Leaving Paradise [Paperback]

Simone Elkeles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 2007

Nothing has been the same since Caleb Becker left a party drunk, got behind the wheel, and hit Maggie Armstrong. Even after months of painful physical therapy, Maggie walks with a limp. Her social life is nil and a scholarship to study abroad—her chance to escape everyone and their pitying stares—has been canceled.

After a year in juvenile jail, Caleb’s free . . . if freedom means endless nagging from a transition coach and the prying eyes of the entire town. Coming home should feel good, but his family and ex-girlfriend seem like strangers.

Caleb and Maggie are outsiders, pigeon-holed as "criminal" and "freak." Then the truth emerges about what really happened the night of the accident and, once again, everything changes. It’s a bleak and tortuous journey for Caleb and Maggie, yet they end up finding comfort and strength from a surprising source: each other.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Maggie has just returned home from a long stay in the hospital to repair the leg that was badly injured in an automobile accident; Caleb has just returned from prison, where he served nine months for driving the car that hit Maggie. In spite of a court order to stay away from her, Caleb continues to encounter Maggie and even ends up working for Mrs. Reynolds, the same elderly lady who Maggie helps. Telling the story in alternate chapters, Elkeles reveals the traumatic accident and its consequences from both victims' points of view. Maggie can no longer play tennis and is now convinced that she is ugly; Caleb must endure the harassment of his former friends, especially the beautiful, seductive Kendra. Not everything in the crowded plot is adequately addressed, but Elkeles creates raw emotions, dialogue, and high-school ambience that's just right. Maggie and Caleb are complex and authentic teens whom all readers will embrace. Theirs is a delicate, delicious love story--without the happy ending. Frances Bradburn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Maggie and Caleb are complex and authentic teens all readers will embrace and care about. Theirs is a delicate, delicious love story--without the happy ending."

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Flux (April 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738710180
• ISBN-13: 978-0738710181
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (88 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Teens > Social Issues > Drug Use & Abuse > Fiction
  • #5 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > Issues > Drugs

More About the Author

Simone Elkeles was born and raised in the Chicago area. She loves writing books for teens and enjoys hearing from her readers. In her spare time (which she has less and less of these days), she loves hanging with her friends and going out to movies. Go to her website to learn more about her at www.simoneelkeles.com!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Caleb Becker and Maggie Armstrong -- Unforgettable, April 29, 2007

By 

D. Sarkar "DSM" (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leaving Paradise (Paperback)

I read this book a few weeks ago and I have to tell you: I haven't been able to get it out of my mind. The story itself is simple: two people, bonded together by a tragedy, shunned by the rest of the world, who turn to each other.

The execution is anything but simple. Caleb and Maggie are both complex, real people who you in-turn, love and get infuriated at. They are people, not characters. This events are something that can actually happen, not just story. The ending is satisfying, a real ending, not a contrived, happy one. I feel like I can pick up the paper and read about an incident like this today, that's how real this story is.

Maggie's good-girl and Caleb's bad-boy personalties are an immediate catalyst for a lot of great conflict, misunderstandings and of course, excellent chemistry. I can see this becoming a movie...it has that kind of lasting visual impressions.

Maggie's hopes and dreams of leaving Paradise behind and Caleb's hopes of a "normal" life with his family, girlfriend and "the guys" are dashed quickly in the story. You realize that these people don't have anyone who understands them. Their story together is haunting and devastating and you feel your heart break for these two teenagers who have looked things in the eye that most adults would have a hard time with.

I loved the alternatiing points of view...one chapter I hated Caleb and felt so sorry for Maggie, the next chapter I HATED Kendra and felt sorry for Caleb...my emotions were in a turmoil throughout this story. Like all great books, i read this in one sitting and all I have to say is: WELL DONE Ms. Elkeles. This is not your standard fluffy HS adventure. This is what happens when HS goes wrong, leaving behind repurcussions that last a lifetime.

I read this book and Jodi Picoult's NINETEEN MINUTES around the same time. The themes are similar...when ordinary people go very wrong. I loved both...and I will not call Simone, the Jodi Picoult of YA.

Thanks for the great read Simone. I hope we see Maggie and Caleb again one day :)

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars potentially wonderful, July 17, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Leaving Paradise (Paperback)

leaving paradise was a potentially fabulous book, with a great plot, but i found several flaws.

first of all, caleb's narration sounded forced, like elkeles was trying too hard to sound like a teenage guy.

and secondly, the ending was extremely disappointing. i'm a romance fanatic, and the end was too abrupt. it was almost as if the book had to be cut short, and the ending was written in a matter of minutes.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Courtesy of Teens Read Too, May 31, 2007

By 

TeensReadToo "Eat. Drink. Read. Be Merrier." (All Over the US & Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leaving Paradise (Paperback)

Two very different people are joined together by the most common yet dreadful experience. Both live in the town of Paradise, but for them it is nothing like the name.

Caleb Becker had spent time in juvenile detention for the crime of driving while intoxicated and accidentally hitting someone with his car. And now that he has done his time, Caleb is able to go home to his family and his girlfriend, if they are still together. But for Caleb, returning to Paradise isn't so easy. His mother is trying to act like nothing has happened, his sister hardly talks to anyone and has went from prep to goth, and his dad is just there.

Maggie Armstrong was that innocent person that Caleb hit, and she's been living in her own prison, the hospital. Trying to get back her life, Maggie has been trying her best to walk right again. But during those times, the people who Maggie thought were her friends began to grow apart from her. It's bad enough that her mother is trying to make ends meet and trying to make Maggie happy, but since Paradise isn't such a big town, there's a greater chance of Maggie running into Caleb.

For Caleb, it's much easier for him to gain his life back, since he was always the popular one -- but for Maggie, she's closer to the outside. But the one thing they both truly needed wasn't their old friends or their old lives, but each other. That one incident, that one thing that affected both of them, each in a different way, has caused a strong connection between them that they would never be able to ignore.

LEAVING PARADISE was honestly an amazing story, and was wonderfully written to where whoever reads it will not be able to get the story out of their head. Simone Elkeles, author of the highly acclaimed How to Ruin a Summer Vacation, has switched gears and made an issue that is so common her own and very unique. The relationship between Caleb and Maggie was so real and extremely heartwarming, and the ways that they struggled to continue their lives, both individually and together, makes you wonder if you are able to be as strong as they are.

This is another wonderful novel from Simone Elkeles, and I cannot wait to read her future publications.

Reviewed by: Randstostipher "tallnlankyrn" Nguyen