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Leaving
What risks would you be willing to take to fall in love again?
“I never thought I’d see you here,” Sarah says. Then she adds, “But I never thought I’d see you anywhere.” Sarah and Warren’s college love story ended in a single moment.
Decades later, when a chance meeting brings them together, a passion ignites―threatening the foundations of the lives they’ve built apart. Since they parted in college, each has married, raised a family, and made a career. When they meet again, Sarah is divorced and living outside New York, while Warren is still married and living in Boston.
Seeing Warren sparks an awakening in Sarah, who feels emotionally alive for the first time in decades. Still, she hesitates to reclaim a chance at love after her painful divorce and years of framing her life around her children and her work. Warren has no such reservations: he wants to leave his marriage but can’t predict how his wife and daughter will react.
As their affair intensifies, Sarah and Warren must confront the moral responsibilities of their love for their families and each other. Leaving charts a passage through loyalty and desire as it builds to a shattering conclusion.
In her boldest and most powerful work to date, Roxana Robinson demonstrates her “trademark gifts as an intelligent, sensitive analyst of family life” (Wendy Smith, Chicago Tribune ) in an engrossing exploration of the vows we make to one another, the tensile relationships between parents and their children, and what we owe to others and ourselves.
“I never thought I’d see you here,” Sarah says. Then she adds, “But I never thought I’d see you anywhere.” Sarah and Warren’s college love story ended in a single moment.
Decades later, when a chance meeting brings them together, a passion ignites―threatening the foundations of the lives they’ve built apart. Since they parted in college, each has married, raised a family, and made a career. When they meet again, Sarah is divorced and living outside New York, while Warren is still married and living in Boston.
Seeing Warren sparks an awakening in Sarah, who feels emotionally alive for the first time in decades. Still, she hesitates to reclaim a chance at love after her painful divorce and years of framing her life around her children and her work. Warren has no such reservations: he wants to leave his marriage but can’t predict how his wife and daughter will react.
As their affair intensifies, Sarah and Warren must confront the moral responsibilities of their love for their families and each other. Leaving charts a passage through loyalty and desire as it builds to a shattering conclusion.
In her boldest and most powerful work to date, Roxana Robinson demonstrates her “trademark gifts as an intelligent, sensitive analyst of family life” (Wendy Smith, Chicago Tribune ) in an engrossing exploration of the vows we make to one another, the tensile relationships between parents and their children, and what we owe to others and ourselves.
344 pages, Hardcover
First published February 13, 2024
About the author
Roxana Robinson
34 books175 followersRoxana Robinson is the author of eight works of fiction, including the novels Cost and Sparta. She is also the author of Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life. A former Guggenheim Fellow, she edited The New York Stories of Edith Wharton and wrote the introduction to Elizabeth Taylor’s A View of the Harbour, both published by NYRB Classics. Robinson is currently the president of the Authors Guild.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 752 reviews
January 11, 2024
Just the word “leaving” triggers my thoughts of anxiety and isolation. Roxana Robinson delivers a captivating story of a “second-time around” couple at age sixty. It doesn’t matter that the description of their first romance (in college) was not too sexy. It’s sexier this time. It’s distinguished by the propulsion and voice, prose and velocity. I didn’t even notice several text problems that still need fixing until it was pointed out by another friend, such as the credibility of Warren and Sarah as young lovers. But we came away knowing that trust is a big issue for Sarah, and she couldn’t ultimately trust Warren to keep her safe back then.
Warren takes his romantic cues from opera, he’s a mad devotee of the art, and so it is no surprise that he ran into Sarah forty years later at the opera house. Both fall madly in passion. And that is what drives this story---the pitfalls of their romance, the reactions of family that must be considered after such a radical change in your life.
Problem: Warren is still married. Another problem: a grown adult daughter who disapproves. For me, LEAVING was a page-turning and heart-piercing family drama that unfolded in a tug of war with everyone's emotions. Roxana Robinson is such a hefty writer that I forgave some plot holes as she effectively lured me along. Despite the missteps, I was emotionally gripped. Robinson gave the story a sensuous finesse despite the obvious blemishes, and I fell in with the lovers' story. The author conveyed the notorious baggage that comes with your heart’s desires, and did it without inching into cliches.
Dark at moments, LEAVING is a suspenseful domestic drama that deals with relationships, boundaries, betrayal, morality, and what we owe to others in our quest to fulfill our own desires. Sarah and Warren didn’t reach full relationship maturity as they grew older; if anything, it got more complicated. You’re still a fool for love, just—an older fool!
There were times that I felt Warren was nothing more than a spoiled adolescent. On the other hand, he was trying to follow an honor code, but that is one of his blind spots: he thought he was being principled, despite the obvious---he was never all that virtuous. And he was frightened of losing the love of his daughter.
In the end, after Sarah has gone through traumatic events and Warren struggles to get past himself, the story lands where it should, with some answers and more questions to consider. It forced me to contemplate and examine the arc of the characters. This is a largely internal, nuanced text that explores the emotional fallout of passion.
I tore through the pages, especially the last quarter of the story. Dangling on the edge of catastrophe, the characters kept me holding on to their fates. I closed the book feeling both satisfied and hungry, falling in step with Sarah above the others, (I wanted to stay with her for a longer time). The cast lingered in my thoughts beyond the finale. Even now, I want to peek longer into their lives.
In lesser hands, this story would have been torrid and melodramatic, but Robinson mined the characters with emotional acuity. A searing and tempestuous novel. Thank you to Book Browse and Norton for sending me a copy for review.
Warren takes his romantic cues from opera, he’s a mad devotee of the art, and so it is no surprise that he ran into Sarah forty years later at the opera house. Both fall madly in passion. And that is what drives this story---the pitfalls of their romance, the reactions of family that must be considered after such a radical change in your life.
Problem: Warren is still married. Another problem: a grown adult daughter who disapproves. For me, LEAVING was a page-turning and heart-piercing family drama that unfolded in a tug of war with everyone's emotions. Roxana Robinson is such a hefty writer that I forgave some plot holes as she effectively lured me along. Despite the missteps, I was emotionally gripped. Robinson gave the story a sensuous finesse despite the obvious blemishes, and I fell in with the lovers' story. The author conveyed the notorious baggage that comes with your heart’s desires, and did it without inching into cliches.
Dark at moments, LEAVING is a suspenseful domestic drama that deals with relationships, boundaries, betrayal, morality, and what we owe to others in our quest to fulfill our own desires. Sarah and Warren didn’t reach full relationship maturity as they grew older; if anything, it got more complicated. You’re still a fool for love, just—an older fool!
There were times that I felt Warren was nothing more than a spoiled adolescent. On the other hand, he was trying to follow an honor code, but that is one of his blind spots: he thought he was being principled, despite the obvious---he was never all that virtuous. And he was frightened of losing the love of his daughter.
In the end, after Sarah has gone through traumatic events and Warren struggles to get past himself, the story lands where it should, with some answers and more questions to consider. It forced me to contemplate and examine the arc of the characters. This is a largely internal, nuanced text that explores the emotional fallout of passion.
I tore through the pages, especially the last quarter of the story. Dangling on the edge of catastrophe, the characters kept me holding on to their fates. I closed the book feeling both satisfied and hungry, falling in step with Sarah above the others, (I wanted to stay with her for a longer time). The cast lingered in my thoughts beyond the finale. Even now, I want to peek longer into their lives.
In lesser hands, this story would have been torrid and melodramatic, but Robinson mined the characters with emotional acuity. A searing and tempestuous novel. Thank you to Book Browse and Norton for sending me a copy for review.
November 20, 2023
“Being in a marriage is like walking a tightrope. You can’t lose confidence. You have to keep going. You can’t look down.”
But what happens when you lose your footing and do look down? Can you survive or must you surrender to the emptiness?
Warren, who has been married to his wife Janet for 37 years, has lost his footing. The two of them share mutual respect, but they have markedly different views of the world. Then he unexpectedly runs into Sarah, his college sweetheart, at the opera. She is now divorced from the man she left Warren for so many years ago. They rekindle what they once had. But of course, life is now far more complicated. Both have adult children, and Warren is married.
That is the set-up for Leaving, and it is the launching pad for many questions that center around love, marriage, and parenthood. Is love – much like in operatic tragedies – a constant struggle between passion and honor? Are there ever moral grounds for leaving a marriage? What do we owe our children and others who love us? Is personal joy more important than being present and nurturing for those who carry our genetic code and will carry it into the future? Should adult children ever have the right to “own” their parents’ lives or to emotionally blackmail them?
This is a nuanced book, and in reading it, my own questions arose. According to scientists, we are naturally programmed to enjoy about two years of constant sexual highs before settling down to a calmer, more mature love that can still be punctuated by passion. I wondered: what is it about Sarah that attracted him so deeply? She left him for the flimsiest of reasons. And his need to exit his marriage seems built on relatively flimsy reasons as well. What makes them think now they are natural soulmates? At 60 years old, are Warren and Sarah racing the clock to capture the kind of transcendental love that has been denied to them?
I struggled with my rating because the answers are not clear. But I gradually decided that maybe that’s the point: there are no easy answers or instant understandings. This is the kind of novel that captured my attention and left me wanting to talk about it with others. I give it a 4.5 star rating and thank BookBrowse and W.W. Norton for the opportunity to read it early in exchange for an honest review.
But what happens when you lose your footing and do look down? Can you survive or must you surrender to the emptiness?
Warren, who has been married to his wife Janet for 37 years, has lost his footing. The two of them share mutual respect, but they have markedly different views of the world. Then he unexpectedly runs into Sarah, his college sweetheart, at the opera. She is now divorced from the man she left Warren for so many years ago. They rekindle what they once had. But of course, life is now far more complicated. Both have adult children, and Warren is married.
That is the set-up for Leaving, and it is the launching pad for many questions that center around love, marriage, and parenthood. Is love – much like in operatic tragedies – a constant struggle between passion and honor? Are there ever moral grounds for leaving a marriage? What do we owe our children and others who love us? Is personal joy more important than being present and nurturing for those who carry our genetic code and will carry it into the future? Should adult children ever have the right to “own” their parents’ lives or to emotionally blackmail them?
This is a nuanced book, and in reading it, my own questions arose. According to scientists, we are naturally programmed to enjoy about two years of constant sexual highs before settling down to a calmer, more mature love that can still be punctuated by passion. I wondered: what is it about Sarah that attracted him so deeply? She left him for the flimsiest of reasons. And his need to exit his marriage seems built on relatively flimsy reasons as well. What makes them think now they are natural soulmates? At 60 years old, are Warren and Sarah racing the clock to capture the kind of transcendental love that has been denied to them?
I struggled with my rating because the answers are not clear. But I gradually decided that maybe that’s the point: there are no easy answers or instant understandings. This is the kind of novel that captured my attention and left me wanting to talk about it with others. I give it a 4.5 star rating and thank BookBrowse and W.W. Norton for the opportunity to read it early in exchange for an honest review.
January 4, 2024
Roxana Robinson what a great author. Sarah breaks off the relationship she has with her college sweetheart Warren. She sees him as a free spirit and his plans after they graduate from college don't fit her dreams. She goes on to marry Rob that she met through her roommate Celia. They get married and have two children and later divorce. She runs into her old sweetheart Warren after twenty years. They discover they still an attraction to each. Warren is still married and has a grown daughter. Warren wants to leave his wife and marry Sarah. What a hard decision Warren and Sarah must make without hurting anyone. Highly recommend.
March 14, 2024
“Sarah wonders if it’s only women who apologize for everything. Would a man blame his physical helplessness on his own character flaws?”
I hated this book. I might have DNFed, but the $10 sunk cost bothered me and I was at least curious enough to see how it ended (hated the ending, so that didn’t work out for me). The writing is trying to be literary, but it just read as pretentious and dull. I was leery of the plot, but thought surely the author was trying to do something fresh or unique. Nope. Just a couple of selfish assholes having an affair in midlife and somehow not understanding that other people would be hurt by it. I didn’t feel there was enough relationship development, and while I was told there was passion in college and again later in life, I didn’t see it. Even with all of those complaints, the biggest problem might have been that I absolutely hated the two main characters. They were both so selfish and snobby, and despite a lot of navel gazing, they showed absolutely no growth through the story. The only character I was remotely interested in was Warren’s wife, but of course we never hear from her. There was a subplot about Sarah’s daughter just past halfway that drew me in for a bit, but as with everything else in this book, it went nowhere. Ugh. Final complaint: don’t blather on and on about how much you love your dog and then mention that you leave it home alone for literal weeks. WTH?!
I hated this book. I might have DNFed, but the $10 sunk cost bothered me and I was at least curious enough to see how it ended (hated the ending, so that didn’t work out for me). The writing is trying to be literary, but it just read as pretentious and dull. I was leery of the plot, but thought surely the author was trying to do something fresh or unique. Nope. Just a couple of selfish assholes having an affair in midlife and somehow not understanding that other people would be hurt by it. I didn’t feel there was enough relationship development, and while I was told there was passion in college and again later in life, I didn’t see it. Even with all of those complaints, the biggest problem might have been that I absolutely hated the two main characters. They were both so selfish and snobby, and despite a lot of navel gazing, they showed absolutely no growth through the story. The only character I was remotely interested in was Warren’s wife, but of course we never hear from her. There was a subplot about Sarah’s daughter just past halfway that drew me in for a bit, but as with everything else in this book, it went nowhere. Ugh. Final complaint: don’t blather on and on about how much you love your dog and then mention that you leave it home alone for literal weeks. WTH?!
October 24, 2023
I hate to give bad reviews but this has to be one of the worst reads ever. Although it is an ARC I have to give an honest review so I struggled my way through this one. I had hopes a couple of times but NO I just can't stand a book that is a big sob most of the time and leaves me feeling defeated.
August 28, 2024
Would that I were still in a book club: Leaving is the perfect book club read. The questions it raises about morality, familial relationships and parental responsibilities, love and passion in later life, the maddening choices the characters make—all ripe with possibilities for rich discussion and dissent. And then there is that ending. Oh, that ending. My heart.
Leaving is a quietly devastating love story between Sarah Watson, who divorced many years before and has remained more or less content in her singledom, and Walter Jennings, an unhappily married architect. Sarah and Walter had been college sweethearts forty years earlier, but Sarah dumped Walter, misreading his joie de vivre for capriciousness. By the time they meet again—a chance encounter at the opera—Walter's vivacity has faded to resignation. He married a pretty, lively young woman who turned out to be insipid and shallow. Sarah, however, blossomed on her own. She lives with her beloved dog, Bella, on a beautiful property north of New York City and works as a museum curator. Both have adult children: Sarah, a daughter in New York who is too busy raising young children and working full-time to have much time for her mother, and a son who lives on the West Coast. Walter has a daughter in her mid-twenties who emerged from a withdrawn, Goth phase to become her dad's best friend.
Sarah and Walter fall in love—again—and talk turns quickly to a life together. Walter moves out, begins divorce proceedings, the lovers negotiate if Sarah should move to Boston or Walter to New York, and then something, more specifically someone, throws up a seemingly-insurmountable barrier.
What transpires is a family tragedy operatic in scope but intimate in emotion. I found myself caught between tenderness for these two lovers rediscovering their former intimacy in aging bodies with sagging skin and poochy flesh, navigating expectations and exasperations of grown children and the prurient interest of friends and colleagues, and frustration at the paths they choose.
Leaving is beautifully crafted, with elegant prose and perfectly timed pacing that flows and ebbs with hope and bewilderment. Sarah is the more rounded, sympathetic character; Walter seems more like a vehicle for the points Roxana Robinson wants to make and the plot points she needs to hit. But it is still a breathtaking story. Highly recommended contemporary literary fiction.
A note about the many striking copy-editing errors: I don't hold the author at fault for these. There's an editorial team which pores over a manuscript before the final copy is sent to the printer. It's hard to understand how these got past a copy editor, a line editor, and a proofreader, particularly at a publisher as prestigious as W.W. Norton. But there you have it: caveat emptor.
Leaving is a quietly devastating love story between Sarah Watson, who divorced many years before and has remained more or less content in her singledom, and Walter Jennings, an unhappily married architect. Sarah and Walter had been college sweethearts forty years earlier, but Sarah dumped Walter, misreading his joie de vivre for capriciousness. By the time they meet again—a chance encounter at the opera—Walter's vivacity has faded to resignation. He married a pretty, lively young woman who turned out to be insipid and shallow. Sarah, however, blossomed on her own. She lives with her beloved dog, Bella, on a beautiful property north of New York City and works as a museum curator. Both have adult children: Sarah, a daughter in New York who is too busy raising young children and working full-time to have much time for her mother, and a son who lives on the West Coast. Walter has a daughter in her mid-twenties who emerged from a withdrawn, Goth phase to become her dad's best friend.
Sarah and Walter fall in love—again—and talk turns quickly to a life together. Walter moves out, begins divorce proceedings, the lovers negotiate if Sarah should move to Boston or Walter to New York, and then something, more specifically someone, throws up a seemingly-insurmountable barrier.
What transpires is a family tragedy operatic in scope but intimate in emotion. I found myself caught between tenderness for these two lovers rediscovering their former intimacy in aging bodies with sagging skin and poochy flesh, navigating expectations and exasperations of grown children and the prurient interest of friends and colleagues, and frustration at the paths they choose.
Leaving is beautifully crafted, with elegant prose and perfectly timed pacing that flows and ebbs with hope and bewilderment. Sarah is the more rounded, sympathetic character; Walter seems more like a vehicle for the points Roxana Robinson wants to make and the plot points she needs to hit. But it is still a breathtaking story. Highly recommended contemporary literary fiction.
A note about the many striking copy-editing errors: I don't hold the author at fault for these. There's an editorial team which pores over a manuscript before the final copy is sent to the printer. It's hard to understand how these got past a copy editor, a line editor, and a proofreader, particularly at a publisher as prestigious as W.W. Norton. But there you have it: caveat emptor.
March 11, 2024
DNF I kept finding mistakes in the grammar. I couldn’t focus on the story. Are books not edited?
February 22, 2024
I am stunned at how badly edited this novel was. Was it not proofed prior to publication? Otherwise it was quite a sob story with well developed characters.
November 20, 2023
“Leaving”, by Roxana Robinson, had me thoroughly captured and engrossed especially the last third of the novel during which I moved only to turn the pages.
Warren and Sarah were lovers briefly during their college years, distance and Sarah’s fear that Warren couldn’t be trusted, caused her to break up with him.
Now middle-aged they happen upon each other at an opera re-start their relationship. They both have adult children, but Sarah is free, Warren is married.
A deeper character development in the back story of their youthful relationship would have helped to credibly account for their (especially Warren’s) extreme actions after they reconnect.
But the plot was too propulsive to quibble, and it was easy to suspend my disbelief.
I was also distracted by the question of WHO was feeding Sarah’s dog, Bella? She left her for DAYS at a time, and while she noted that Bella had a doggie door through which she had easy access, she never explained how Bella was fed and watered. Finally (on page 263 in my copy) a dog walker is mentioned. Perhaps by the time the book is published in February 2024, Robinson will add the dog walker earlier in the narrative. It might seem a little thing, but Robinson makes Bella a character in the story, as Bella is the only one in Sarah’s life who loves her unconditionally.
Still, I was enthralled by the story and the emotional toll Sarah and Warren’s relationship took on them and on their children. I was fascinated (and horrified) by each of the parent-child relationships in the novel. “Highly Dysfunctional” describes them all.
Perhaps because I am roughly the same age as the characters, have adult children, and have had similar “leaving��� experiences in my life, this story of how our relationships, priorities, choices, and power, shift and change as we age, resonated with me. 4.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you, W.W. Norton for an Advanced Reader Copy of this compelling novel.
Warren and Sarah were lovers briefly during their college years, distance and Sarah’s fear that Warren couldn’t be trusted, caused her to break up with him.
Now middle-aged they happen upon each other at an opera re-start their relationship. They both have adult children, but Sarah is free, Warren is married.
A deeper character development in the back story of their youthful relationship would have helped to credibly account for their (especially Warren’s) extreme actions after they reconnect.
But the plot was too propulsive to quibble, and it was easy to suspend my disbelief.
I was also distracted by the question of WHO was feeding Sarah’s dog, Bella? She left her for DAYS at a time, and while she noted that Bella had a doggie door through which she had easy access, she never explained how Bella was fed and watered. Finally (on page 263 in my copy) a dog walker is mentioned. Perhaps by the time the book is published in February 2024, Robinson will add the dog walker earlier in the narrative. It might seem a little thing, but Robinson makes Bella a character in the story, as Bella is the only one in Sarah’s life who loves her unconditionally.
Still, I was enthralled by the story and the emotional toll Sarah and Warren’s relationship took on them and on their children. I was fascinated (and horrified) by each of the parent-child relationships in the novel. “Highly Dysfunctional” describes them all.
Perhaps because I am roughly the same age as the characters, have adult children, and have had similar “leaving��� experiences in my life, this story of how our relationships, priorities, choices, and power, shift and change as we age, resonated with me. 4.5 stars rounded up.
Thank you, W.W. Norton for an Advanced Reader Copy of this compelling novel.
December 11, 2023
**I received an Advanced Reading Copy in exchange for an honest review.
The story itself is fine (I finished the book, afterall), if difficult to sympathize with. Who supports a cheater and the one helping him cheat? The way the two families progress is also super polarizing - one going cold, one warming up - and might turn some readers off.
Additionally, the book needs a serious proofread for continuity: Thomas becomes James and then back. Josh lives in Seattle, then Portland. Janet is referred to as "Mar" in conversation. It's like a bunch of details were changed during the review process, but the updates are incomplete.
The story itself is fine (I finished the book, afterall), if difficult to sympathize with. Who supports a cheater and the one helping him cheat? The way the two families progress is also super polarizing - one going cold, one warming up - and might turn some readers off.
Additionally, the book needs a serious proofread for continuity: Thomas becomes James and then back. Josh lives in Seattle, then Portland. Janet is referred to as "Mar" in conversation. It's like a bunch of details were changed during the review process, but the updates are incomplete.
March 23, 2024
Roxana Robinson is brilliant.
A book about an affair that probably shouldn't have happened. While it's about two lovers reunited in their 60's, it's also about how their children perceive their parents after the fact.
The subtle, yet detailed nuances of marriage, the everyday unspoken strength it takes to wake up everyday next to the same person and be “happy”, Robinson manages to weave these small intricacies into a novel where you can’t wait to find out how this ends. It’s not about whether or not you root for the characters, but how you see your own relationships grow or falter in many cases.
A book about an affair that probably shouldn't have happened. While it's about two lovers reunited in their 60's, it's also about how their children perceive their parents after the fact.
The subtle, yet detailed nuances of marriage, the everyday unspoken strength it takes to wake up everyday next to the same person and be “happy”, Robinson manages to weave these small intricacies into a novel where you can’t wait to find out how this ends. It’s not about whether or not you root for the characters, but how you see your own relationships grow or falter in many cases.
February 27, 2024
Don’t bother! The storyline went nowhere and the ending was TERRIBLE.
July 24, 2024
This book is such a case of right book, right time for me. I love stories of older adults (not 20-year-olds) and their lives in all its complexities. This one centers around marriage and family in a way that spoke to me. It's a meditation on marriage, love, family, parenting, and the impact of our decisions on the people we love. It's a complicated, complex, and interesting exploration of many interesting things. But, it won't be for everyone. It's EXTREMELY complicated, the characters and their decisions won't work for some readers. But, it's also quite discussable and will give you so much to discuss and ponder. As a 50-year-old woman who has been married for almost 25 years and has three children, I felt so much while reading this. It spoke to me in ways I wasn't expecting as well as ways that I did expect given the synopsis. As a child of divorce, it spoke to me. As a woman married to a man who had a marriage and family before our marriage and family, it spoke to me. As a mother and as a daughter, it spoke to me. I'm not sure that I can do a better job of putting into words how this book impacted me ... other than to say it was beautiful and made me think in new and unexpected ways. It's beautifully written and explores its themes so beautifully that I can't help but recommend it but know that it's certainly literary fiction, it's a quiet novel that has a plot but isn't particularly plot-heavy. It's very meandering and thoughtful, looking at situations and experiences in detail. I loved this about it but some readers may not. I've heard a lot of people talk about how unlikeable many of the characters were but I didn't find that to be true for the most part (there is one character that I didn't love but I found them more interesting than unlikeable).
I've enjoyed some of her previous books ... they also made me think about my life and the lives of people around me in new ways. I think this is Roxana Robinson's gift as a writer. At this point, I think I have to say that I'm a fan of her work and how it makes me think about life and the people around me. I'm going to go back and pick up a few more from her backlist ... she's got a gift and I would like to read more of her work!
I've enjoyed some of her previous books ... they also made me think about my life and the lives of people around me in new ways. I think this is Roxana Robinson's gift as a writer. At this point, I think I have to say that I'm a fan of her work and how it makes me think about life and the people around me. I'm going to go back and pick up a few more from her backlist ... she's got a gift and I would like to read more of her work!
June 21, 2024
Oooo what a great book for book club! Loved discussing this one with Renee (@itsbooktalk). That ending....!!!
March 22, 2024
The first half of this book made me think this was going to be a 4-5 star read for me, but as I got further and further into it, my enjoyment definitely waned.
First, it's going to be difficult to talk about much of my thoughts without giving away major plot points, so I apologize for basically giving aa bad review without a lot of back up...
Second, I don't need likeable characters to enjoy a book, but these characters irked me in so many different ways. There literally wasn't one character that I even semi-liked. I found the entire cast annoying, frustrating, and/or underdeveloped.
Third, I didn't even really love the author's writing style. I felt like it was symplistic, but more importantly, she barely scratched the surface emotionally which was disappointing considering the heaviness of the themes of the book and the fact that this is literary fiction. I literally didn't care one bit about any of their characters' issues and I mainly place that blame on the author.
Last, there was quite a few instances of repetition and lapses in time. Robinson would switch to a new character's pov and repeat the story from the new perspective. I would have benefitted more from a simple statement of how much time had passed. I don't know if I'm making my point here or not, but it annoyed me and took me out of the story several times.
For all the hype this one is getting on #bookstagram, I was definitely hoping for more!
First, it's going to be difficult to talk about much of my thoughts without giving away major plot points, so I apologize for basically giving aa bad review without a lot of back up...
Second, I don't need likeable characters to enjoy a book, but these characters irked me in so many different ways. There literally wasn't one character that I even semi-liked. I found the entire cast annoying, frustrating, and/or underdeveloped.
Third, I didn't even really love the author's writing style. I felt like it was symplistic, but more importantly, she barely scratched the surface emotionally which was disappointing considering the heaviness of the themes of the book and the fact that this is literary fiction. I literally didn't care one bit about any of their characters' issues and I mainly place that blame on the author.
Last, there was quite a few instances of repetition and lapses in time. Robinson would switch to a new character's pov and repeat the story from the new perspective. I would have benefitted more from a simple statement of how much time had passed. I don't know if I'm making my point here or not, but it annoyed me and took me out of the story several times.
For all the hype this one is getting on #bookstagram, I was definitely hoping for more!
March 26, 2024
What a pissy book!
It gets 5 because it is genius in its pissiness. It is well written. It will be a top read of 2024.
This book is about an affair. I have very strong feelings about those.
I hate Warren. Selfish SOB.
The themes I did appreciate are those of adult children and our responsibility to them and theirs to us when they are no longer under our care.
When you marry, and have children, is the vow until death do us part extended to the family that’s created?
What do we owe our adult children?
Do they owe us anything in return for that vow?
How do we handle when our children marry and we stop being invited into their hearts and minds?
I’m learning the answers to a lot of these questions in real time. This is not easy.
I’m not on GR to express my opinions and those questions and my feelings about affairs go unanswered here. If you ever encounter me in real life, feel free to ask. I will tell you.
It gets 5 because it is genius in its pissiness. It is well written. It will be a top read of 2024.
This book is about an affair. I have very strong feelings about those.
I hate Warren. Selfish SOB.
The themes I did appreciate are those of adult children and our responsibility to them and theirs to us when they are no longer under our care.
When you marry, and have children, is the vow until death do us part extended to the family that’s created?
What do we owe our adult children?
Do they owe us anything in return for that vow?
How do we handle when our children marry and we stop being invited into their hearts and minds?
I’m learning the answers to a lot of these questions in real time. This is not easy.
I’m not on GR to express my opinions and those questions and my feelings about affairs go unanswered here. If you ever encounter me in real life, feel free to ask. I will tell you.
February 27, 2024
I despised this book … disliked the characters, very boring and author drolled on about things not important to the story. I read it through to the end to see what was the bombshell ending-yawn
April 24, 2024
****4/23/24**** I listened to this on 2X speed to finish ASAP. I need to review it immediately so I can move past my feelings of angst about it. Sometimes you have to review a book for the quality of writing or emotions the author evokes in you, which may be diametrically opposed to how you feel about the actual content and plot of the novel. This Oprah-best-of-spring-2024 pick is one such book.
It takes the reader so deeply into college lovers Sarah and Warren's hearts and minds that one can truly empathize with them both, that is, for most of the book. It is fundamentally about deep love and emotional compatibility, and how different that can be from marriage and creation of family. It is about forgiveness and acceptance from some people, but not all. It is about honor and duty even when the reader is screaming no in their mind. Talk about insight into marriage, birth, parenting, love, and family. WOW!
I give this book 5-stars for feelings and writing ability by Roxana Robinson. I give this book 2-stars for plot and outcome per the author's vision. Overall, I'll give it 4-stars, and hope many people read it and vow to stay loyal to love, forgiveness, and the best of human connection from whomever and wherever it may come.
****4/23/24**** I’m 80% in and dying. A case study in the ties that bind (maritally speaking), with a side of (too close to home) medical trauma thrown in. Must finish to know the ending.
****4/18/24**** A friend suggested this new best-of-spring pick by Oprah, and I snagged an audiobook copy at the Los Angeles Public Library (12 hrs). Featuring 60-year-olds engaging in a rekindled romance from their youth, hmmm, will be interesting to see what happens.
It takes the reader so deeply into college lovers Sarah and Warren's hearts and minds that one can truly empathize with them both, that is, for most of the book. It is fundamentally about deep love and emotional compatibility, and how different that can be from marriage and creation of family. It is about forgiveness and acceptance from some people, but not all. It is about honor and duty even when the reader is screaming no in their mind. Talk about insight into marriage, birth, parenting, love, and family. WOW!
I give this book 5-stars for feelings and writing ability by Roxana Robinson. I give this book 2-stars for plot and outcome per the author's vision. Overall, I'll give it 4-stars, and hope many people read it and vow to stay loyal to love, forgiveness, and the best of human connection from whomever and wherever it may come.
****4/23/24**** I’m 80% in and dying. A case study in the ties that bind (maritally speaking), with a side of (too close to home) medical trauma thrown in. Must finish to know the ending.
****4/18/24**** A friend suggested this new best-of-spring pick by Oprah, and I snagged an audiobook copy at the Los Angeles Public Library (12 hrs). Featuring 60-year-olds engaging in a rekindled romance from their youth, hmmm, will be interesting to see what happens.
January 17, 2024
As always, I have my book with me when I have breakfast at a restaurant. While reading Leaving by Roxana Robinson, the waitress came to me and said, “How is your book? It looks very serious and sad.” I replied, “It is actually. How did you know?” She astutely said that she could tell from the title and cover of the book. So there, you can judge a book by its cover.
Robinson has written a very insightful book on relationships and marriage. The characters are wonderfully developed. I was moved by the language and rhythm of the book. Even though I felt all the emotions while reading the novel, a serious and sad overtone was a good summation of its effect. Come to this book for the experience of good literature and an emotional journey. It will not disappoint you.
I want to thank W.W. Norton for sending me an ARC. They do not require a review. I am happy to provide one.
Robinson has written a very insightful book on relationships and marriage. The characters are wonderfully developed. I was moved by the language and rhythm of the book. Even though I felt all the emotions while reading the novel, a serious and sad overtone was a good summation of its effect. Come to this book for the experience of good literature and an emotional journey. It will not disappoint you.
I want to thank W.W. Norton for sending me an ARC. They do not require a review. I am happy to provide one.
April 8, 2024
There is so much to think about and to discuss about this book. As a 45 year old woman who has been married for 19
years, I felt this book was a lesson for the present and future me.
It always brings up the idea that, can a reader enjoy a book with unlikeable characters? I found the people in the book to be unlikeable yet living a life that many have chosen to live wether you agree with it or not.
I could go on and on about this book but I would definitely recommend it to other readers but know that it took me about 60 pages to become invested into the characters and into the story.
years, I felt this book was a lesson for the present and future me.
It always brings up the idea that, can a reader enjoy a book with unlikeable characters? I found the people in the book to be unlikeable yet living a life that many have chosen to live wether you agree with it or not.
I could go on and on about this book but I would definitely recommend it to other readers but know that it took me about 60 pages to become invested into the characters and into the story.
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January 13, 2024This is a tricky book to review without spoilers.
This book addresses some big themes, including aging and the role of adult children in their parent's lives - from the perspective of the parents only. There is a lot of thinking and musing, very often in cars. There is a surprising amount of driving around. In the final quarter the pacing becomes odd - it moves from a day by day account to "four years have passed and it's quite clumsy. I found this book frustrating, partly becasue the characters are frustrating and partly because I never believed in their love, and without that the rest is melodrama.
thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book addresses some big themes, including aging and the role of adult children in their parent's lives - from the perspective of the parents only. There is a lot of thinking and musing, very often in cars. There is a surprising amount of driving around. In the final quarter the pacing becomes odd - it moves from a day by day account to "four years have passed and it's quite clumsy. I found this book frustrating, partly becasue the characters are frustrating and partly because I never believed in their love, and without that the rest is melodrama.
thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
April 13, 2024
It isn’t often that I find myself thoroughly pissed off at a character in a novel but this book really brought out some emotion in me.
Warren runs into Sara, lovers from college, and even though he’s married, they rekindle their relationship. Does anyone condone unfaithfulness? Most don’t. But in this story, I could understand it. Maybe there’s something we all carry around, wondering about a young love and all the “what ifs.”
When Warren decides he needs to leave his wife to spend the last years of his life with Sara, his grown, adult daughter says no. She threatens to have nothing to do with him, he can’t attend her wedding, and forget ever seeing grandkids. She holds him hostage and he falls for it, breaking Sara’s heart. And his heart too.
At one point, while they are figuring out their future, he insists that Sara sell her lovely home because his daughter - again, grown woman - would not feel comfortable there and they would need a place where his daughter could visit every so often.
And this really pissed me off. I wanted to slap the snot out of his daughter. I cannot think of the last time I read a book where I felt that angry at a character. Either I’m an intolerant person or the author is that good of a storyteller. Maybe both. 😆
In the end, he chooses his daughter and being the entitled spoiled brat that she is, she still treated Warren like crap. He clearly made the wrong choice. Instead of saying, hey, I was wrong Sara, I choose you, Warren chooses another ending for himself which shows what a coward he truly is.
I really liked this book for making me think about the complexity of love and family and obligations but also for rousing my emotions.
Warren runs into Sara, lovers from college, and even though he’s married, they rekindle their relationship. Does anyone condone unfaithfulness? Most don’t. But in this story, I could understand it. Maybe there’s something we all carry around, wondering about a young love and all the “what ifs.”
When Warren decides he needs to leave his wife to spend the last years of his life with Sara, his grown, adult daughter says no. She threatens to have nothing to do with him, he can’t attend her wedding, and forget ever seeing grandkids. She holds him hostage and he falls for it, breaking Sara’s heart. And his heart too.
At one point, while they are figuring out their future, he insists that Sara sell her lovely home because his daughter - again, grown woman - would not feel comfortable there and they would need a place where his daughter could visit every so often.
And this really pissed me off. I wanted to slap the snot out of his daughter. I cannot think of the last time I read a book where I felt that angry at a character. Either I’m an intolerant person or the author is that good of a storyteller. Maybe both. 😆
In the end, he chooses his daughter and being the entitled spoiled brat that she is, she still treated Warren like crap. He clearly made the wrong choice. Instead of saying, hey, I was wrong Sara, I choose you, Warren chooses another ending for himself which shows what a coward he truly is.
I really liked this book for making me think about the complexity of love and family and obligations but also for rousing my emotions.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2024
My goodness, this story! I knew from the first few pages that it would be hard to put down, but one I so wanted to savor as well. There is so much to think about here. Yes, there is an affair involved, but it’s so much than that. Family, first love, parenting, careers, location, obligations. This is an adult story about big choices and how we decide what matters most. The writing is easy to read and just beautiful. This would make for a great discussion with a book club or your reader friends. I’ll be thinking about this story and all my highlighted quotes for a while.
March 3, 2024
This is the first novel that I have read by Roxana Robinson. I am so impressed with her writing and ability to create such impenetrable characters and a story that reads like a film because it is crafted so well. Not everyone will be comfortable seeing the protagonists Sarah and Warren fumble through this unique story. “Leaving” invites debate, but readers that refrain from imposing a specific moral interpretation and allow the narrative to linger, shift and expand will ponder if the characters are indeed so strangely right together. I read the entire book in one day. As the protagonists relationship develops, I was pulling for them, even as I sensed that something might be around the corner that was going to leave my heart ajar. “Leaving” has the makings of a play in its steadfast focus on central themes of midlife love and living an authentic life conflicted by moral dilemmas. This will be one of my favorite books of the year. I’m still thinking about it. I loved a sentence in the novel that showcases how the author is exceptional in expressing the characters inner thoughts and emotions in creative ways—“She drives out of the city, through fitful rain and the steady slap of the windshield wipers, which say, Warr-en, Warr-en, Warr-en, over and over.
February 27, 2024
I read this at the INSISTENCE of my partner Aaron. Let us not read into why he was so hell bent on me reading this book about a miserable marriage (among other things). I will say that it definitely made me think and I really look forward to discussing it over our coffee and smoothies this morning. The writing style felt similar to others who I presume are the author’s contemporaries like Joan Didion and Elizabeth Stout, which, while I know is crisp and technically very good, always feels a bit cold to me. Something about the dialogue maybe. Do people really talk like that?? It’s hard to believe. Missing something a little more raw and emotional. The story also just felt hollow to me - not enough character development or plot to really sink my teeth into.
May 2, 2024
Moral of the story is if you marry the wrong person you’re fucked?
February 19, 2024
"It's funny," she says, "when we knew each other before, we were just ourselves. Before you have any kids the idea of them is so peripheral. Then it was just something to worry about - getting pregnant has nothing to do with children, it had to do with us." "Now they're more central," he says. "I can't imagine things without them." Roxanna Robinson, Leaving.
This was a slow climb. A getting to know who they were - together, individually, and in their own lives. Sarah and Warren had a college love story and then it wasn't. Life moved on. And who we are today isn't who we were in college. Or is it? We want different things, yet inside we're still that eager, open, loving individual finding their way. This is their story. What happens when they reconnect, unexpectedly after forty years? Family, first love, parenting, careers, location and what place connects to identity. This is a love story. This is also a grown up, big decisions story all wrapped up in the obligations we create and the life we become when we decide what matters most. It's beautiful, unexpected and shattering.
This was a slow climb. A getting to know who they were - together, individually, and in their own lives. Sarah and Warren had a college love story and then it wasn't. Life moved on. And who we are today isn't who we were in college. Or is it? We want different things, yet inside we're still that eager, open, loving individual finding their way. This is their story. What happens when they reconnect, unexpectedly after forty years? Family, first love, parenting, careers, location and what place connects to identity. This is a love story. This is also a grown up, big decisions story all wrapped up in the obligations we create and the life we become when we decide what matters most. It's beautiful, unexpected and shattering.
April 10, 2024
I love a good family drama, but I did not love this. In fact, the longer I think about it the more the whole book pisses me off. That ending. WTF.
I also have some logistical questions… mainly: how did Sarah get this gorgeous house with an orchard in Westchester when her ex husband was allegedly such a loser in business? Where did the money come from? Who watches her dog when she’s away all the time? We get that the dog has a dog door, but like… how about the food and water?
And yes, I agree with every other review that is annoyed by the inconsistencies. Her son works in Seattle but lives in Portland? Did the French start WWII or WWI, Janet?
I was hoping I had found myself an Ann Patchett read-alike. That is very much not the case here.
I also have some logistical questions… mainly: how did Sarah get this gorgeous house with an orchard in Westchester when her ex husband was allegedly such a loser in business? Where did the money come from? Who watches her dog when she’s away all the time? We get that the dog has a dog door, but like… how about the food and water?
And yes, I agree with every other review that is annoyed by the inconsistencies. Her son works in Seattle but lives in Portland? Did the French start WWII or WWI, Janet?
I was hoping I had found myself an Ann Patchett read-alike. That is very much not the case here.
March 25, 2024
Gutted after reading this one. Loved the writing. Family drama, lots of interesting dialogue about parent-children relationships and relationships in general.
Overall there are some things that were a little over the top and maybe five stars is a bit reactionary, but this book hooked me in a way that was different for me. Can’t explain it, but I’m grateful for it.
Can’t sleep now, feeling sad xo
- AT
Overall there are some things that were a little over the top and maybe five stars is a bit reactionary, but this book hooked me in a way that was different for me. Can’t explain it, but I’m grateful for it.
Can’t sleep now, feeling sad xo
- AT
February 19, 2024
Predictable story about a rekindled love later in life. Some well written passages, but difficult to keep my interest. Although there’s nothing wrong with the category of women’ s fiction, this book being a good example, it’s not to be confused with literary fiction.
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