What You Have Left: A Novel

by Will Allison

Thirty years after being abandoned by her father on the day of her mother's funeral, Holly struggles with her grandfather's suicidal tendencies, a pioneering woman racer, and other eccentrics while slowly reentering her father's life. A first novel. 40,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction, Drama, Book Club, Contemporary, Audiobook, Novels

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

I was born in Columbia, South Carolina, and now live with my wife and daughter in South Orange, New Jersey. In between, I've lived in Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and elsewhere; taught creative writing at The Ohio State University, Butler University, and Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis; and worked as executive editor of Story, editor at large of Zoetrope: All-Story, editor of Novel & Short Story Writer's Market, and as a freelance editor and writer. I've also been on staff at the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. I received a BA in English and political science from Case Western Reserve University as well as an MA in English and an MFA in creative writing from Ohio State. I'm the grateful recipient of grants, fellowships, and scholarships from the Indiana Arts Commission, Arts Council of Indianapolis, Ohio Arts Council, and the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference (including a 1996 work-study scholarship and the 2008 Allan Collins Fellowship in Fiction). My first novel, What You Have Left, was published in 2007 by Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster. Paperback and audio book editions were published in 2008. A paperback reissue is due out in April 2011, and my second novel, Long Drive Home, will be published by Free Press in May 2011.

Reviews

[Kolleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well I just finished this book, and contrary to everyone else's reviews, I didn't like it. At first, I found the characters and the short stories touching. But about halfway through, the changing perspectives just got old and confusing. I think it ended up detracting from the original bond you felt towards the characters, which led to my disinterest in the book. Eventually, I just really didn't care anymore. When the ending finally came, when everything and all the stories and viewpoints finally came together, it just fell short. All of this excitement and build up just fizzled. There was no magical happy ending, and there was also no tragic ending. It was just an abrupt (2 page) summary of what actually happened between Holly and her father, which was neither exciting nor memorable. The book was a quick read, and not terrible, but just overall boring and uneventful.

[Mayda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everybody has problems, but it seems like the people in Will Allison’s novel, What You Have Left, have nothing but problems. And how do they cope with these problems? They lie, cheat, smoke, gamble, sleep around, vandalize, kill, commit suicide, drink, run away, and abandon a child. And yet, throughout it all, we can’t help but hope that they will solve their problems, straighten out their lives, and achieve a sense of peace and happiness. The novel is told by different characters, sometimes in first person, sometimes in third person, and the time frame skips around, but rather than hindering the flow the of the story, it actually facilitates the telling. In this manner, Allison avoids the dreary details that can drag down a story, by simply referring to the things that have occurred as though they are common knowledge. Thus we are spared details of people marrying, changing jobs, and so forth. This novel is a fascinating study of people and how they cope with the problems they created themselves as well as those thrust upon them. I received this book free from Goodreads First Reads.

[Burlingame Public Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book a great deal. The story of a father who abandons his daughter after her strong-willed, race-car driving mother dies. The father and daughter's eventual reunification is the crux, but only a facet of the tale. It's one of those quiet, seemingly effortless studies, told from from various character points of view. I say quiet and effortless because the author manages with ease to get his reader to feel, hear and experience these relationships with their full dimension in tact, without losing the unique personal voice and experience of each character. The text comes complete with insight into the heartbreak, devotion, pain, and intense love, but it's not sappy, or overly wrought. A fine novel.

[Colleen Turner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book as a first read from Goodreads.

I have to say I was disappointed in this book. From the description it sounds like a redemptive, heart warming book that might showcase some dark times but, in the end, show that most people are good at heart. Instead I could only find one character in the book I didn't loathe, and that was the youngest member of this dysfunctional family that is only ten years old at the most recent part of the book (it skips back and forth over time and narrators). Everyone else comes off as selfish, immature and prone to wild impulses. Each one tries to screw the other one over and, in the end, they don't seem to resolve much of anything. It is more like a disquieting truce then a closure. Not one of the various relationships between the family is healthy. I honestly had to make myself continue to read it. I have a pet peeve that I cannot finish a book once I have started it, but I am pretty sure if this book was longer I would have made myself stop. To be fair, the book is written well and flows as steadily as a book that skips around can. In the end, whoever, the writing does not make up for a plot I really didn't like.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just read "Long Drive Home" by Allison, and at the end of the book was the beginning of this book, his first novel, and I read it, so then I had to run to the library and check out the book and finish it (sometimes those teasers work!). I've found that I really like Allison's straight-forward way of writing. And he does such a good job of getting you into the head of his characters. In this novel he follows a family through the 1970s to present day. Wylie Greer takes his young daughter to stay with his father-in-law after his wife dies, and tells little Holly he'll only be gone for a few days, but he never returns. The book bounces between the 1970s, the 1990s, and ends up in 2007, and the story is told by Holly, her father Wylie, and her boyfriend/husband Lyle. Some readers may not like the jumping around, but it kept me engaged and focused on unraveling the father-daughter relationship puzzle -- it's much about loss and how that defines a person. All of the characters have major faults, and it's not easy to like them all of the time, but Allison had a way of making me understand them just the same.

[Victoria Slotto · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book through GoodReads and overall, enjoyed it. Allison's writing style is smooth and he draws the reader in to the characters emotional life in a subtle way...not overly effusive.

I will admit I had two major issues with the novel. I found the sequencing to be disconcerting, requiring me to reorient myself to the story line with each new chapter. This was compounded by the fact that the names of two major characters, Lyle and Wylie, were so similar. If I had been in involved in the work-shopping process, I would have suggesting changing one of the names.

My major problem was the difficulty I found in feeling empathy with the characters. I struggle with polyanna-type characterization, but this took me to the opposite end of the spectrum. While it's important to add texture to a character through inclusion of defects, it seemed like there were very few traits that aroused my empathy. There was no one to identify with.

That being said, I appreciated the opportunity to read and review Allison's novel.

[Mary Wagner · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I'm in a difficult to please mode when it comes to reading. This book also did not please me. After her mother dies, Holly (age 5) is left by her father with her grandfather.

The book jumps around in time, going from before Holly was born, to long after she is married with a child of her own. I think I would have like to like Holly, as I would have liked to like her husband. I wasn't really given the opportunity to like her mother or her father.

Overall, I find it difficult to read books in which a character has a serious addiction problem. In this book, everyone has a serious addiction problem. Be it alcohol, nicotine, gambling, adrenaline rushes - they are all addicts.

I also found it a bit difficult to concentrate on the book. I realized that I had reached the end of the book, but hadn't absorbed anything that happened in the previous pages. So I read the last bit over!

[Gayle Fleming · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't think I have ever read a book where I disliked the protagonist and most of the other characters so much. I had such a hard time getting through this book because the characters were so obnoxious and unlikeable. Holly is abandoned by her father at five years old after her mother is accidentally killed. Wiley, her father is wracked with guilt about his wife and leaves Holly with her maternal grandfather promising to return. He never does. Lyle is Holly's wimpy boyfriend and later husband. He actually speaks to her father and never tells her. Holly is understandably full of animosity towards her father for his abandonment.
I read this book, the first novel by Will Allison, because he is represented by an agent that I have sent a query too. I wanted to see what kind of writers the agent represents. The writing is decent but the plot is a downer. It wasn't until the last chapter that I started to like something about it.

[Badly Drawn Girl · Rating 2 out of 5]

A promising story gets bogged down by too many jumps in time and character switches. I was constantly confused, and when I would finally catch up with where I was in the space/time continuum, the book would switch directions again. The resulting snapshots aren't even fully formed. Time and time again we don't see the resolution to the problems. We just jump ahead some more years, and learn about a new issue. It's all a disjointed mess, which is unfortunate because it really did start out well.

[judy-b. judy-b. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The chapters of this book are as heavy and tight as the hearts they illustrate. A daughter, her father, and her husband each struggle in their own ways to be true to themselves and one another, and each succeeds and fails in a different way.

Will Allison has a way of telling a tough story so you want to hear it; he shows us the beauty in pain and the transformation available to someone who's not afraid to struggle.

[Hazel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast enjoyable read about a young girl who, at five years old, must deal with the loss of her mother to an accident and the loss of her father who walks out the day after the funeral. She is brought up by her Grandfather. The story shifts back and forth to the past to her mother and father's live's and back to the present to her's. Highly recommend.

[Lily · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book Warning: Drug abuse, suicide

TL:DR, read the first and last chapter. Then enjoy the lack of closure.

I was going to brush this book off as disappointing, but the last sentence just made me so mad. It was like a self-report, the author patting himself on the back, "This book is such a smart and deep read about the human condition."

This is true about the 1st chapter. This is true about the last chapter. Now skim the middle, and MAYBE this can still hold true. Grandfather Cal looks to his 19 yr old Granddaughter Holly, a daughter abandoned by her father, and goes "There's no need for me to worry about you." Like this has to be some foreshadow of struggle, but evolution right? Holly coming on top?...Right??

This was supposed to be a story about abandonment? Why are talking about any sort of love triangle prior to this? I liked that there was confederate flag burning, but how does this relate to any of this? What was the point of making everyone so callous? Why did the Cal blame Holly's father? Where did that hate Holly had for Cal go? How, in any way, did the "body defend itself in unexpected ways...the human heart itself." Do we protect ourselves by starving our partners of affection and with drug abuse? Bruh, that's coping. That is coping. That is not defense, that is dealing with life.

The positive? This was well written. It really was. I loved the philosophy in the first chapter, liked the tragedy in the last. The whole last sentence just needs to be redacted.

[Sandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holly grew up on her grandfather's farm. Her mother was killed in a water skiing accident when Holly was five. Her father dropped her off with her grandfather after the funeral and that was the last time Holly saw him. She grew up wondering why she wasn't important enough for him to come back for her and why he didn't love her enough.

Now she is grown and married to Lyle, who had worked on some house renovations for her grandfather. Holly has an antique mall but spends most of her time gambling on the slots. Outside of gambling, she longs to finally find her father and ask him her questions.

Knowing that his marriage is faltering, Lyle decides that maybe finding Holly's father would improve things. He manages to do that and now Holly must decide if she will finally go see him and find the answers to her questions.

Will Allison has written a story of human relationships. There are Holly and her grandfather, Holly and Lyle, Holly and her daughter and finally Holly and her father. The novel is set in Columbia, South Carolina, which is a familiar location to me and makes the book feel more realistic. Allison is accurate at exploring family ties and capturing the feeling of the South. This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

[Maureen Henderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to admit I fought loving this book. It's eight chapters long, and on finishing the second one it dawned on me that this was a series of linked short stories, rather than a work originally conceived as a novel. I'm trying to learn how to write a novel and have been studying them closely, reading slowly, taking notes. I've been trying to stay away from the lure of short stories, though I've always hugely preferred them to novels.

I stuck with Allison's novel anyway, because the writing was good - and it kept getting better. More than once in these eight chapters, I saw the perfection of a piece, the way someone would have encountered it as it had once stood alone. My favorite is probably the fifth chapter here ("1996: Holly). I'd have picked it as something to love and remember from any anthology.

In the end, I felt that the stories came together as well as any more conventionally-conceived longer work. I'll look for Will Allison's work in the future.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a story of family, loss and (a little maybe) redemption.

The story is primarily about Holly, who's mother dies in a freak accident when Holly is young. Holly is then raised by her grandfather after her father disappears.

The book goes backward and forward in time, telling the story of Holly's parents, her own marriage and child, and a little of her grandparents' story.

This might have been a charming book, except I found none of the characters to be likeable or relatable. The book ends on a somewhat happy note, but is a bit abrupt. And I'm not sure there was any actual story arc.

[Pam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was his debut novel which I read after I read his second one. I gave his second one 2 stars and this one is about the same. There is nothing especially good or bad about either novel, they are just rather average.
If the reader is interested in anything about the older Nascar days, there is some fun information about that but the story and the characters just aren't all that interesting. The women are very headstrong (sometimes to their own detriment) and the men just try to appease them.
Fast easy read, short novel.

[Lynette Hague · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had been on my "to read"!list for a while. When the story starts, we learn that Holly's father had dropped her off at her grandfather's farm when she was 5 and had never come back. The story evolves with each chapter being told from either Holly's, her father's, or her future husband's perspective. This family has more than their share of vices, addiction, and misfortune. We don't find out how these are resolved as we jump to the next chapter in time. In the end they do not matter as we are left with the beautiful relationship between Holly's daughter and her grandfather.

[Charlie Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully efficient and insightful prose. Graceful trip through multiple generations that proves the rule once again that karma is a tough boss. Vivid, compelling scene-setting and rich characters filled with everything that makes life interesting -- fear, desire, compassion, humor, and crazy ideas. A very rewarding read.

[Cheri Shemenski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book at the beginning and then somewhere in the middle, it loses its luster. The names and dates get confusing. Things and people start making appearances from nowhere and really have no relevance to the story. I think the writing is good but the editing was weak. I like how he ties things up at the end. I would give it 3.5 stars.

[Casey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I struggled to respect Lyle ( I think that was his name). I couldn't understand why he would get involved with someone so intense as the story doesn't show much depth in Holly's (?) character. It's his first book though so I might consider reading more of his work.

[Bailey Knopf · Rating 4 out of 5]

What You Have Left is a story about how often people fall into the footsteps of their parents. I felt this book talked about hard topics that many families face including drugs, gambling, and diseases. At times this book seemed to drag on near the end but all in all was a good quick read.

[Debbie Gorham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting format of 8 chapters and 3 main characters. I'd like to read it again someday because I'd probably be able to follow it better. Lots to do w/race car driving, but even with that, the novel kept my attention and enjoyment.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

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[Mehgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book had no plot whatsoever.

[Heather(Gibby) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story of multiple generations. I listened to it in audio, so I had some difficulty keeping the timelines straight.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book desperately trying to be a "Southern Novel," written by an obvious expat, with highly unbelievable characters/voices.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a first novel and it felt like it. Some really great passages but it seemed to be trying too hard to fit into the kooky Southern lit style a la Yaya Sisterhood.

[Selah · Rating 5 out of 5]

With some small changes, this could be a book about my life. Will Allison has successfully tapped into the minds of little girls left behind and the parents that left them, through death or desertion.
Is the voice of Holly accurate? Oh indeed and I can report on a cross country trip I DEMANDED of my father who bought me dinner and listened patiently while I boxed him soundly around both ears with emotional jabs that were worthy of my being sentenced to life + 30. Just because I could.

Some might wonder why, and how Allison shifts from character to character, showing what currently is without revealing the why it is until some other point in another chapter, perhaps in yet another voice. But is that not how it is? As I was slung over my father's shoulder to go "stay" at yet another stranger's home (a precursor to foster care) with his promise to be back "in a few days" was I privvy to the "why?" or only the act itself? The act, of course, and for the longest time I got to, no: had to - invent the why to define the reason.

Allison's successes with this novel of shifting perspectives, of sands of time underfoot that also shift, is simply this: he's on point. He gets the dad who feels like an abject failure before he ever gets to really be a dad. He gets Maddy, hard headed due to sheltering Cal, functioning in a male dominated race track that sometimes is oval, sometimes a twisted figure eight. And oh how he gets Holly, the infield crash survivor of it all. Holly, who learns to love as fiercely as Maddy even with no mother. Holly holds Wylie accountable. Holly who loves Lyle, but holds him at arm's length. Holly, who never missed a beat holding all accountable for their actions, most of all, herself.

Indeed, What You Have Left, brings me, brought me, to my knees wondering how I had taken what I had left and emerged with the gleanings.

Thank you Mr. Will Allison, for an enjoyable read, and an even better ride.

[Lisa Mettauer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I seem to be coming across some great little novels lately. What You Have Left, by Will Allison is one of them.

In it, Holly is left at her grandfather Cal’s farm when herleft.jpg mother dies in a boating accident. Her dad, Wylie, keeps only minor contact during her childhood and Holly grows up very close to her grandfather. As she begins college, Cal starts showing signs of Alzheimer’s - which he knew he’d inherit from his father. So the two grapple with conflicting needs: he wants to kill himself before he gets too gone, and she doesn’t want to be abandoned by yet another family member. Before he gets real sick, Cal decides to fix up the farm house for Holly, and hires Lyle to do the work, managing to provide Holly with a new family member. The two fall in love and eventually marry.

But Holly’s reaction to her grandfather’s disease is to fall apart. She’s drunk almost all the time, and then takes off to find her dad. And ultimately, that’s what the book is about, how Wylie and Holly eventually find and reconcile with each other.

Allison has written the novel in a series of chapters narrated by Holly, Wylie and Lyle, out of order chronologically, so it helped to refer to the table of contents to keep the timeline straight. But this is a minor complaint. Allison has created a good and realistic cast of characters, with human strengths and frailties aplenty. The hard-driving women (Holly’s mom Maddy is a NASCAR wannabe) are particularly well imagined. And the relationship between Lyle and Holly is one of the most accepting and forgiving that I can remember.

By the way, the title comes from a quote by Hubert Humphrey: “It is not what they take away from you that counts. It’s what you do with what you have left. “

[Christie (The Ludic Reader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Will Allison’s debut novel What You Have Left, reads like a series of connected short stories. When the book opens, five year old Holly has just been dropped off at her grandfather’s dairy farm. Her father says he’ll be back, waves good-bye and disappears from her life for thirty years. What follows are alternating narratives of the years both before Holly’s birth (concerning her parents Wylie and Maddy) and after, concerning Holly’s relationship with Lyle.

Holly is a bit of a train wreck. She drinks too much and abuses Lyle both before they marry and after. Of course, she has abandonment issues.

I really liked the first chapter of What You Have Left. Allison captured young Holly’s voice (although I have to admit that at first I thought the narrator was a young boy) beautifully. The first chapter mainly concerns Holly’s relationship with her grandfather, Cal, a kind man who tries to be both mother and father to Holly. His death sends Holly on a course of recklessness that seems to take her years to pull out of.

It’s not always easy to like Holly. She’s one of those chip-on-her-shoulder types of characters who doesn’t seem to take into account anyone else’s feelings but her own. Her husband, Lyle, is a saint – even when he, too, seems to make stupid decisions.

I also appreciated hearing her father’s story. I think we tend to forget that parents have lives before they become parents and sometimes it’s hard to reconcile that. Children can be selfish. Parents, too.

In the end, I liked What You Have Left. Perhaps not everyone will like the narrative, but the voices are distinct and compelling and this slim novel has a lot to say about family and forgiveness.