I found this book to be absolutely terrifying. Like many horror works, it starts in the mundane-- a family completely absorbed in their own trivial existence going on vacation. I can see why some readers would give up, but that is their loss. The tension keeps building and by the end you're dealing with the complete collapse of our world as we know it. Alam has deftly crafted these characters and this situation into an extraordinary novel. But, if 2020 causes you high anxiety and/or you've ever wished you had a bunker somewhere, this book may not be for you. Now is perhaps not the best time to be reminded of how incredibly fragile our civilization is.

What did everyone read in this book that I missed? To me, it was a story full of foreshadowing that led nowhere, way too many references to sex or sexual body parts or sexual imagery, overwritten prose, excessive examples for comparisons. This felt like a short story that Mr. Alam wanted published as a full length book so he kept adding descriptors and similes. And then it ends. That's all folks! No resolution. No explanation. Nothing.

It took me a couple of tries to get into this one, but I ended up LOVING it. A family heads to a rural town in NY for some rest and relaxation when a couple shows up, claiming they’re the owners of the rental home, and ask to be let in. Something is happening but because their phones aren’t working, there’s no way to look into what it is. What to do? Once I got used to the writing style I really came to love it. The intense detail really brought me in to the house with the families and I spent much of the book feeling anxious and couldn’t wait to see what was next. This is one that’s best going into not knowing much and I’d definitely consider it a smart, literary thriller. I recommend the audio!

Do you still have your bearings?

Two families forced to spend a weekend together....

The book begins as Amanda, Clay and their two children are staying at a luxurious Airbnb home on long island, expecting a quiet weekend away from the hustle and bustle of NYC. One night there is a knock on the door and there are the owners of the home, Ruth, and G.H., who have come to their rental home to escape the blackout in NYC. Soon the internet, electricity, and cable go out. Will no cell service, should Clay and Amanda believe what they are being told? Can the homeowners be trusted? Are they who they claim to be? Can Ruth and G.H. trust Amanda and Clay? Why is there a blackout? Is this remote home truly safe?

This book is both atmospheric and claustrophobic. It also feels as if you are going to be reading a horror novel - you are not. What you are reading is a book that is about parenthood, class, race, isolation, and judgement. This book is suspenseful, has a feeling of dread, and had me questioning what the heck was going on, especially in the beginning.

Thought-provoking and riveting.

Thank you to Harper Collins Publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Amanda and Clay decided to take a break from reality, and bring their children to a house in the country for vacation. Booking an Airbnb gives you a taste of what its like to live someone else's life. So what happens when the owners unexpectedly show up in the middle of the night? Even worse, what do you do when they are panicked and trying to escape something they can't explain? Do you let them in?

Leave The World Behind is an eerie and foreboding book. The start of the story relaxes you with the vacation vibe, encouraging the need to get away. But when the Washington's show up, they immediately upset the whole vibe and send the story into an uncomfortable and panicked spiral.
The writer never really reveals what is happening outside of the vacation home. The Emergency Broadcast alert, power outage and strange noises could be caused by a number of things. In a post 9/11 country, we now jump to horrible conclusions. But its the way nature reacts that makes you believe something bigger is happening. When the technological world goes quiet, its time to listen to the voices outside.
Now that we have experienced COVID lockdown, the fear in the book is a little more real. Exposure to something unseen, that can quickly take lives, is no longer unheard of. Even the fear of going to the hospital for treatment is unbelievable. Similar to what happens in this book, with COVID lockdown we also saw nature reclaiming. Scary to think what is waiting when the lights go out.
Imagine all of these situations and possible threats happening while you're trapped in someone else's house, with complete strangers. You have the perfect storm of scary conclusions.

Though I felt the ending was too open ended, and anti climatic, the rest of the story was great. Alam plays mind games with the reader, gageing your reaction to terrifying situations being thrown at you, one after another.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is a disturbing book about how people react in crisis. Over the course of one weekend, two families are cut off from the rest of the world and find themselves lost when everything they have taken for granted no longer exists. What do you do with a sick child when there are no doctors? How do you get food when there are no stores? This book is a slow burn, with the tension steadily increasing and not really ending when the story ends. Readers will devour this in one sitting. Recommended for readers of family fiction, dystopian fiction and thrillers. A great book club pick.

Leave the World Behind is a literary psychological thriller, which means it's beautifully written, very intense, and offers commentary on our society and the roles,we play (or want to, or try to, or are doomed to). It's a simple premise, but Rumaan Alam proves there's still robust life in the end-of-the-world/dystopian thriller, and the lyrical writing and ability to raise questions while delivering a deeply moving (and disturbing) raise this thriller to a whole other level. I expect that this will be an easy sell to die-hard thriller fans, and to those who devour new literary fiction, but ideally, I'm hoping putting this into a display will hook more casual readers in both genres. Such a great book!

“Step into our beautiful house and leave the world behind”.

A family vacation in Long Island is interrupted when the homeowners return with news of something weird going on. Is the world ending? Is there a war? A natural disaster? WHO KNOWS.
The synopsis interested me and I thought there would be some Jordan Peele vibes but wow, I was so wrong. In the second chapter we get two pages of what Amanda buys from the grocery store. That’s when I knew this book was not what I thought it would be. The overly written prose comes off as pretentious but also a bit inefficient. I did feel a sense of dread and build up but it was all for nothing.
Nothing happens in the book and the little things that do happen, are not explained. Maybe that is the whole point but I am not that kind of reader, I like explanation and everything tying up in the end. I expected this book to be wild and it’s quite the opposite.

Thanks to Netgalley and to the publisher for allowing me an arc. Netflix supposedly picked this up for adaptation and I might watch it in hopes that they make it a little more interesting.

This was a very interesting book, though I'm still not quite sure what I just read. Part of me feels like the point of it went way over my head. It definitely reads like a thriller, and I had a hard time putting it down, as I was desperate to get to the end and find out exactly what was going on. As I was getting nearer and nearer the end, I started to suspect that I may not get the answers I was looking for.

This is the story of two (unrelated) families that end up spending a weekend in a house together when the world is going a little bit haywire. Clay, Amanda and their kids have rented a home in a remote area to spend a week out of the city, a place where they can "leave the world behind". They get unexpected visitors, G.H. and Ruth Washington, who are the owners of the home. The Washington's end up staying in the home as well, and things are rather interesting from there on out.

I think because it read like a thriller, my main focus was on getting answers about what was happening, what was causing all of the weird things to happen. However, in looking back (and honestly, in reading other reviews), I realize it was also a story about class, parenthood, gender roles, and race. It goes a bit deeper than what I was reading it as, and looking at it from that perspective definitely changes things a bit.

It definitely kept my attention throughout and I had a very hard time stepping away from this book, even when I needed to. That said, I am still not sure what I thought of it. I'm okay with it not being what I thought it was, but I also wanted some kind of revelatory moment, where I was either given more of an explanation or where the point of the book hit me smack in the face.

If you like your books neatly tied up and leaving you without any questions, this is likely not the book for you. However, if you like books that are deeper than what's on the surface and leave you thinking about them long after you put them down, then I think you'll quite enjoy this one.

"This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper."
The Hollow Men TS Eliot

Rumaan Alam takes this image literally with a bang, and then the whimper. How will the world end, or more specifically the people who live on it? Will we even know how or why?

Very interesting look at how people relate to each other. Barriers of class, race, age, and gender make communication difficult at best. And yet we continue to try. I will admit to wanting some more specifics at the end, but this is a strong story that ends the way it ends. That will be enough for you or it won't. Read and then discuss with a friend.

A gripping masterclass in delayed tension, simmering with incisive social commentary. Full review posted at BookBrowse: https://www.bookbrowse.com/mag/reviews/index.cfm/ref/pr266560

I liked the premise of this book. This dystopian feel. The idea of a normal family slowly being brought out of the normal. At first it felt that. Almost too much. Too normal. Literally ever item a woman bought at a grocery store normal. Then a knock on the door. Here, you think it will start to get eerie. Or thrilling, Or something.

The idea is a family and a couple who are strangers to them get together at what is the beginning of something. And the end of something. It is a slow journey. I don't mind slow journeys. It just didn't come together as thrilling or compelling to me. Nothing was much of a surprise. I felt like I had read this all before, but with better characters.

The first novel from my Halloween horror list is complete. And I must say we are not off to a brilliant start. If I am being quite honest, I knew from the first three chapters that this book was not going to be my personal cup of tea. But it had some qualities that made it okay-ish. I'll try and not be too harsh.

Right off the bat, you will pick up on Alam's writing style. In my opinion, it was reminiscent of Bret Ellis' style in American Psycho. For example, he listed every single thing that the Mom bought from the store. And it was completely unnecessary and did nothing for the overall story. Additionally, Alam really likes over-done prose. Like really, really fucking loves it. How many ways can we say the same fudging thing using synonyms? The answer is quite a fucking lot based on this novel. He went on and on for paragraphs about Amanda gasping. He said she gasped fifteen frickin ways just different words. Again, entirely unnecessary and actually irritating. I've never read this authors work before and am unsure if this is his style in general or a choice he made for the book. Either way, it isn't really working. It actually came off rather pretentious. It almost immediately turned into a DNF due to that.

Leave the World Behind will work for some and not others. Since this story is entirely focused on human behavior and reactions which makes it a slow burn. The catalyst took a back seat to the story which isn't my favorite method. I like explanations and reasons. That is just a readers preference, no fault of the book. So be forewarned.

Not all was bad, I can appreciate some things about this novel. Alam did a wonderful job of setting the tone. He really has an understanding of human fears. He played that out with his characters and did a fine job. But I could also say that he also got carried away with some of these fears. For example, sickness plays a role but it doesn't exactly make sense to me. It really could have been left out. He already had so much going on that it felt almost random and unexplained.

Last thing, I want to commend the author for the brutal truths sprinkled through out the story. He didn't shy away from some personal thoughts of the characters. He openly writes those thoughts that we are too afraid to say aloud. I really like cold, hard truths because they are difficult to say, read, and hear. So I really appreciated that through out this novel.

Overall, I think his style of writing made the book annoying and unenjoyable for my particular tastes. I can see this being a hit and miss just depending on the reader preferences.

I'm going to give this story a 2.5 star rating and round it down to two.

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers for the read!

Amanda and Clay, along with their teen children Archie and Rose, are happily enjoying the house they've rented in the Hamptons. She's filled the fridge, the adults have had sex, everyone's gone to the beach. Then, on their third night, there's a knock at the door. Ruth and GH, who own the house, have come from NYC- fleeing a blackout. It's an uncomfortable situation for everyone but they eventually buckle in until odd things happen - a large group of deer, a flock of flamingos, and worst of all- a loud loud noise. Much has been made about the fact that one couple is black and the other white. What resonates more is the incredible level of privilege for all of them. The writing is meant to be amusing and there are several times where there are lists, such as at the grocery store and in GH's supply closets, but occasionally, such as the reference to car salesmen in Men's Warehouse pants, it grates. Alam does a nice job of ramping up the tension and the reader might feel this veers from thriller to horror story. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. A good read that has a lot for you to chew on.

Rumaan Alam's chilling and unpredictable third book Leave the World Behind has a very of the moment premise. An awkward tension arises when a privileged but not wealthy white family renting a house on the end of Long Island is visited by the older Black couple who own the house. Though they explain that something unexpected and unexplained has happened in the.city, causing them to take refuge at their country home, Amanda is skeptical. She thinks they look like they're more likely to work in the house than own it. Precise, close social observation and suspense make it a compelling read.

This novel it too real for our time. A completely unsettling story from the start a white upperclass family take a vacation to the country when a black couple arrive at their doorstep in the middle of the night saying that they own the house and that a blackout has happened in NYC and they are coming home early. From there things become eerie and get stranger and stranger.

If you are expecting a thriller, this is not, but the oppressive feeling of this novel unsettled me. The apocalyptic bleakness matched with a perfect sprinkle of dark humor would hit just right if we weren't already feeling the melancholy of living through a pandemic.

People have compared this to Get Out, but I'm really annoyed by that as it seems every author of color who publishes anything horror adjacent is getting that tagline put on their book just because of Jordan Peele's current name recognition. This book is it's own thing and it is brilliant and it is getting an adaptation starring Denzel and Julia Roberts. Please don't try to drop them all in the same box.

Couldn't get along with this. I am surprised by the early buzz and fact that it has already been optioned as a TV series. Very overwritten and the style is off-putting from the first page.

Leave The World Behind is not your usual twist and turn thrilling kind of book but oh my it is suspenseful... Alam kept me on edge right until the end. The writing was so atmospheric and sharp. You could feel the tension building. It is slow burn suspense with an eery Jordan Peele vibe. It is somewhat bizarre at times and the language is complex but I liked it. I can see why it’s a polarising read! It’s so much more than suspense. Alam delves into family dynamics, race and privilege. Leave The World Behind is a great discussion book. Plus Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts are signed up to star in the Netflix movie!

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for the ARC eBook in return for an honest review.

An interrupted vacation in a secluded area of Long Island, a possible national (or global) emergency, race, class, and family dynamics...obviously, Leave the World Behind is a very timely novel.

As Clay, Amanda, and their children, Archie and Rose, enjoy their time away from Brooklyn, they hear a random knock at their door late one night. Standing outside are the owners of the house, George and Ruth Washington, the elderly African-American couple who own the Airbnb home Clay and Amanda are renting. The Washington's escaped from NYC after a massive blackout caused them to feel unsafe in their high rise apartment. Obviously, neither couple was happy with the situation, and polite skepticism was the order of the day.

“It was torture, a home invasion without rape or guns,” thinks Amanda.

What unfolds over the next forty-eight hours, as the couples come to an uneasy truce, is bizarre and creepy. While I wasn't a huge fan of the flowery prose, I did appreciate the tension that built slowly throughout the novel. It's a short, quick read, and I couldn't seem to turn the pages fast enough. I was genuinely curious about what was happening.

Unfortunately, the conclusion wasn't my favorite. I understand why Rumaan Alam chose to end it the way he did, but, for me, it was a disappointment after the potent build-up.

Overall, this is an enlightening social commentary on the state of our country, and I appreciated its felicitous message.

3.5 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for my review copy.

I heard about this book a few months ago and was able to snag a DRC copy thanks to NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Wow, what a bummer. The premise of this book sounded intriguing, marketed as a suspense novel, and with the added layer of race relations, I definitely did not get what was promised. The writing was beautifully detailed and vivid, but so much so that it became cumbersome. An extremely slow burn that just kind of fizzled out without even leaving any embers. It was picked up by Netflix to star Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts so I will definitely be watching it, but hope they do more with the plot.