The leaving is a coming of age novel set in Dublin in the 1980's. Through Cathy's eyes we see what its like to grow up in Dublin during this period. There is an air of despair and hopelessness surrounding growing up in general and doing so in Dublin in particular. While The Leaving is a test taken to complete schooling before college it is also something voiced my many of the characters in this book, the desire or need to leave Dublin. I enjoyed this book and found myself wanting to know more, not just about Cathy, but about Dublin its self that fostered this attitude of wanting to get out felt by many of the characters. ( )

The book, I think, gives a very realistic aspect of teenage life and love in Ireland. Knowing bits of the country's history I can understand some of the dark aspects of the characters and story. For an average reader who doesn't know much about the average Irish teen's life I wish the author could have done more to give you a better understanding of the country's history and why people flee to other countries as it suggests in the book. I also wish the author could have developed the characters more. You get bits and pieces of their history or what they look like so even by the end of the book I felt I really didn't know the characters or could really picture them. ( )

The Leaving was described as "a realistic look at adolescence and first love" and it cannot be denied that this well describes the book for prospective readers. The story is very realistic, with realistic relationships and feelings, including much confusion regarding relationships between both friends and lovers. No sweetener is added to the emotion or background of the characters, they are purely themselves, showing us life through their eyes. The title itself comes full circle from the beginning of the book, where Cathy and her brother are in school, each taking their turns in participating in the Leaving, graduating school and moving on into adulthood. They find they are leaving previous lives and relationships behind them, something I thought was rather fitting. In reading the original description, I did expect a little more of a love triangle aspect of the story, perhaps more focus on the relationships mentioned, which I felt somewhat dumped into the middle of, but such is the case with meeting someone new. They have had lives before I came along, the feeling only adds to the realness of the characters and their situations.

As an American, I felt it was somewhat strange trying to experience the events and emotions behind The Leaving. Having not grown up in Ireland or otherwise experienced life around that part of the world in the early eighties, I was uncertain that I could believe that every person encountered in the book should feel so negatively about themselves or their situation. The book introduced misery and despair into the lives of those within, offering no moment of happiness to anyone and I would hope that even the most upset of persons would be able to find even a speck of joy in some random moments; laugh at a joke, be amused at a movie or book, fall in love with a new place or experience, but that did not happen often enough to these characters. Cathy, who tells the story, constantly focuses on what is wrong with the every event in her life (even the rare happy ones) as she and her brother, Stevie, go about their lives resigned to the misery that is their shared existence. They are aware of their situation and simply accept that it is how it will always be, the only escape is to flee.

Surprisingly, even after reading through all of Cathy's focus on the despair of her situation in her family, friends and in place in her own country, I found myself wanting to know more about her, wanting to know if she would find a way to change even one little thing to make a difference in it all. Though it wasn't a cheerful book, it also was not a morbid tale of gloom and doom, simply a sort reminder that this is life for someone somewhere in the world. The story's rotation through leaving school, friends, family, country and an old life was somehow addictive, leaving me feeling as if I had just been introduced to someone new at a bar and we sitting down to learn about each other. I would hope that, like me, other readers will discover how change is possible if you really want to step outside of something to reach for it and that they will learn to find the future in front of them, no matter what might have happened in the past.

Note: Though this book was a free gift from the author, the content of my review was in no way influenced by the gifting. The book speaks for itself and my review would have been worded just this way even if I'd gone out and bought it. I also give bonus points for Text To Speech enabling on Kindle format.... but that also wasn't a factor in the above review. ( )