP. *backs away slowly* I really really liked the formatting though...it made their confusion and lost-ness like SO VISUAL. LOVE THAT. I just wish the ending hadn't been so weird. But then I'M FUSSY😂

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    1. Yeah, they just seemed to fade into oblivion when it would have made more sense to just have the three characters taken. Avery was irritating, I just couldn't stand her. The ending was super weird. And confusing. It just built up and up and felt like a let down compared to how engrossing the book was overall.

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  6. Avery was such an annoying character wasn't she? I'm like WHY AREN'T YOU GUYS FOCUSING ON YOUR MEMORIES. I'm glad you ended up enjoying it regardless of the issues Kelly! I read this this week as well and was not impressed.

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    1. She was infuriating! I expected something far more sinister from her character towards the ending, which would have made sense and more shock value. It was just anticlimactic wasn't it. I've yet to see a review who has enjoyed her character.

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  7. Wow the website aesthetic is incredible!
    The concept of The Leaving sounds like it would be grating for me...I just can't imagine them just coming back after leaving and resuming their lives. There's too many unknowns to deal with first, I'd suppose.

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    1. Thanks Mawa, I think you might have been the only person that's noticed that it's been tweaked a little. Still needs a bit more work.

      It certainly keeps you on your toes until the very end, but it had so much potential. I think this is a book that readers won't dislike, but the ending will leave many feeling as though it was a little too confusing and having expected a bit more of a revelation.

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  8. Well that's very curious. I prefer when everything is clear in a book and we're not left to wonder too much (b/c it usually leaves tons of unanswered questions) but this one does not look too bad! Cool review, Diva!!

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    1. Thanks Lola.

      I usually don't like open endings, but it's a real page turner. It's one of those books that you can still really enjoy despite it's issues and the character annoyance.

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  9. I'm totally intrigued by this! I think I'll give this a try, and hopefully those issues won't bother me too much.

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    1. It's still a pretty good read regardless Christy. Would love to see what you think of it.

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  10. It sounds devastating. Yet much like a car crash you can't look away and just want to know more.
    Sometimes book where the characters are confused just ended up confusing me as a reader. I'm glad to see this one uses the confusion to add to the overall sense of the book. Definitely going to add this one to the to-read list! Great review, Kelly.

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    1. It was Kate, but I couldn't put it down anyway. It was so incredibly creepy without being scary, but it had me jumping at noises while reading at night that's for sure.

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  11. WHAT Lucas's were also uniquely formatted?! Man, my eARC sucked HARD. I saw absolutely nothing in Lucas's chapters, and then in Scarlett's there was just random gibberish letters and characters where the unique format was supposed to be. Like, it isn't even a review copy when I can't actually review it! ANYWAY.

    I totally agree with your thoughts here. The end chapters were a bit messy for me too- and YES to the Avery thing! I seriously felt like I was missing something, or rather, missing WHY she needed to have this relationship with Lucas. She made it seem like she's been in love with him since forever, but how old was she when he disappeared? 3? 4? I don't remember ANYTHING at that age, and I mean, my kid is almost 5 and I am pretty sure she isn't pining after her soulmate or whatever soooo... yeah. But I did REALLY love the premise, and I was certainly invested in the outcome, so the good outweighed the bad for me. Fabulous review!

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    1. Me too Shannon but the romance between Avery and Lucas just didn't make sense. It felt as though she just wanted what Scarlett had and in the end, showed that if you stomp your feet enough the world will bow down to you? The formatting did add a little something, but Scarlett's was mainly slashes and they didn't seem to form a pattern, so you're not missing much. It was mainly just to show how frantic her thoughts were.

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  12. I was actually super keen to read it because I thought it was going to suspenseful and mysterious, but I'm glad I read your review so that I don't go into with super high expectations. Anything that relies heavily on romance is something that makes me uncomfortable, especially if its misplaced.

    Thanks for the review, very well written!!

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    1. Thanks Tracey. It's great, but not as suspenseful as the synopsis has painted it. The romance is there, but it's not too overwhelming. It's Avery's character that will probably annoy most readers. Looking forward to seeing what you think of it.

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  13. Oh, this sounds intriguing but it IS annoying when the ending lets you down!

    It's hard not to wonder where they were / what happened...

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  14. Seems like a good read - will keep an eye out for it. This is my first visit to your blog, very nice..... clean cut, beautiful layout and excellent writing. Will need to come around more often. Happy weekend!

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