What I Leave Behind

What I Leave Behind by Alison McGhee
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't remember exactly where I saw a recommendation for this book. I was intrigued by the plot description. What I got was something completely unique.

If you look over the plot, you have basically read this book. Which makes it a little disappointing for me…

The book itself is listed as being 208 pages. That's a fair description, what you may not know is that you only have half that amount of pages in content and maybe even a fourth of that because each page only has a couple of paragraphs listed on each page. The description on Goodreads even tells you this, although you may think it's part of the plot devices somehow; "After his dad commits suicide, Will tries to overcome his own misery by secretly helping the people around him in this story made up of one hundred chapters of one hundred words each."

It doesn't necessarily detract from the plot, in this instance I think it may even enhance the overall feel of the story. I was, however, expecting a gripping YA novella about this kid and his friend. That's not exactly the right way to think of it and not exactly wrong either.


The author packs a lot of punch into the few pages they have. No word is extraneous and everything has a purpose. It was nice to read about a little bit of beauty in what is an otherwise awful situation. I admit that I teared up a time or two. Overall it's an enjoyable read and definitely a fast one.

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