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The Loss of Leon Meed
‘Josh Emmons is the real a major league prose writer who has fun in every sentence; you want to keep reading him for the pure pleasure of his company’ Jonathan Franzen
Over the course of one December, ten residents of Eureka, California, are brought together by a mysterious man, Leon Meed, who repeatedly and inexplicably appears – in the ocean, at a local music club, clinging to the roof of a barrelling truck, standing in the middle of Main Street’s oncoming traffic – and then, as if by magic, disappears.
Each witness to these bewildering events – young and old, married and single, punk and evangelical, black, white and Korean – interprets them differently, yet all of their lives are irrevocably changed. Over time, these ten characters, previously only tenuously connected, form a strange community of shared experience.
Highly original and brilliantly written, Josh Emmons’s award-winning debut is a mystery, a love story and something else entirely.
Over the course of one December, ten residents of Eureka, California, are brought together by a mysterious man, Leon Meed, who repeatedly and inexplicably appears – in the ocean, at a local music club, clinging to the roof of a barrelling truck, standing in the middle of Main Street’s oncoming traffic – and then, as if by magic, disappears.
Each witness to these bewildering events – young and old, married and single, punk and evangelical, black, white and Korean – interprets them differently, yet all of their lives are irrevocably changed. Over time, these ten characters, previously only tenuously connected, form a strange community of shared experience.
Highly original and brilliantly written, Josh Emmons’s award-winning debut is a mystery, a love story and something else entirely.
- GenresFiction
354 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
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174 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
July 11, 2020
"I know what the truth is - that we lose everything we're given. Even our own lives. But some of us can act beyond that inevitability - like my wife, like you."
"... Knowing his real motivations would liberate him as easily as confirm his sense of destiny, that he was not predetermined, that he had a choice."
"Anne left because I withdrew into myself when I felt the relationship going badly."
"What's that mean, you withdrew?"
"I figured that since I was going to be abandoned, I had to become strong on the inside and detach myself to make it hurt less."
"So you're saying she left you because you withdrew, but at the same time you withdrew because she was going to leave you. What came first?"
"I don't know."
"Let me know when you figure it out."
"... Knowing his real motivations would liberate him as easily as confirm his sense of destiny, that he was not predetermined, that he had a choice."
"Anne left because I withdrew into myself when I felt the relationship going badly."
"What's that mean, you withdrew?"
"I figured that since I was going to be abandoned, I had to become strong on the inside and detach myself to make it hurt less."
"So you're saying she left you because you withdrew, but at the same time you withdrew because she was going to leave you. What came first?"
"I don't know."
"Let me know when you figure it out."
August 20, 2024
This is about a small town in Northern California, Eureka. It tells the story of ten people in the town who mostly have psychological problems. They are solved by a retired school teacher who became distraught after fis wife and daughter were killed in a boat accident. He became so distraught that he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He kept popping into these peoples lives until their problems are solved,,no telling how he did it. Although he was an amateur magician. Best to let this sleeping dog lie. I did not find it worthwhile or redeeming in any manner.
November 18, 2013
Really enjoyable.
The first half of the book focuses on the appearances (and more importantly, the disappearances) of Leon Meed, who shows up randomly, and then disappears within moments. These events are of course disturbing to the residents of Eureka who witness them. Eureka is a small enough town that many of the witnesses' lives intersect each other to some extent. There's an air of mystery to the first half of the book.
Ten years later, the witnesses learn that Leon Meed has died. This half of the book focuses on the interpretation each of the witnesses has made of their brief encounter with him, and how their lives have been impacted over the course of the years.
Emmons' writing is pretty, and his character development is thoughtful.
The first half of the book focuses on the appearances (and more importantly, the disappearances) of Leon Meed, who shows up randomly, and then disappears within moments. These events are of course disturbing to the residents of Eureka who witness them. Eureka is a small enough town that many of the witnesses' lives intersect each other to some extent. There's an air of mystery to the first half of the book.
Ten years later, the witnesses learn that Leon Meed has died. This half of the book focuses on the interpretation each of the witnesses has made of their brief encounter with him, and how their lives have been impacted over the course of the years.
Emmons' writing is pretty, and his character development is thoughtful.
September 13, 2007
I read this book because I invited Josh Emmons to BMCC as a guest writer for our Arts & Culture Festival and wanted to support his work. What I got, in turn, was one of the best contemporary novels I've ever read by a young-ish writer (I'm guessing Josh is about my age). It's huge and sprawling--he calls it a love letter to George Eliot. It has the same size cast of characters as an Eliot novel and all of the twists and turns of Middlemarch or Adam Bede, but takes place in modern-day Eureka, California. LOVED it!
June 22, 2019
Any review I will give seems like it may spoil such a unique story. Just stick through the enormous amount of characters introduced at the beginning, you truly will get to know them, their quirks, and their purpose. Such a great read!
August 13, 2017
An interesting book - not 100% sure what the point was. Lots of characters to keep track of. Liked the jump 10 years into the future.
May 28, 2025
Loved it, was sad when ended. Would make a great TV show.
August 26, 2012
This book deserves close attention, through and through. And if you fulfill this role as a reader, you will get the most out of what this book could potentially give.
As the title suggests, the novel is centered on the loss of Leon Meed, a mysterious man who appears out of nowhere to various people and then vanishes as if he had not existed at all. And these people, no matter how little the time they had been in-touch with Leon Meed, had their lives changed and interwoven to each other's. From a grade school teacher to a surgeon to an alcoholic, this novel presents a spectacle of characters, with a colorful spectrum that will compel readers to love them.
For the plot, I must applaud Josh Emmons for writing such intricate and beautifully-woven story line. There are elements of what makes a good story (at least for me): reality, subtle magic, philosophy, romance, and even action. Everything is well-blended with each other; everything will make a reader wonder more, about what happened, what is to happened, and what is happening. And oftentimes, the novel will also make a reader wonder about himself.
The novel is also written in such way that all the characters get a chance to view all the happenings from the point of view. And in doing so, Emmons makes a colorful narration of events. Moreover, his thought-provoking yet short sentences will bring a reader to another level - one that is more personal and spiritual in some sense.
For the characters and the settings - well, they are all painted well, especially the characters. A reader will fall for them at some point. If not, then the experience of reading this is not maximized.
This is a poignant and adventurous novel. It inspects a lot of aspects of life - love, faith, mentality, self-esteem, honesty, and freedom, among many things. However, the greatest gift of this novel is its openness - it will take a reader himself to a journey of his own.
As the title suggests, the novel is centered on the loss of Leon Meed, a mysterious man who appears out of nowhere to various people and then vanishes as if he had not existed at all. And these people, no matter how little the time they had been in-touch with Leon Meed, had their lives changed and interwoven to each other's. From a grade school teacher to a surgeon to an alcoholic, this novel presents a spectacle of characters, with a colorful spectrum that will compel readers to love them.
For the plot, I must applaud Josh Emmons for writing such intricate and beautifully-woven story line. There are elements of what makes a good story (at least for me): reality, subtle magic, philosophy, romance, and even action. Everything is well-blended with each other; everything will make a reader wonder more, about what happened, what is to happened, and what is happening. And oftentimes, the novel will also make a reader wonder about himself.
The novel is also written in such way that all the characters get a chance to view all the happenings from the point of view. And in doing so, Emmons makes a colorful narration of events. Moreover, his thought-provoking yet short sentences will bring a reader to another level - one that is more personal and spiritual in some sense.
For the characters and the settings - well, they are all painted well, especially the characters. A reader will fall for them at some point. If not, then the experience of reading this is not maximized.
This is a poignant and adventurous novel. It inspects a lot of aspects of life - love, faith, mentality, self-esteem, honesty, and freedom, among many things. However, the greatest gift of this novel is its openness - it will take a reader himself to a journey of his own.
July 21, 2022
I'm not sure if I would give this book five stars if I wasn't from Humboldt County, California, as all of it occurs there, and Eureka and environs are quite accurately described throughout. It's really hard to pretend you don't know an area if a story is set there, so it's harder to accurately assess the book. In addition, the author, Josh Emmons, grew up in "Northern California," and subsequently moved to Philadelphia. Sound familiar? Oh, yeah . . . me, too!
It's also well-written and employs a cast of characters that was difficult to keep track of at first (even though the back cover talks about 10 people whose lives were affected by Leon Meed), but as it progresses you become familiar with the characters and their situations.
It's a little mystical -- or at least the character, Leon Meed, is somewhat supernatural; so the first part of the novel involves incidents in which the other characters interact with Leon Meed, and then, 10 years later, reflect on it. The last part is perhaps the most skillful; Emmons doesn't try to wrap every detail up and tie it with a string, but follows all these characters to review and examine what Leon Meed meant to them and how they experienced him.
I'm interested in reading more of Emmons's stuff now, and curious if he still lives in PA. Not sure if that info is available, but it was a good book made enormously fun for the Humboldt County native. It's also a novel that made me think; I'm not exactly sure what I thought, but that quality is one that keeps me interested and makes books more memorable to me (even, sometimes, books I didn't really like).
It's also well-written and employs a cast of characters that was difficult to keep track of at first (even though the back cover talks about 10 people whose lives were affected by Leon Meed), but as it progresses you become familiar with the characters and their situations.
It's a little mystical -- or at least the character, Leon Meed, is somewhat supernatural; so the first part of the novel involves incidents in which the other characters interact with Leon Meed, and then, 10 years later, reflect on it. The last part is perhaps the most skillful; Emmons doesn't try to wrap every detail up and tie it with a string, but follows all these characters to review and examine what Leon Meed meant to them and how they experienced him.
I'm interested in reading more of Emmons's stuff now, and curious if he still lives in PA. Not sure if that info is available, but it was a good book made enormously fun for the Humboldt County native. It's also a novel that made me think; I'm not exactly sure what I thought, but that quality is one that keeps me interested and makes books more memorable to me (even, sometimes, books I didn't really like).
October 16, 2020
Obviously this book is a tale of a man named Leon Meed that was lost from a small town called Eureka. But his loss was kind of weird. He appeared in a psychologist bathroom as she doing her shower then at the peak of the scene he suddenly disappeared and transported into the jungle where he met a Korean man who try hard to be an American. Meed transportation, his appearance-disappearance episodes kept going between 10 other Eureka residents until he was pronounced dead. Here came the recent journalist, Martin Namec who trailed the people Meed met before his death based on the journal he left which then reveal the mystery of Meed loss.
.
The introductory part kind of confusing because the 10 characters are not related to each other and they had diverse backgrounds. To be honest, the absence of a clear-cut main character adding the difficulty for me to catch up with the story. But slowly as the plot develops, all these characters met at the point of the mystery of Leon Meed.
.
The introductory part kind of confusing because the 10 characters are not related to each other and they had diverse backgrounds. To be honest, the absence of a clear-cut main character adding the difficulty for me to catch up with the story. But slowly as the plot develops, all these characters met at the point of the mystery of Leon Meed.
December 19, 2015
You may see him standing in the middle of the road, swimming in the Pacific Ocean, or numerous places throughout Eureka California, but that’s only if your reading the book The Loss of Leon Meed by Josh Emmons. As quickly as Leon Meed appears to seemily random residents he disappears, but many of them are more connected then they realize. Leon ignites the lives of those at a standstill; people questioning their beliefs, their roles, and even their own reality.
*Also posted to www.shelftalk.spl.org
*Also posted to www.shelftalk.spl.org
August 26, 2008
The basic premise of this book is that a man named Leon Meed keeps disappearing and reappearing all over Eureka, CA. It goes so much further than that though. This book was a total surprise for me, and so good. I was never quite sure where the story was headed, and I was constantly surprised. There are lots of subplots here, so if there is a character or story you don't care for, it will move on to another one soon enough.
April 4, 2012
I stuck with this slow starter, which finally picked up about 100 pages in, but the engaging middle and muddled conclusion can't make up for the lackluster beginning. Emmons has an interesting premise in the intersections of a disappearing stranger in the lives of some loosely connected residents of sleepy Eureka, CA. Unfortunately, I did not find the meandering walk through these people's lives and loose connections compelling.
June 8, 2010
It was a interesting book. It took a while to figure out who Leon Meed was and why the book was titled after him. However by the end of it all I was intrigued by how one person's life can interconnect a whole group of people. We are all connected and quick encounters can change lives. This book reminded me that bad attitudes aren't necessary and living life to the fullest is a must.
May 10, 2012
Emmons has got a solid writing style. It managed to carry me all the way through a book that I frequently thought was way too long. The story is interesting, but I didn't really have any reason to care about the characters. You meet everyone in the midst of a crisis, or rather, their own individual crises, but there isn't anything in the story that makes me feel emotionally bonded to them.
June 29, 2008
The Loss of Leon Meed reads like a cross between Jonathan Franzen and Philip K. Dick. It's the book Dick might have written if he hadn't been busy churning out ninety or so novels a year. A great read!
April 6, 2020
The writing style kept me interested but at the end I felt like I didn’t understand why Leon disappeared. Obviously he needed to come to terms with his family’s death but I felt like I would have liked to know his point of view at the time of his death.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2008
This was an okay book - not great. I found it interesting because it took place in my hometown and I could recognize many of the thinly veiled places.
September 30, 2008
Strange book about fellow Leon Meed who keeps abruptly popping up in people's lives and then disappearing. Writing is good but story was too unbelievable for me.
November 5, 2008
Literary "Crash". Terrific read. Initially, I had to keep a cast list but didn't need it once I got to know the people better.
January 22, 2010
Not something i would normally read, but it is an intriguing book with a plot that keeps you involved & intrigued.
April 1, 2011
really good
July 3, 2011
I read it awhile ago but I remember liking it a good bit.
August 14, 2011
Engaging. Very engaging. 3.5 stars really. Moments of truly beautiful and insightful prose.
February 23, 2012
This was a decent read, but after it ended I felt like maybe I was missing some crazy, deeper meaning.
May 2, 2012
I had trouble following this book.
May 27, 2012
I didn't like this book at all. I read the whole thing waiting for it to get good... never happened. :(
March 11, 2013
It took several tries to get through. There were too many characters.
May 19, 2013
Pretty good. Kinda weird because of Meed's frequent sudden visit from place to place in a blink of an eye :O
July 12, 2009
Great language, great characters, great sense of place. I really liked this one.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews