What I Leave Behind
- Author: Alison McGhee
- Narrator: Michael Crouch
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster
- Duration: 1:28:37
Synopsis
“An artful exercise in melancholy…Every reader will love openhearted Will.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Haunting, introspective.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Emotionally raw…[A] piercing narrative.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“McGhee artfully illustrates the tangled web wherein grief intertwines with the mundane.” —BCCB
After his dad dies of suicide, Will tries to overcome his own misery by secretly helping the people around him in this exquisitely crafted story made up of one hundred chapters of one hundred words each, by award-winning and bestselling author Alison McGhee.
Sixteen-year-old Will spends most of his days the same way: Working at the Dollar Only store, trying to replicate his late father’s famous cornbread recipe, and walking the streets of Los Angeles. Will started walking after his father committed suicide, and three years later he hasn’t stopped. But there are some places Will can’t walk by: The blessings store with the chest of 100 Chinese blessings in the back, the bridge on Fourth Street where his father died, and his childhood friend Playa’s house.
When Will learns Playa was raped at a party—a party he was at, where he saw Playa, and where he believes he could have stopped the worst from happening if he hadn’t left early—it spurs Will to stop being complacent in his own sadness and do some good in the world. He begins to leave small gifts for everyone in his life, from Superman the homeless guy he passes on his way to work, to the Little Butterfly Dude he walks by on the way home, to Playa herself. And it is through those acts of kindness that Will is finally able to push past his own trauma and truly begin to live his life again. Oh, and discover the truth about that cornbread.
Chapters
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WhatILeaveBehind 17
Duration: 52s -
WhatILeaveBehind 18
Duration: 49s -
WhatILeaveBehind 19
Duration: 54s -
WhatILeaveBehind 20
Duration: 53s -
WhatILeaveBehind 21
Duration: 50s -
WhatILeaveBehind 22
Duration: 49s -
WhatILeaveBehind 23
Duration: 45s -
WhatILeaveBehind 24
Duration: 47s -
WhatILeaveBehind 25
Duration: 49s -
WhatILeaveBehind 26
Duration: 55s -
WhatILeaveBehind 27
Duration: 50s -
WhatILeaveBehind 28
Duration: 55s -
WhatILeaveBehind 29
Duration: 57s -
WhatILeaveBehind 30
Duration: 55s -
WhatILeaveBehind 31
Duration: 43s -
WhatILeaveBehind 32
Duration: 01min -
WhatILeaveBehind 33
Duration: 56s -
WhatILeaveBehind 34
Duration: 59s -
WhatILeaveBehind 35
Duration: 48s -
WhatILeaveBehind 36
Duration: 53s