Name: 小燕's review of Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
Item: Leave the World Behind
Rating: 3.5
Author: 小燕

Rumaan Alam

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong

Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter.

But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?

A Novel

Leave the World Behind

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick! Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award (Fiction) A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * Time * NPR * Elle * Esquire * Kirkus * Library Journal * The Chicago Public Library * The New York Public Library * BookPage * The Globe and Mail * EW.com * The LA Times * USA Today * InStyle * The New Yorker * AARP * Publisher's Lunch * LitHub * Book Marks * Electric Literature * Brooklyn Based * The Boston Globe A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong. From the bestselling author of Rich and Pretty comes a suspenseful and provocative novel keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis. Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other?

小燕

If they didn’t know how it would end—with night, with more terrible noise from the top of Olympus, with bombs, with disease, with blood, with happiness, with deer or something else watching them from the darkened woods—well, wasn’t that true of every day?

Drue Thomas

Tense and unnerving. While the ending does leave a lot to be desired, I certainly respect the artistic intention for ending it the way it does.

What the author would like to convey, I believe, is this: 

Maybe there would be better execution to the concept and the message that the author would like to deliver, but for now this book deliver it in its own strange and compelling way.

Tense and unnerving. While the ending does leave a lot to be desired, I certainly respect the artistic intention for ending it the way it does.

What the author would like to convey, I believe, is this: If they didn’t know how it would end—with night, with more terrible noise from the top of Olympus, with bombs, with disease, with blood, with happiness, with deer or something else watching them from the darkened woods—well, wasn’t that true of every day?.

Maybe there would be better execution to the concept and the message that the author would like to deliver, but for now this book deliver it in its own strange and compelling way.

Ryan Mateyk

Leave the World Behind follows a white family of four on their vacation at an AirBnb rental house on Long Island. A few days into their vacation, they are interrupted late at night by the homeowners of the rental house saying something has happened and there's been a major blackout in NYC, cause unknown, and the homeowners, an elderly black couple, would like to stay in the in-law suite in the basement of the home. So begins the drama, as these two families try to figure out what has happened and what is happening, while also feeling out whether they can trust the other group.

I have thoughts – sorry for the length. I feel like this was advertised as a thriller with themes of class and race, heavily featuring the fact that the homeowners were black and the vacationers were white. I had expectations that this was going to be the crux of the plot but... I was extremely mistaken! Instead, the two family groups come together, rather quickly, and they experience a series of increasingly bizarre situations as the world seemingly falls apart.

Unfortunately, I never really meshed with the writing. It was way too descriptive, and half the references or metaphors were completely lost on me (what the hell is "eager as Stasi" even supposed to mean and does literally anybody understand this reference?!). Despite this, it was still a pageturner and although nothing was resolved, I was completely intrigued until the end as there was a slow creeping sense of dread throughout. I guess I was hoping for a payoff but we didn't get anything of the sort. The characters were also totally strange. They reminded me of characters in a Yorgos Lanthimos film (ie. The Favorite, Killing of a Sacred Deer, etc.) – disjointed dialogue delivered devoid of emotion, nonsensical conversations, very unnatural actions and reactions to certain situations. 

And as for the world actually falling apart - what was the cause? The characters often toss out possible explanations - nuclear war? global warming? Muslim suicide bomber? These explanations I guess are the group trying to rationalize their experience. We see snippets eventually from our omniscient narrator that shed clues on the situation but we never get the full picture. I get that it was intentional to leave the reader in the dark to mirror the uncertainty of the character’s experience but it’s just so unsatisfying to not know. 

It read like a fever dream, filled with flamingos and deer and bloody teeth and *noises* (lol), rooted in our present addictions to access to knowledge and over-reliance on technology, blurred by increasingly bizarre occurrences. It was based in a sense of reality, but slightly detached that gives off kind of Stepford Wives vibes. I did like it and the weirdness of it was up my alley, but I finished the book feeling frustrated as the payoff fell short and left me wanting more. I will say - STOKED for the movie.

Abbie Duggan

3.5 - adored the writing, wished for just a little bit more with the ending.

armoni mayes

2.5 stars. The story seemed interesting enough but extremely anticlimactic.

Bria

This is one of the few times I can say the movie is better

Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a holiday: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple - it's their house, and they've arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area - with the TV and internet now down, and no phone service - it's hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another? Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam's third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped - and unexpected new ones are forged - in moments of crisis.

Ditipriya Acharya

Such an unsettling read! It was even more effective because memories of the beginning of the pandemic are still fresh in my memory. Just wish the ending would have been more fleshed out instead of the abrupt last chapter. I especially enjoyed the exploration of racial bias and the third person omniscient narrative was apt for the story.

Kaylee Ray

Okay, I can see what this book was trying to do. It’s rare to read books about the start of the end of the world, and for that it’s unique and interesting. The characters were terribly boring and so one-dimensional. I didn’t care even a bit about any of them. The use of the third person omniscient narrator had its purpose when it could give us small bits of information on what was happening in the world outside these two families, but other than that I feel like it did a disservice to the story. Had it been written in first person maybe the urgency of the situation and the terror the characters felt would’ve seemed more real to the reader. I was mostly annoyed at their choices and the way they only ever seemed to talk about what they should do but never actually did any of it. This book needed more action and less words. 
On that note, the author really really likes his metaphors and similes. Without them this book could’ve been about 100 pages shorter. An entire two or three pages were just a list of what a woman bought at the grocery store. The author also seemed weirdly obsessed with sex. At least three times I was made to read through a paragraph of a character masturbating, one of which was a minor. There was a description of a thirteen year old in a bathing suit that made me very uncomfortable. I’m not sure why the characters genitals were deemed so important to the plot. 
This book should have been a lot of things, but ended up just a weird, overly wordy mess that I barely managed to get through. Maybe the netflix movie will be better.

This gripping novel explores the complexities of race, class, and privilege against the backdrop of a mysterious crisis. When a wealthy white family arrives at their luxurious Hamptons rental, they are shocked to find the Black owners have also shown up unexpectedly. As tensions escalate between the two families from starkly different worlds, a larger menace looms – something catastrophic is unfolding.

The author deftly weaves trenchant social commentary with a propulsive narrative, rendering both the mundane and the extraordinary with exquisite precision. The finely observed details illuminate the subtle and overt ways prejudices and power dynamics permeate every interaction. Yet this is no heavy-handed polemic, but a nuanced, compelling exploration of humanity at its breaking point.

With remarkable insight and empathy, the novel asks what truly matters when the veneer of civilized society strips away. Do fundamental human truths about family, identity, and morality take precedence, or do old biases reign supreme? As the growing crisis strips the characters down to their barest selves, the answers are as disquieting as they are profound. A masterful achievement.

Liana

This gripping novel explores the complexities of race, class, and privilege against the backdrop of a mysterious crisis. When a wealthy white family arrives at their luxurious Hamptons rental, they are shocked to find the Black owners have also shown up unexpectedly. As tensions escalate between the two families from starkly different worlds, a larger menace looms – something catastrophic is unfolding.

The author deftly weaves trenchant social commentary with a propulsive narrative, rendering both the mundane and the extraordinary with exquisite precision. The finely observed details illuminate the subtle and overt ways prejudices and power dynamics permeate every interaction. Yet this is no heavy-handed polemic, but a nuanced, compelling exploration of humanity at its breaking point.

With remarkable insight and empathy, the novel asks what truly matters when the veneer of civilized society strips away. Do fundamental human truths about family, identity, and morality take precedence, or do old biases reign supreme? As the growing crisis strips the characters down to their barest selves, the answers are as disquieting as they are profound. A masterful achievement.

Allison Dempsey

Couldn’t put this down. Don DeLillo-esque, like White Noise meets the Hamptons. Haunting and beautiful.

Eric Smith

God, this book was just terrible. So frustrating because it starts with an interesting premise, but its characters are so unrealistic and hollow that it makes you not care. Aside from that, one doesn’t always need a full narrative resolution for a book to be worthwhile. Certainly there is no resolution here, but there’s also nothing along the way that makes the journey worthwhile. I learned nothing even though I think this was supposed to involve class and race examination. An author is really duty bound to do more than just say, these people have money and these people don’t - these people are white and these people are Black. Like, ok, and? Nobody in this book does enough for their actions to tell us anything about them, their class, their race, or how they would respond in a disaster. This book might have been great if it started about a week after the book ends…and was written by a different author.

"Archie ran the shower very hot. His balls were tight against his body, bumpy like he’d just got out of the pool." 

"The bathroom redolent of Amanda’s vomit and his own shit, that post-midnight binge pouring out of him in seconds."

Stupid book, stupid plot, stupid dialogues. What a waste of my precious time, dickhead. Good thing I didn't buy it.

Jovana Gjekanovikj 

"Archie ran the shower very hot. His balls were tight against his body, bumpy like he’d just got out of the pool." 

"The bathroom redolent of Amanda’s vomit and his own shit, that post-midnight binge pouring out of him in seconds."

Stupid book, stupid plot, stupid dialogues. What a waste of my precious time, dickhead. Good thing I didn't buy it.

'Easily the best thing I have read all year' KILEY REID, AUTHOR OF SUCH A FUN AGE 'Intense, incisive, I loved this and have still not quite shaken off the unease' DAVID NICHOLLS 'Simply breathtaking . . . An extraordinary book, at once smart, gripping and hallucinatory' OBSERVER ***THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER*** A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a holiday: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they've rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and - with nowhere else to turn - they have come to the country in search of shelter. But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple - and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another? _______ SOON TO BE A MAJOR GLOBAL NETFLIX ADAPTATION STARRING DENZEL WASHINGTON AND JULIA ROBERTS FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD 2020 A DAILY TELEGRAPH, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, IRISH TIMES AND TIME BOOK OF THE YEAR Everyone is talking about LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND 'You will probably need to read it in as close to one sitting as possible' Sunday Times 'A page-turner taking in themes of isolation, race and class' Guardian 'A book that could have been tailor-made for our times' The Times 'A literary page-turner that will keep you awake even after it ends' Mail on Sunday 'An exceptional examination of race and class and what the world looks like when it's ending' Roxane Gay 'A thrilling book - one that will speak to readers who have felt the terror of isolation in these recent months and one that will simultaneously, as great books do, lift them out of it' Vogue 'Explores complex ideas about privilege and fate with miraculous wit and grace' Jenny Offill 'For the reader, the invisible terror outside in Leave the World Behind echoes the sense of disquiet today in a world convulsed by the pandemic' Financial Times 'Alam's achievement is to see that his genre's traditional arc, which relies on the idea of aftermath, no longer makes sense. Today, disaster novels call for something different' New Yorker 'Read it with the lights on' Jenna Bush Hager, October Book Club pick

'The book of an era' Independent

Honestly might have rounded this up to 4☆ if I was completely unaware of it being published in 2020. It seems a little too soon even now, let alone in 2020 itself.

The novel is an easy and quick read, though I found myself trailing off on multiple occasions. I see a lot of people have taken issue with the 3rd person omniscient narration that jumps from one POV into another, often one sentence at a time, but in this case, I found it really helped highlight the disorientation and bizarreness of the circumstances under which the two families meet. (However, the downside of this is that it never truly allowed the characters to be developed and fully fleshed out; they always felt at an arm's distance, making it somewhat difficult to truly sympathise with them).

Beyond the context of the publication of the novel, I think it is well-executed in creating a sense of dread and unease and I am sure it will appeal to a lot of thriller readers or to appreciators of interesting literary formats.

P.S. But oh my god, what is with the obsessions with sex and penises.

Honestly might have rounded this up to 4☆ if I was completely unaware of it being published in 2020. It seems a little too soon even now, let alone in 2020 itself.

The novel is an easy and quick read, though I found myself trailing off on multiple occasions. I see a lot of people have taken issue with the 3rd person omniscient narration that jumps from one POV into another, often one sentence at a time, but in this case, I found it really helped highlight the disorientation and bizarreness of the circumstances under which the two families meet. (However, the downside of this is that it never truly allowed the characters to be developed and fully fleshed out; they always felt at an arm's distance, making it somewhat difficult to truly sympathise with them).

Beyond the context of the publication of the novel, I think it is well-executed in creating a sense of dread and unease and I am sure it will appeal to a lot of thriller readers or to appreciators of interesting literary formats.

P.S. But oh my god, what is with the obsessions with sex and penises.

Patricia Nelson

While I was reading this I kept feeling like I was reading the book equivalent of a Jordan Peele movie - What is going on? Are these good people or bad people? What is going on? Now that I've finished it, I'm not sure I got my answers, but I certainly have a LOT to think about. It is amazing to know this was written BEFORE 2020 threw all it has at us. Themes about family, parenting, climate change, politics, youth, technology, and more out of a quick read that I can't wait to see brought to the big screen by Netflix with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. If the author's purpose was to show the reader a slice of life in the midst of mysterious events, he succeeded. This one is worth reading and thinking about.

Did not enjoy the writing but the story had me hooked! Bit close to home 😬

Molly Bridge

altlovesbooks

It's been a while since I've finished a book in one sitting. Literally the only reason I finished this book at all is because I listened to it over my shift at work, and I was essentially a captive audience. Thank God this was a short book, because this was *not a good book*.

So we have one family, a working mom, a somewhat dense dad, and their two teenage kids, who rent an AirBnB for a period of time (did they even say how long?). This particular house is out in the middle of nowhere in Long Island, no cellular reception, and very few (and distant) neighbors. Shortly into their stay, we meet the other family, the owners of the home, older, wealthy, African Americans. Spooked by apparently a power outage on the east coast, they decided to flee to their vacation home and sort things out there. Things....do not get sorted.

This is billed as a thriller, a horror, a mystery to be solved, but I felt none of that reading this. Certainly some strange events occur, but I was hoping it was all building towards some Big Reveal at the end. I felt intense dislike for Amanda, and vague dislike for just about everyone else. The writing seems like it attempts to be prose-y and flowing, but comes off excessively wordy and clunky instead. The author also does not seem to miss any attempt to shoehorn in genitalia references, and we even get a clunky sex scene or two between the mom and dad. 

The ending also....(view spoiler)[.....doesn't exist. Seriously, we get no conclusion. It felt like the author just quit writing in mid-scene. Was it war? Nuclear fallout? Disease? Aliens? No idea. Hints dropped pointing to any number of solutions, but nothing conclusive. What happened to the two families? Did they live (happily?) ever after? Did they die horrible deaths as their teeth fell out of their heads (wtf was up with that anyway)? Did they adapt to life without *gasp* cellular phones?? No clue. (hide spoiler)]

This was almost a one star book for me. I gave it a second star for flamingos in the pool in Long Island and the ridiculous image that conjured. You have been warned.

disappointing... one-dimensional characters and an anticlimactic and underwhelming plot throughout.

Quite liked it! Loved the writing style. It’s just “writerly” enough to actually digest each word but not too academic to understand. The plot is interesting and this looming disaster— a big one— is left unexplained. That was clearly a choice by the author, to create in the reader the same anxiety questions that the characters had. Felt real. Gentle “thriller” (if you can even call it that). 

Iris

Kristen Claiborn

I finished this one very quickly, so clearly this book is compelling. It starts as a normal family vacation and slowly falls into mayhem. It's an irregular progression with what felt like zero explanation. Speckled here and there are commentaries about people perishing here and there, menacing airplanes, and mysterious happenings, but the full explanation never came. As the story unfolded and the story became increasingly inexplicable, so did the writing. I did feel like that was well done, as the world in the story unraveled, the writing itself became more chaotic. 
 That is where any praise I have for this novel ends. As far as elements of a story go, this book falls spectacularly short. Early on, the theme of racism shows up and is elevated a few times, but never plays a role in the story. The nail in the coffin that sealed this book's fate was the last page. I won't bother giving it the term "ending" because this story didn't end-it stopped. It's almost like Alam's power went out, which, in further reflection, might have been the point. It pissed me off. I am a fan of stories; the beginning, the middle, the end. I am of a fan of the conflict, but more important, the resolution. This book has only 1/3 of what I enjoy in a story. I'm mad that I invested my my energy in these people. I wanted to know what happened, what caused the problem in New York? What were those noises? Where did the flamingos come from? Boo. Just boo.

Roberta Falco

This is basically a disaster book without us actually knowing what the disaster is. We start off by reading about the characters mundane life and then eventually how this deafening mysterious sound changes that. However, we never actually find out what happens after their lives gets changed. He never lets us know if the characters ever reach equilibrium and go back to a new normal. Even at the end of the book, where still in the midst of the chaos. I lowkey felt as if the book was a built up to nothing. The same questions that you have in the beginning of the midst of chaos is the same question you have in the end of the chaos.

Ruthie C

Amy Thibodeau

Good book. Deeply unsatisfying ending like the author gave up.

Ren Sparks

I’m not totally sure how I feel about it. firstly, I did like the slow start and the not knowing what was going on the majority of the book. however, it got to the point in the book when I was waiting on an explanation for what was going on and the explanation never came. that, I don’t really care for. it was wonderfully written and so I did enjoy reading it, and I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good suspenseful book. I guess I was just left wanting more out of the ending.

Cheri McElroy

⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 I have no idea how to rate this. The beginning of the novel had pretentious writing and a ridiculous amount of detail (I don't care about every grocery item that someone buys). And the meandering plot, with its lack of conclusion and dozens of plot holes, drove me nuts at times.

But the beauty of the story is in the characters and how they deal with fear and uncertainty, racism, and class, which is the point of this book. So, I rated it 3.5 stars. It has left me thinking deeply about many issues, which is a good thing.

Alfredo santos

Two stars. 
A bit harsh. What is going on?
Interesting prose & Style, good characters, good story plot, interesting setting. 

But still, two stars. 

The main reason is that this book felt unfinished. Like a challenge from the author that went like this: "I bet you can't write up something creepy and interesting with a touch of mystique". And then the writer was like: "here you go, a couple of chapters that will be very creepy". But it's not a story, it's not a book. 

At the end i genuinely looked if i had missed the next chapters, if they magically fell of my kindle, but no. 

But hold on, you might be thinking: well some writers like to give their books the ending that you as a reader will interpret how you like. But I can assure you this is not the case. There is no leonardo di caprio spinning a token on a table and then the camera slowly fades out. This is not "open for interpretation". This is: i finished a few chapters now i'm off to lunch and I'll send this to my editors" finish. 

For me there are certain components that I find important when reading a book, specially fiction ones: story, characters, setting/ambiance, prose. Sometimes I can do a bit when one of them is subpar vs the others, but just leaving a story like that, even if the prose was great and characters well developed, just felt sloppy. 

Read at your own risk but don't expect anything near the end!.

Drue Thomas &
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

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