Group discussion My Name is Leon SPOILERS OK

[Suzy]

Hi everyone - thanks for voting in My Name is Leon by Kit de Waal. This discussion thread is for comments with spoilers. I'll be back to post some links to articles about the author and the book.

[Bretnie]

I was a bit surprised at the ending! While I liked Maureen, her age and health didn't seem like it was the best match for Leon getting adopted.

[Hugh]

Bretnie wrote: "I was a bit surprised at the ending! While I liked Maureen, her age and health didn't seem like it was the best match for Leon getting adopted."
No, but part of de Waal's point is that subconscious racism makes it far harder for placements to be found for black or mixed race children than for white ones. So without Maureen, Leon would probably have ended up in a children's home not a family.

[Bretnie]

Hugh wrote: "Bretnie wrote: "I was a bit surprised at the ending! While I liked Maureen, her age and health didn't seem like it was the best match for Leon getting adopted."
No, but part of de Waal's point is t..."

That's true, and really the crux of the novel. His best chance at a happy ending is getting adopted by Maureen, which still felt pretty sad considering he is still separated from his brother.

[Beverly]

I will have to admit that I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.

I had an ebk on my unread.shelf and in order to keep with cleaning out my “unread”shelf decided this was an opportunity to read this book.

Then, I discovered that the audio for this book was available via Hoopla and decided to do the audio and I am glad that I did. I thought the audio narrator did a very good job.

I think the author did an excellent job getting into the head into a young boy’s mind when he is player in a situation which he has no control over and all it seems to him that he is just losing - losing everything that matters to him.

This was a heartbreaking tale for me and several times I just could not resist crying (which is not me - so kudos to the author and narrator to evoke this emotion within me.

I have always thought that being a parent is the most difficult job - everything that you do as a parent affects your child and that is a heavy responsibility.

Leon was never really allowed to be a child - and it is so heartbreaking not to see a child live a child’s life.

I did not know anything about the race riots in UK that framed part of the story in this book but did look it up. I do not know about the race riots in the US.

I understood about the royal wedding as that spilled over into the US and I remember getting up early to watch the festivities.

[Bretnie]

You're right, Beverly, about how Leon was never really allowed to be a child. At 9/10, he felt responsible for both his mother and Jake, which isn't how it's supposed to be. To feel responsible for them and them lose them was indeed heartbreaking.

[Mark]

I enjoyed reading the novel. De Wal does a good job of capturing that 9-year-old magical thinking logic. In Leon's case, of course, it was true in large part while Leon was the only functioning adult as Jake was in his infancy.

[Suzy]

I finally am able to jump over here to the spoiler thread. I finished this a while ago, but have been so distracted by the coronavirus pandemic, I haven't felt like I can focus!

Thank you all for your comments. This was a reread for me and I liked it as well, if not better than the first time. I felt so tender toward Leon with his big heart and desperate need to keep his broken family together. I like how you described his thinking, Mark "magical thinking logic". So many passages stick with me, especially when Leon gets his bicycle and experiences freedom to explore and eventually meet the people who end up being his helpers.