![]() ![]() LK: Deming’s journey, like Polly’s in many ways, is really one of self-acceptance, and finding the ability to live on his own terms, rather than the expectations placed upon him by others. Can you talk about why it was important to let Deming be complicated, and specifically about the choice to make him a gambler? It can be frustrating as a reader to watch a character who you’ve grown to love sabotage themselves the way Deming does. ![]() He’s not a model minority by any means: unanchored by the disappearance of his mother, Polly, he’s a college dropout with a gambling problem who alienates his friends and vexes his adoptive parents. I was lucky enough to speak to Ko about The Leavers, justice, her future projects, and the illustrious state of New Jersey.ĪC: Deming, the protagonist of The Leavers, is a complex character. Ko’s work has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2016, The New York Times, Buzzfeed, and (once, a long time ago, in an issue far, far away) The Brooklyn Review. ![]() – a story that feels both timeless and poignantly relevant to the contemporary discourse about human migration and race. The novel follows the story of an undocumented immigrant woman and her child in the U.S. Lisa Ko is the author of the much-acclaimed The Leavers, which won the 2016 PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Award for fiction. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |