Left

by Tamar Ossowski

Therese Wolley is a mother who has made a promise. She works as a secretary, shops for groceries on Saturdays, and takes care of her two girls. She doesn’t dwell on the fact that her girls are fatherless, mostly because her own father abandoned her before she was born and she has done just fine without him.Even though her older daughter regularly wakes with nightmares and her younger one whispers letters under her breath, she doesn’t shift from her resolve that everything will be fine. She promises . . . and they believe.Until the morning an obituary in the newspaper changes everything. Therese immediately knows what she has to do. She cannot delay what she has planned, and she cannot find the words to explain her heartbreaking decision to her daughters. She considers her responsibilities, her girls, and her promise. Then she does the only thing that any real mother would do. She goes on the run with one daughter . . . and abandons the other.Left is told from the perspectives of Franny, the autistic sister who is left behind; Matilda, the troubled older sister who vows to go back and save her; and Therese, a mother on the run.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Novels, Family

241 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 1, 2013

About the author

Tamar Ossowski is the daughter of Holocaust survivors and the mother of three children, one of whom was born with special needs. She is fascinated with the concept of fate, and whether we arrive where we are as a result of our choices, or in spite of them.

Ossowski is the author of two books, Left and Fractured, and is currently working on her third novel, tentatively titled Ghost. She lives in Massachusetts with her family and her two cats, whom she is convinced hold the answers to all of life’s mysteries, or at least the important ones!

Reviews

[Faith Spinks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about leaving and forgiveness. It’s never simple.

[Shae Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tragic and tender

The theme is about love, secrets, and sadness. As I reflect, I have to wonder...not only is Franny left, but I believe all the main characters were left in some way. The author tells this story in such an interesting way through the thoughts and actions of the two children and their mother, Therese. The story is cleverly pieced together by the reader. Very good read and I like the author’s style.

[The Masked Emu · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this one. It started out well enough, but then it became confusing and unbelievable. The two adult women made me uncomfortable. I saw the twist coming at least five chapters before it happened. It left a lot unexplained. I kept reading until the end so I could write a fair review, but honestly, I wish I hadn't wasted my time.

[SheriC · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has an interesting premise and promising characters, but by the second half had devolved into a mess of a story with loose threads dangling everywhere and characters making nonsensical decisions. By the time I finished I was puzzled and frustrated and somehow a little bored.

Borrowed from the Audible plus catalog. Two of the three narrators were okay, but the third did not sound like a professional performer.

[Cathy Maciejewski · Rating 3 out of 5]

Missing details

Overall I liked the book, there just seemed to be a lot of story left out. The relationship between Therese and Tim. She comes off as self serving yet she stays with a man who works in a grocery store. Leah's trauma and what happened that led her to giving Franny to Therese. Matilda budding relationship with the bad boy next store. Franny and her developing relationship with Leah. I felt there were secrets in this book that never came to light.

[Carla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to admit I couldn't put the book down. I couldn't understand why Theresa would abandon her youngest daughter with a long ago friend, Leah. Slowly the story came out but the older sister Matilda was angry with her mother for doing so and was struggling with memories and dreams that were disturbing. We all have our issues sometimes but Theresa and Leah's choice in men was mind boggling.
I found Left a good read.

[Sara Gabai · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end was a little strange, like she had to quickly tie up some lose ends. But other than that, interesting and pretty well written.

[Ana Abreu · Rating 3 out of 5]

True friendship is a powerful bound. Therese had her own problems but never failed nor broke that bound with Leah.

I think Matilda is being a bit hard on her parents more the mom than the dad but still. How could you say you're stripping her from her title when she made the best choice for your life. Why she so mad because Therese didnt tell her exactly what happened? News flash, she didn't know neither! If she really wants to be upset it should only be with the dad. The one that for some reason or another always sided with his mother, weird!

[Chanda Scobee · Rating 1 out of 5]

This story had a lot of potential- the premise that a mother would leave one of her children behind without an explanation or any plan to take her back stunned me. Her relentless sister fights for her, creating tension within her relationship with her mother, despite her mother’s reluctance to show that she cares.

This is where the story began to fall though. As more of the mother’s background was laid out, I found myself disinterested, if not disturbed by characters that were supposed to be likable. The alternating perspectives of chapters just didn’t serve this novel in a refreshing or enjoyable way. I see this more and more in writings, and I honestly don’t get why every author thinks this is the trick to a good book. It serves some well, but when it doesn’t, I actually find myself detached from characters, confused by the timelines and details, and even distracted from a story’s focus. That’s everything that happened here.

I liked Franny’s perspective, and Leah seemed like a likable character in the beginning, but I was so confused with how all these people and stories would line up. In the end, I felt as though the conclusion was rushed, which made so many difficult-to-believe moments in the book just seem impossible and unbelievable altogether. The ending also ruined the whole premise of the book for me because I truly just don’t empathize or understand these characters and their decisions. Overall, I actually disliked this story. It was difficult to follow, the characters- though having major mental and emotional issues that stirred the plot throughout- felt superficial, uninteresting, and underdeveloped, and the writing lacked an engaging voice, especially within the different perspectives. The characters survived in their actions, but their personalities, unique voice, and growth were lacking.

A better concept for this (other than the differing perspectives, which again, didn’t work) would have been that the sisters found their mother’s or Leah’s journal and discovered the truth, or perhaps Leah had worked through a way to tell them the truth, etc. The idea that both of these women withheld truth from the girls in this way was just unbelievable, and the secondary characters to add just seemed random, disjointed, and distracting.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very compelling story!

The three main characters take turns sharing their thoughts, voices, and histories allowing the reader to meet each of them and to learn about their conflicting views of the situation. Each person has individual strengths and flaws, as do the secondary characters. I did anticipate part of the final reveal, but also found a few surprises, too. I enjoyed the novel and would recommend it others.

[Carolyn Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about leaving

Once you make it to the end of the book, many hints start coming together. Until then, there's a lot that doesn't make sense. It can get a little frustrating to keep reading at times. You wonder, is this about autism, being gay or searching for a father. Just keep reading...

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes you read a book that begs for better writing. For me, Left is one of those books. I should say I'm not a fan of the multiple voices style. But I read these books because that's the current trend. However, in Left a character would often tell her story from different times and it wasn't always easy to piece the story together. Characters were deliberately written to appear strange but I think in some cases--Tim's perhaps--they were in places that demanded difficult choices. For me, the best character in the book was Franny. As her story unfolded, she captured a lot of autistic characteristics.
Like other readers I saw the "twist" long before it was revealed. I didn't find Therese to be a good person. She was selfish and vindictive when things didn't go her way. She was more of a roommate than a parent to her daughter. No wonder Matilda acted out and made her own bad choices.
This book depicted the difficult and sometimes impossible choices people have to make in their lives. Often they make wrong or bad choices and don't know how to correct them.

[Deborah Sherman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had an interesting story line of a mother leaving her 9 yr old daughter with an old friend while she took off with the older daughter to establish a new home away from everyone. Why would she separate these two? How could she just leave Franny after nine years of raising her? You do find out why but I had expected a lot more from the book. It wasn't a bad story; just not exceptional. The story is told through three voices. The mother relates what happened in the past while the two girls tell the story in the present. There was a lot of dialogue and I found myself losing track of what I had just read. I listened to this on a 4 hour trip to Maine and back and would get lost in my surroundings and have to backtrack on the story. I would give this book a 3.4 star rating.

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I should have read the Amazon blurb (below) before the book and perhaps I wouldn't have been so surprised with how the story unfolded. (From Amazon: "Left is told from the perspectives of Franny, the autistic sister who is left behind; Matilda, the troubled older sister who vows to go back and save her; and Therese, a mother on the run.")

It's an easy read but a complicated story with many twists and turns. It would be a good book for a book club to discuss. One of the questions at the end is: "Which of the secrets in the book, if revealed, would have changed the fate of the other characters." That question alone could generate a lot of discussion.

[Bruce E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would have named this book sundered because it is as much about the impact on the leaver as it is about the impact on the left. In fact, it is somewhat hard to tell which is which. This very character driven book delves deeply inside a woman and two girls who have been sundered. What the sundering means to them is quite different. "Left" is really about the individual way they deal with it. One is fearful of what she left; one yearns for what she left; the third tries to ind love in what she is left with. I found the book extremely compelling. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes character driven books.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two sisters. One left behind.
This story is told primarily from the two sisters' points of view with occasional third person narration of the mother's events. One sister is on the autism spectrum and hates being called "special." Reading what it may feel like to be someone who is autistic was very interesting and believable. It also shows how incredibly gifted some (most? all?) these children are in various ways.
Although a work of fiction, the author states in the back that she has a child with special needs who she probably based some of her insight on.
A short novel, easily read in a day. Highly recommend it.

[Sherlyn K. Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT READ soon, even tho I had rough start, Very worth it! "Oh what a tangled web we weave" seems

to fit this book vey well plus they hold a lot of secrets too within their familial triangle of rape/incest for mother/daughter and granddaughter! There is also a special needs near adult or adult. However I feel she stole the book. She is one awesome lady and one of a kind. I fell in love with her! Besides that I have NEVER known of or heard of anyone who spout off the alphabet backwards in seconds! But her personality is extra special most of all. Anyway RECOMMEND THIS BOOK!

[Lynne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trying to understand

During parts of the story I thought, " This is the craziest book I have ever read." As I kept reading, the characters became more real and I had to see what happened to each one and to understand their pain. I NEVER thought they would all be connected in the end.
Understanding that people on the autistic spectrum was the most important part of the story.

[Cathy Santaniello · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off with some great writing, the story developed well, The end failed in so many ways. The story dropped off to fast. The writing let me down. It was not the ending itself, but the chopped up last couple of chapters and the lack of development in them . It seemed like the writer lost interest in completion or was limited to a certain number of pages.

[Laurie Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

Different kind of story

I could only give two stars. The story is told through the voices of the four main characters. Matilda, and Franny are sisters who get separated and Teresa and Leah their mother and her friend. The story jumps from the present to the past. At times I was not sure where the story was headed.

[Genevieve Aylott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful

Therese's story starts in the past, while the others wait for her to catch up to the here and now. Ultimately, they wind together and separate in intriguing ways, although I didn't feel the ending was totally resolved. Look out for the little nods to The Wizard of Oz, too. Nice that they also portrayed autism without naming it, a valuable insight.

[Wendy Del Toro · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is writing like this that makes me love books and words. What a talented author. Exquisite use of language- beautiful descriptions, similes and metaphors and a fantastic plot to boot. Expertly told 'coming of age' story with fully realized flawed people, young and adult. Myriad themes with a subtle sense of foreboding hovering throughout, leading to a very satisfying conclusion.

[Teri · Rating 1 out of 5]

The twist was way too obvious on this one. No mother leaves their child for no good reason. And when that reason is revealed, it’s even stupider than you think. I finished it because I wanted to know the ending, but it’s as if the author finished writing it just to get it over with, and it left more questions than answers. No, that is not me hoping for a sequel.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Family Dynamics

Interesting book that looks at love binding people together to make a family and not just sharing the same blood lines. How forgiveness can be given but trust must be earned.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really good book in some ways but I feel like some parts of the story were left a little under developed. I really enjoyed several of the characters and the story line itself was interesting.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Initially, I started off liking the book, but as it went on, it was just ok. I had a hard time identifying with the characters. Although the book was told from three different characters' perspectives, the writing sounded like it was in the same voice.

[becky selby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strange book

I liked the story but the characters were all just too strange for me. Only one of them was on the spectrum but really they all seemed to be. No one in the book had just normal reactions to anything.

[Kyle Kelman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Confusing

I found the relationships between the characters disjointed and difficult to organize. As the grandmother of an autistic child I could relate to Frannys behavior and sensory struggles; it was heartfelt and heart wrenchingly honest.

[Lisbeth Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my head

After I started to absorb the thoughts of each character, the confusion, fear and panic affected my breathing and heart rate. Whole sinking into the words can give insight into autism, even though that is just a label for deep human trauma.

[Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a terafl

A little bit different of a plot from most books. I felt that several of the plots were not well developed. For example, the book ends leaving the reader wondering what happened to some of the minor characters.