Leave Me

July 11, 2016
YA author Forman’s successful foray into adult fiction features a New York City magazine editor, Maribeth Klein, an über-organized mom who is juggling her stressful job, a self-involved husband, and a set of preschool twins that are a handful. She’s so busy helping everyone else she ignores her heart attack symptoms, ending up with emergency bypass surgery. Following this massive disruption in her life, Maribeth decides the only way to recover from the emotional and physical trauma of what she’s been through is to suddenly leave her family, fleeing to Pittsburgh, not only to escape but also, spurred by her health problems, to find out more about her own background as an adoptee. The author nimbly explores what drove Maribeth from her family as well as what compels her to look for her birth mother at the age of 44. She goes off the grid—using cash from her savings, a burner phone, old-fashioned yellow pages, and the local library—to get her bearings and put a semblance of a life together. With humor and pathos, Forman depicts Maribeth’s complicated situation and her thoroughly satisfying arc, leaving readers feeling as though they’ve really accompanied Maribeth on her journey.

This audiobook begins with a jolt: Maribeth is having a heart attack, but she's too harried to notice it. Eva Kaminsky's narration is at once uniquely emotional and quietly familiar. When Maribeth decides to leave the chaotic atmosphere of her family to look after herself and fully heal, the listener can understand her need for solitude. Each character in this novel has his or her own voice, thanks to Kaminsky's skill. Personalities emerge with nuances of timbre and tone. Some inflections are more believable than others--children, for example, can sound too precious at times--but these are bumps in an otherwise engaging road. Listeners will be reluctant to leave. L.B.F. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine