Rating: 
Summary: Left Wanting More....
Review: Leaving is Richard Dry's debut novel and it is excellent!! It is the story of Ruby Washington's family - three generations and their actions and reactions to survive against all odds. In 1959, Ruby, poor and pregnant, hastily leaves small town Norma, South Carolina for Oakland, California with her younger half brother (Easton) in tow. She moves in with her father and his lover and finds work as a seamstress. Dry then blends in the political and social happenings of the time and we watch how Ruby struggles to hold her family together despite racism, incest, domestic violence, and the influx of drugs in the community.Weighing in at 450 pages, Dry gives the reader a lot to consider. The interrelationships of the characters are complex and engaging. Dry provides up close and personal perspectives of the movement through the eyes of a college age Easton when he ventures south to participate in a Civil Rights march in Selma, Alabama. Another supporting character embodies the Black Panther philosophies; Lida (Ruby's daughter) resorts to prostitution to support a drug habit; Love (Ruby's grandson) grows up with heroin-addicted parents and experiences the juvenile justice system. Every character has a unique voice/view and a heartbreaking story, which Dry tells with compelling realism. Interweaved within the story are historical (factual) citations and references that shaped race relations and influenced the Black experience in America.
Dry writes with conviction and purpose as evidenced in the title reference and the theme of "leaving" is echoed in the character's actions, a few examples are: Ruby's exodus from South Carolina is necessary to avoid racial violence; whereas Love escapes to the same South Carolina to avoid the ills of urban gang life. Lida's choice to leave Ruby's home is a result of her fleeing pain and unresolved issues; Marcus (Lida's husband) leaves for three years to launch a musical career, etc. This book was simply a good read -- the characters and plot were well developed; pacing was sound and the story moved quickly (which made the 450 pages easier to digest).
Rating: 
Summary: Looking for home
Review: Norma, South Carolina was a danagerous place for black people to live in 1959. Due to this danger Ruby Washington and her younger brother Love Easton Childers head west to Oakland, California in search of a better life. Ruby is pregnant, scared and single and she can only pray that things will be better for her family in California. Ruby is an accomplished seamstress and hopes to support her family by selling her creations to department stores. Love is very intelligent and plans to attend college. They both feel that in California they will have far more opportunities than they would have in the south. Unfortunately, they find out that racism is everywhere. Leaving, a novel by Richard Dry is a saga of Ruby's family that is told over the span of 40 years and 3 generations. This is a story detailing the heartbreak and tragedies that befall the Washington family. The story also details how there are always consequences for the actions of the characters. Richard Dry is a great storyteller and had me turning the pages until the end of the book. Leaving has all the elements of a great drama: drug abuse, sexual abuse, sex and plenty of action. This is the type of novel that I would love to see turned into a movie. I enjoyed this book except for a few spots where the story dragged a little. Reviewed by Simone A. Hawks
Rating:
Summary: Richard Dry has just arrived!
Review: Richard Dry's debut novel, Leaving takes us three generations deep touching history harkening back to the era of civil rights and wrenching wrongs. This is about a family in turmoil and their quest to make in against harrowing odds, and their story being told in a poignant and persuasive way by this author. The matriach and central figure of this tale is Ruby Washington, who struggles to keep her family intact against insurmountable odds battling the signs of the times. The year is 1959, the era of sharechopping just a stone's throw from yesteryear, but close enough for Ruby to remember how hard it was for her parents. Unable to cope with the vile and villanous world she lives in, she decides to leave her native South Carolina for foreign territory, taking with her Easton, her thirteen-year old half brother. To complicate the issue, she's pregnant, newly widowed, and weary from the violence that forced her to flee in the first place. What amazes me about this story, and others like it is how the legacy of the Black female continue to be the anchor of strength, and how writers uphold this truth. In this case, Mr. Dry give creedance to the importance of strong familial ties and what it takes to persevere. But perseverance in the face of fate usually renders one to uncontrolable circumstances, and Ruby succumbs to it during the turbulance of 1960s Oakland. Civil rights activism, the Black Panther Party, and drugs only add fuel to fires raging too prevalently to eradicate without reasonable cause. Through the years Ruby adheres to the 'rob Peter, pay Paul syndrome to make ends meet amid angst hoping for better days. Subsequently, Ruby gives birth to daughter Lida who, as time progresses, has a family of her own often repeating the problems she experienced with her mother. To compound the aforementioned, Lida struggles with a drug problem and the burden of a hurtful family secret. It doesn't get any better as Lida's sons must strive to make ways for themselves, criss-crossing the nation searching for acceptance and legitimacy. The tone and tenor for this family throughout this saga gives the reader reason not to abandon it, despite the hefty 452 pages. As such, the book starts out slow and a little uneven, but gains balance in the later chapters. Books of this magnitude where there's vestiges of historic harangue amid what it took to keep families intact tend to make for good storylines as long as the characters support a moving plot. Richard Dry, in my opinion delivers. He gives us not nly a good story, but a sense of realism that forces you to wonder could things have been different otherwise. When you think along those lines you know that you've read a good book. Read this one for yourself and draw your own conclusions!
Rating:
Summary: somber contemplation of African-American life merits praise
Review: Some fifty years from now, Richard Dry's brilliant debut novel "Leaving" will be given the same homage Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" now receives. "Leaving" is a somber, chilling and compelling contemplation on the nature of African-American life since World War II. The novel blends gut-wrenching dislocation, ironic perception and terrifying alienation in its provocative commentary on racism's lingering impact. Dry, through brilliant characterization and taut narrative drive, extends his vision to the entire scope of the African-American post-war experience, from disintegration and despair to reclamation and redemption. The result is a spellbinding saga of three generations of Blacks, each of which is scarred by the impact of racial oppression, each of which develops its own capacity to comprehend and confront life's hurtful circumstances. Deftly interweaving three cross-cutting narratives, "Leaving" traces the evolution of Ruby Washington's family, from its rural South Carolina roots to the coarse, drug and violence-saturated streets of Oakland California. It is a novel which treats not only the arc of personal odysseys, but how the individual lives of the Washington family fit in the historical stream of African-American history. Indeed, an anonymous prisoner, whose words reverberate consistently throughout the novel, underscores this historical consciousness when he insists that African-Americans "dive into your history." He warns that "without the knowledge of your past, you're likely to" repeat the same mistakes past generations made in trying to understand racism. Without knowledge, without a sense of self, the nameless prisoner scolds, African-Americans will "pace back and forth" on the raft of history, "like a beast in this jail-cage." "Leaving," however, is much more that a book that elevates consciousness. It is a novel that elicits our most profound emotional alliances with its characters, even when the men, women and children portrayed repel and repulse us with their shortcomings. Even in its depiction of depravity, the novel gains transcendence. Despite its overwhelming portrait of urban material and spiritual poverty, "Leaving" encourages hope. The repository of that hope, curiously enough, is the oldest member of the Washington family, Ruby Washington, who suffers the memory of witnessing the murder of her beloved intended Ronald after the latter has challenged the reigning white supremists in his small South Carolina community. Ruby is a living martyr, sacrificing her life to the care of her conflicted half-brother Love Easton, her drug-riddled daughter Lida and her two tormented, blighted grandchildren, Ronald Love and Paul "Li'l Pit" LeRoy. Dry offers no pat answers to racism. His characters carry horrific scars but often choose paths that can only carry them to greater degradation and self-effacement. "Leaving" provides little solace to those who believe that we are winning the battle against drugs in African-American communities. Given the prevalence of anti-social influences in Oakland's African-American community as depicted by Dry, readers may well conclude that our nation has fractured into disparate racial nations. Yet, despite the preponderance of accusatory evidence, "Leaving" never wavers in its belief that human struggle results in victories: hard-earned, seemingly insignificant and even incidental. But victories nonetheless. (...)
Rating:
Summary: somber contemplation of African-American life merits praise
Review: Some fifty years from now, Richard Dry's brilliant debut novel "Leaving" will be given the same homage Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" now receives. "Leaving" is a somber, chilling and compelling contemplation on the nature of African-American life since World War II. The novel blends gut-wrenching dislocation, ironic perception and terrifying alienation in its provocative commentary on racism's lingering impact. Dry, through brilliant characterization and taut narrative drive, extends his vision to the entire scope of the African-American post-war experience, from disintegration and despair to reclamation and redemption. The result is a spellbinding saga of three generations of Blacks, each of which is scarred by the impact of racial oppression, each of which develops its own capacity to comprehend and confront life's hurtful circumstances. Deftly interweaving three cross-cutting narratives, "Leaving" traces the evolution of Ruby Washington's family, from its rural South Carolina roots to the coarse, drug and violence-saturated streets of Oakland California. It is a novel which treats not only the arc of personal odysseys, but how the individual lives of the Washington family fit in the historical stream of African-American history. Indeed, an anonymous prisoner, whose words reverberate consistently throughout the novel, underscores this historical consciousness when he insists that African-Americans "dive into your history." He warns that "without the knowledge of your past, you're likely to" repeat the same mistakes past generations made in trying to understand racism. Without knowledge, without a sense of self, the nameless prisoner scolds, African-Americans will "pace back and forth" on the raft of history, "like a beast in this jail-cage." "Leaving," however, is much more that a book that elevates consciousness. It is a novel that elicits our most profound emotional alliances with its characters, even when the men, women and children portrayed repel and repulse us with their shortcomings. Even in its depiction of depravity, the novel gains transcendence. Despite its overwhelming portrait of urban material and spiritual poverty, "Leaving" encourages hope. The repository of that hope, curiously enough, is the oldest member of the Washington family, Ruby Washington, who suffers the memory of witnessing the murder of her beloved intended Ronald after the latter has challenged the reigning white supremists in his small South Carolina community. Ruby is a living martyr, sacrificing her life to the care of her conflicted half-brother Love Easton, her drug-riddled daughter Lida and her two tormented, blighted grandchildren, Ronald Love and Paul "Li'l Pit" LeRoy. Dry offers no pat answers to racism. His characters carry horrific scars but often choose paths that can only carry them to greater degradation and self-effacement. "Leaving" provides little solace to those who believe that we are winning the battle against drugs in African-American communities. Given the prevalence of anti-social influences in Oakland's African-American community as depicted by Dry, readers may well conclude that our nation has fractured into disparate racial nations. Yet, despite the preponderance of accusatory evidence, "Leaving" never wavers in its belief that human struggle results in victories: hard-earned, seemingly insignificant and even incidental. But victories nonetheless. (...)
Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: This book changed my life. Dry captures a stark reality many of us comfortably avoid. Thoughtful, compelling and wrenchingly honest, this book has become my preferred gift for my most literate and socially responsible friends - as well as those who just like a good story.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Page Turner
Review: This book was excellent. The characters were real, the plot amazing and overall everything was one of the best books that I read this year! Wonderful book! The characters come to life in this touching story about a family's life, struggles, their ups and downs. Excellent reading! This multi-generational novel about an African-American family in Oakland begins in 1959, when Ruby and Easton Washington leave South Carolina for California, and follows them and their family through the trials of the second half of the 20th century, including the civil rights movement, drug addiction, sexual abuse, misguided social workers, and various forms of racism,
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