In What I Leave Behind, Alison McGhee has created a devastating masterpiece that manages somehow be just as uplifting as it is tragic. Written in an almost lyrical style, with one hundred words on each page (there are also one hundred pages), What I Leave Behind tells the story of sixteen-year-old Will, three years after his father commit suicide. Will is an almost normal high-schooler, working at the dollar store while his mom never seems to come home, but there are a few things that set him apart: he makes cornbread, and he walks. He walks everywhere, past Superman, the homeless man of First; past the dog-of-insanity who is always chained and always barking; past the little butterfly dude, who sits in his yard waiting for butterflies. The only places he doesn’t walk are the places where it is painful, like the bridge on Fourth Street where his father was found dead; his old friends Playa’s house who he hasn’t really spoken to for much too long; the store with a hundred Chinese blessings nestled at the back.
As for the cornbread? Only one person knew the recipe, and he kept it in his head. Now that Will’s father is dead, no can replicate it. No one even seems to try – except Will, who tries and tries and tries, never succeeding.
When something unexpected happens to Playa, Will starts to turn himself around and becomes a gift-giver, helping others through their struggles while inadvertently helping himself. But can Will help the person most important to him when he hasn’t had a real conversation with her in years? Playa needs his support and he needs to find a way to give to her.
This is a beautiful, heartfelt story about friendship, loss, and self discovery. In ten thousand carefully chosen words, Alison McGhee winds the threads of Wills life into an incredible tapestry, one which I couldn’t help but fall in love with. This is a book I would recommend to just about anyone, especially people who are be struggling with a family loss or broken friendship, and I feel that it deserves a place on every bookshelf.