Leave Before You Go

by Emily Perkins

Leave Before You Go is about Daniel, an average guy whose determination to escape the daily grind of London drives him to risk his life. Lured by a free trip and the promise of ten thousand dollars, Daniel boards a plane to pick up a "delivery" for an acquaintance. Shortly after his plane lands, he finds himself trafficking heroin from Thailand, penniless, and paranoid on the other side of the world.
Daniel's misadventures as a drug smuggler lead him into the netherworld of grungy hostels and casinos in New Zealand, where he wins - and loses - a fortune in one night. Reduced to petty thievery, he must beg, borrow, and steal in order to live from hand to mouth. His desperate searches for shelter and employment steer him in many directions, all of which seem to lead directly to Kate.
Kate works as a disgruntled usher in a cinema in Auckland, constantly drifting in the shadow of her more successful sister, Nina. As she wrestles with what to do with her life, she contends with some not-so-latent feelings for her ex-boyfriend, Frank. When Daniel arrives unexpectedly to stay with her best friends, Lucy and Josh, Kate suspects that she has seen him somewhere before.

Genres: Fiction, Adult, Travel

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Emily Perkins is a writer of contemporary fiction, and the success of her first collection of stories, not her real name and other stories, established her early on as an important writer of her generation. Perkins has written novels, as well as short fiction, and her writing has won and been shortlisted for a number of significant awards and prizes. She was the 2006 Buddle Findlay Sargeson Fellow, and she used the fellowship to work on her book, Novel About My Wife, published in 2008. She is an Arts Foundation of New Zealand Laureate Award winner (2011).

Reviews

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book about shitty people being shitty to each other.

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read so much lately, when I looked at my list of backlogged books to review, I totally forgot what this one was about, I had to look up the recap on amazon. That is how much of an impact this book made one me. Not much.

Takes place in New Zealand, which is why I picked it up and the plot looked interesting, but it didn't really pan out as planned. The lead Dude actually reminded me of this character that is on SHORTLAND STREET, which is a soap opera that plays here daily and everyone I work with loves. When I read the book, I pictured this really annoying character that reminded me of the Dude.

Dude is from London and has nothing going on, so he gets roped into bringing drugs through Thailand to Auckland. He gets an assload of money for his trouble and then looses it all on the first night. I hate assholes like that already, so I find him annoying. He some how meets some other guy who works at a college radio station and he takes him home and his girlfriend has a friend who becomes interested in him. Girl is kind of looser and somehow ends up on a road trip with him down from Auckland to Wellington to see the country and stay with her sister. Dude ends up hooking up with Girl's sister and doesn't want Girl to find out and sister becomes minorly obsessed with Dude. Dude has borrowed money from the guy and is going to leave as a courier to Australia without repaying him, but gets stuck on the roof and there is no way to get away without the guy rescuing him. The book just kind of ends, but it was kind of an annoying book anyway, so I didn't care.

Grade: D+

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This month's choice for #AYearofNZLit is Leave Before You Go (1998), the debut of novel of New Zealand author Emily Perkins (b.1970).  I haven't been able to source her short story collection Not Her Real Name and Other Stories (1997), or The New Girl (2002) or The Forrests (2012) but on our 2019 trip to NZ for the Auckland LitFest, I found a second-hand copy of her debut novel Leave Before You Go (1998), and snapped it up.

Emily Perkins will be a familiar name to readers of this blog because she won the most prestigious price for fiction at the 2024 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards for her novel Lioness (2023, see my review here.) I have also previously reviewed her third novel, Novel About My Wife (2008, see the review here, and check out the discussion with Gayle afterwards).  It won the 2009 Montana Book Award for Fiction and the American Believer Book Award.

Wikipedia tells me that Carrie O'Grady, in a review of Novel about My Wife for The Guardian commented that Perkins 'writes brilliantly about dismal people', and I think that is just as true for Leave Before You Go. It features the same whip-smart dialogue for her flawed characters that is used to full effect in her later novels.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2024/07/13/l...

[Daren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, it was ok, just as the two stars suggest. Maybe that's a bit harsh, I guess it was entertaining - 2.5 stars. Set largely in Auckland, with a brief roadtrip south, the story revolves around Daniel, a directionless loser from London who agrees to smuggle heroin from Thailand to New Zealand in return for a ridiculous NZ$10K (um, back in the 90s that is only about $3K Sterling - how desperate?). Successful in this, despite passing it off to the wrong person, he loses all of his money on the first night. So I am struggling to like this guy at all...

Anyways, the other characters in the story are those he comes in contact with - amusing New Zealanderish characters - who were actually quite funny in their New Zealanderish ways.

Sort of annoying how the story almost fades out rather than ending though...

[Michael Palkowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

The novel begins with a lot of steam and seems to build up an interesting and jarring narrative that involves being stuck literally and figuratively as characters bogged down in the wilderness that is twenty something year old. There is intrigue in the messiness of the drug smuggling and foreign destitution but it eventually teeters out and the momentum grinds to a halt somewhere in the middle. The characters become tedious and the story progression is slow and lacks purpose at times, which is why despite beginning and enjoying it, it took a while to finish properly.

[Vanessa Borg · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bit rambling , about characters who are simply wafting through their lives. The worst though was wading through all that only for it to end nowhere. Pointless to read. It was like the author couldn’t be bothered spending more time with her “ creations “.

I.M.O.

[bradley naidoo · Rating 2 out of 5]

did not like it

[Lauren of Ngaio · Rating 1 out of 5]

A loser from London, swallows a load of drugs and delivers them to a drug dealer in NZ. Except, he gives the drugs to the wrong drug dealer.... This had the makings of a good story, but sadly, spoiler alert - nothing happens. He just meets up with some random, unhappy, quite stupid people. Now they are in each other's lives bringing out the worst in each other.
Very slowly, nothing happens!

[Alysha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not sure how I was left feeling about this book. Firstly, I don't know if it's just me but there's something special about reading a book or watching a movie that's set in your place in the world. I think sense of place is important; you automatically have a connection with the literature whether you like it or not. It was special reading a novel set in Auckland and that traversed through Waitomo, Rotorua, Taupo, Wellington, Nelson, Greymouth.

The subject matter itself disturbed me. I think it disturbed me because it hit too close to home. Young adults in their mid-twenties, no idea what do to with their lives, no ambitions, no direction. The sense of apathy and aimlessness overwhelmed me. The feeling of being trapped by a small place was only too tangible.

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a great read, though I can't say I felt as if it really spoke to me personally. But I think we all can identify with that feeling of wanting to run away from ourselves and our lives.

If for no other reason, the book was a delight to read because of the author's dry humor. I laughed out loud a lot!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and easy to read novel about aimless twenty-somethings in New Zealand. I enjoyed the crazy premise, realistic characters, clear writing style and setting.

[Cindy Kiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written and does evoke the dilemnas of female singledom in middle New Zealand. Time is indeterminant but probably last twenty years. Good insights and well formed characters.

[Jeremy · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a riveting book with interesting outlook of handling difficult situations. Well-thought ideas and plot.

[Blair Polly · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book started slow but I am really glad I stuck with it. I very much enjoyed it.