Leaving: A NovelMacmillan, 2002 M03 19 - 452 pages In 1959, newly-widowed and pregnant Ruby Washington and her thirteen-year-old half brother, Easton, board a bus in rural South Carolina, destined for Oakland, California. There, far from the violent events that forced her to flee her home, Ruby hopes to make a new life for her family. Ruby gives birth to a daughter, Lida, and strives to raise the girl and Easton. But as their Oakland neighborhood changes during the turbulent 1960s, the three are driven apart by forces that Ruby cannot control. Easton becomes involved with civil rights activism and the Black Panthers; Lida, keeping a hurtful family secret to herself, spirals into a cycle of dependency and denial. Finally, Lida's sons Love LeRoy and Li'l Pit must fend for themselves in the inhospitable streets of America, leaving one city for another, searching for a home. Centered around three generations of a family and set against the larger dispossession of African-Americans, Leaving is a blend of history and intimately-observed everyday life-a remarkable debut novel. |
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Contents
I | 3 |
II | 10 |
III | 13 |
IV | 18 |
V | 20 |
VI | 28 |
VII | 31 |
VIII | 35 |
XXX | 180 |
XXXI | 194 |
XXXII | 198 |
XXXIII | 199 |
XXXIV | 211 |
XXXV | 217 |
XXXVI | 220 |
XXXVII | 227 |
IX | 36 |
X | 41 |
XI | 44 |
XII | 54 |
XIII | 56 |
XIV | 68 |
XV | 70 |
XVI | 80 |
XVII | 82 |
XVIII | 100 |
XIX | 102 |
XX | 110 |
XXI | 117 |
XXII | 119 |
XXIII | 130 |
XXIV | 134 |
XXV | 148 |
XXVI | 149 |
XXVII | 169 |
XXVIII | 170 |
XXIX | 178 |
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Common terms and phrases
ain't arms Arna Bontemps asked baby bathroom breath brother Charles chest chile closed Corbet corner couch Curse Dallas Cowboys dollars door dress Easton Emmitt Smith eyes face feel felt fingers floor Freight front gonna grabbed hand he'd inside jacket Joyce kids kitchen knew LaTanya laughed legs Lida Lida's listen living room Love looked Love shook Love turned Love yelled Love's Malcolm X mama Marcus mother moved mulatto Nanna Negro never nigger nodded nothin Oaktown Okay opened Papa picked Pit Bull pulled pushed RICHARD DRY river Ronald Ruby Ruby's Sandra SANTA RITA JAIL shit shook his head shoulder side slavery slowly smiled Snapple South Carolina stairs stared stay stomach stopped street sure talk tell told took trunk waited wall watched West Oakland What's window yarmulke