I find it challenging to put to words how I feel about this book. The premise is that a white middle-class family from New York—Amanda, Clay, and their two teenagers Archie and Rose—rent a vacation house on Long Island to get away from it all for a week. However, on the second night of their stay, the homeowners, an elderly black couple named Ruth and G. H., show up unannounced on the doorstep with ill tidings from the city. Apparently, there is a city-wide black out; no one’s phones have service, the TV isn’t working, and the landline is disconnected.

Primarily, this book is about the bonds between people—between parents and their children, between husbands and wives, between brother and sister, and between complete strangers. How do we treat other people in unforeseen circumstances? When the world feels like it is ending, do we reach out and care for strangers, or do we turn them away?

I don’t believe this is our first pandemic literature, since the gears of publishing turn slowly and I requested this from Netgalley at the end of September, which would allow Alam and his editors and publishers only a month and a half to throw this together. However, it does hit differently when we’re all sheltering in place at home, which is no doubt why Netflix snapped up the film rights in a bidding war almost three months before the book’s release (https://deadline.com/2020/07/netflix-julia-roberts-denzel-washington-sam-esmail-leave-the-world-behind-auction-rumaan-alam-novel-1202989464/). In general, I think that if your mental health has tanked due to the pandemic, you may want to skip this book, but if you’re really in the mood to read something that reflects a lot of what is going on now, definitely pick it up.

The prose is not going to be for everybody. It is told in third-person with an omniscient narrator, which means that you bounce between various characters’ feelings and observations without a lot of transition, as well as the occasional aside to tell you what is happening to the rest of the world I really enjoyed this style and thought that it really helped me to get to know the characters, but I know it is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea.

One thing that kind of bugged me personally was how open-ended the ending was. If you get into this book and you are looking forward to find out what is going on by the end, don’t hold your breath; we never get down to the nitty-gritty of what is really going on. This book is about people and the relationships between people. It is not a science-fiction novel about how the world might end or the horrific events that lead to the novel’s premise. The ending feels very unfinished—when I reached the end, I was shocked there weren’t any more pages. There isn’t a whole lot of resolution, not only with the overarching “what is going on with the world” plot but also with the more insular plot between the two families.

It’s very thought-provoking, though. This is one of those books where I immediately want to reread it, to try to pick it apart so that I understand more of it. Although it is lacking in some aspects, it was so intriguing and a very quick read, so even if it doesn’t end up being your cup of tea I think it’s worth a read.

** Note for Netgalley: this review will not go live on my blog until October 6. The link I have provided will not work until then.

Race, class, privilege, and family all intersect in Rumaan Alam’s new novel that takes place as the world is ending. This really is an incredible work of literary suspense that feels all too real. ⁣
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I felt increasingly unsettled, anxious and claustrophobic as I read this. We are in the midst of a pandemic, after all, and in a nation with Trump at the helm, a sense of doom is always hanging in the air; a new catastrophe around every corner. Something is happening. The reader never gets an answer as to what that something is. This is what is most terrifying to me; the unknown something. A something that could very well be waiting right outside my door. I still get chills when I think about it. ⁣
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Some very complex language and abundance of detail made it difficult to get through at some points, but I feel like it was all very purposeful and I learned the meaning of a few new words. ⁣
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I highly recommend this book. It will stick with you. It would make an excellent book club pick! ⁣

This book promises more than it delivered!

From the first page - I was anxious to find out what was happening - how it would turn out and wanted a "happy ending".

Fast read - a little to explicit in some areas - definitely something to make you think!

I was excited to read this and there were moments that felt like it could be good but mainly it didn't work for me. Lots of descriptions of events and things that slowed down the reading, descriptions of bodily functions that seemed over the top and a wholly unsatisfying end. I wanted to know more of what happened but was left with just hints of what was to come. The characters were mostly very unlikeable and the overuse of exclamation points was weird. I did read an advanced reader copy so maybe those !! will be edited out of the final copy. There were times when I was engaged and some definitely good, creepy vibes so it wasn't all bad but overall, just not a good fit for me.

I think the premise of the story was great and would make a good movie, esp since many seem to feel this book felt more like a screenplay anyway. This book seems to get lots of love already so I am surely in the minority.

"Leave the world behind," promises the tagline of the Airbnb ad where this book takes place, and is also the title of the latest book by Rumaan Alam. I had to really think about how I felt about this book when I initially finished it. After thinking it over for a week, I've now decided it was good but not great.

The premise caught my attention, as I tried to imagine how awkward it would feel to have the homeowners of a vacation rental show up on your doorstep late at night and then proceed to stay in the house with you. It's their house, but you're paying to rent it. Who is the host and who is the guest?

The reason for the homeowners coming back to the house is a major power outage in New York City, where our vacationing family lives as well. The question is, what happened? Is this a natural disaster? An act of terrorism? The beginning of a war? With the blackout and lack of any phone service, answers are hard to find. And unfortunately for us readers. we never find out either, which I found disappointing.

The book was written pretty well, but in a more sarcastic tone than I usually read. Some readers may interpret it as humorous or cynical, but the style almost caused me to stop reading.

My main complaint was the ending - or lack thereof. I was hoping for some type of resolution but was left looking for more pages to finish the story.

Thank you to HarperCollins and NetGalley for providing advanced access to a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was not what I expected from Alam's previous work, which I really enjoyed, but it was absolutely gripping. Alam can't have known the moment we'd be in right now when he wrote it, caught in the middle of a pandemic as wildfires rage across the west coast, after two hurricanes slammed into Louisiana, but the eeriest part of the book is how perfectly he captured the feeling of abandonment and disbelief when something cataclysmic happens. The way he describes the family in his book, who slowly come to realize some unknown event has totally changed New York City and maybe the country, feels so similar to what has felt true during this long nightmare stretch—abandonment, fear, longing for normalcy, grief. This book is gorgeous, and It will haunt me for a long while, particularly the last line: “If they didn’t know how it would end—with disease, with more terrible noise from the top of Olympus, with blood, with happiness, with deer or something else watching them from the darkened woods—well, wasn’t that true of every day?”

This was a doozy. It eventually became difficult to put down & left me feeling very creeped out. I was a little put off at the beginning with the pretentious use of language, it felt like the author was trying too hard to elevate this story beyond your typical post-apocalyptic thriller. I'd say the author did achieve that, but not through the use of archaic and unnecessarily complicated language.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who likes to be a bit creeped out, and wants a solid page turner.

Possibly the most perfect book to capture the feeling of the year 2020. A sometimes dreamlike but also sharply authentic portrayal of American life, adolescence, parenthood, work, death, and family. Not to mention a stirring examination of race and class. Also, the actual end of the world, or something close to it. What would we do at the onset of civilization's collapse? Be worried, sure. Seek information. Try to act. But we'd still eat dinner, watch TV, have sex, and fret about inane things while trying to grapple with (and probably denying) the sheer gravity of the situation. This entire book felt like a very specific moment in time that I hope to never experience myself. But man, it feels awfully plausible that it will happen in my lifetime or that of my kids. Anyway, this is certainly one of the year's most dazzling, penetrating, and downright stunning books.

"Comfort and safety were just an illusion. Money meant nothing. All that meant anything was this--people, in the same place, together. That was what was left to them."

Leave the World Behind is a phenomenal book that bowled me over. With aspects of dystopia, Alam creates tension in close quarters, examining race relations and how we react when placed in situations outside of our control. The world is crumbling around these characters, but they have no idea what that means or what the extent of it is or how they can stop it - if at all. As the world slowly shows signs of deteriorating around them, these two families come together to wait it out...or face their fates together...

I was excited to read this book, and it exceeded and subverted all of my expectations. It is a simple visit to a vacation home, but even from the beginning there are ominous notes. The writing is crisp and lovely. Time to read his other books!

Might not be for everyone during these uncertain times, but I absolutely loved the atmospheric tension throughout this remarkable novel. Equal parts terrifying and fascinating, I sped through it in two days, which is a good deal faster than I've been able to read anything else recently. Alam's use of small details to anchor you in the reality of this world is masterful. I will be recommending this far and wide for anyone who can stomach an extra dose of anxiety as escapism.

This was great. What an interesting read given the current state of the US and world. This would be an amazing book club book, I wish I had someone in which we could discuss this book! It will make an interesting adaptation, but the writing is so descriptive and vivid, particularly in the beginning, that I'm sure it will be a challenge to get it correct on the screen.

Keeps the reader hooked looking for clues as to what has happened to the outside world while a family vacationing end up with the homeowners arriving following a blackout in the city. However, the end still leaves the reader wondering and disappointed.

Vacations are supposed to take you away from everyday life, worries, and fear. Unfortunately for Amanda and Clay's family, vacation will leave longer-lasting scars than memories. Leave the World Behind is an abstract and cerebral read that will leave readers wondering what they just experienced. Alam consumes all five senses of the reader to make this book truly visceral and long-lasting in the heads of readers. Even now I am still trying to decipher what I read. Even with the impact, the writing has, the plot and characters fall short. The plot is rather slow and overabundant with narrators (one for each character in the story) trying to fight their own perspective as true. The plot is also semi-linear, giving the reader the present timeline but also jumps to the past and future which can make comprehension a little tasking. The writing style is also lyrical to the point of academic in away. The overuse of higher-level vernacular and unusual words can make the story too much. The characters are 2 dimensional, never reaching under the surface. I was left with wondering what tit all amounted to and why there was never any resolution.

Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam is a suspenseful story about two families from different backgrounds who are forced together to face the terror of an unknown situation.

Amanda and Clay rented a house on Long Island with their teenage children Archie and Rose for a much needed vacation. Everything is going well and as planned until there’s a knock on the door late at night. The visitors turn out to be the owners of the house, an elderly couple seeking refuge from a power outage in the city. The house, as well as its occupants, without internet, phone, cell service, and television, become isolated from the outside world. The two families know something bad has happened and are thrown together to figure out what to do next.

This book is dark, creepy, and makes the reader feel trapped, looking for a way out much like the characters in the story. I became more and more fearful with each turn of the page which is what a thriller should do- and I loved it!

The plot addresses some relevant social issues as well, such as class, race, family dynamics, politics, and our connections to each other and the outside world. The writing style was a little complex and took a some time to get used to, but once I did I enjoyed it. I really liked the ending, it leaves the reader with a lot to think about.

I was so excited about this book after reading That Kind of Mother. Unfortunately, this book just wasn’t for me. Clay and Amanda were so unlikeable I couldn’t bear to go through this entire book with them. The language and descriptions were off putting. There were certain chapters that I enjoyed, but then other chapters had a completely different tone & I found myself skimming.

My suggestion to anyone picking up this remarkable novel: don’t read any pre-pub reviews. This story deserves to be read mostly “blind.” The cover copy doesn’t ruin anything, but the pre-pubs do. I had started reading, got a bit less than one quarter in, and then foolishly read the Kirkus (or PW) review. (I don’t know why!) It revealed things that I didn’t want to know! In fact, I realized that I had read the review in question, a few months ago, but had totally and completely forgotten it. Do yourself a favor and dive into this without any knowledge other than the cover copy.

This is the (somewhat) rare novel that is gorgeous on a sentence level, but also has a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat story. It’s a literary thriller in the truest sense. Alam writes beautifully and creates a disquieting suspense that I haven’t experienced much in recent memory. It is very much a novel of the moment. There are references to the recent events, but I didn’t find these to be necessary. In fact, I might have preferred to have less “timeline markers” other than that the time period was “current.” Still, the markers to our exact time do make the cultural overtones, and feeling of dread all the more real.

Obsessed with this book. This is like if Jordan Peele directed Exterminating Angel. The beginning was definitely my favorite. The building tension was done so well. I love when books can make me uneasy or freaked out but not know why. Love the premise. The ending was amgibous and only okay for me...but this is the type of book where the ending is essentially irrelevant to me...I care more about the character driven nature and journey of the story, as well as the thought provoking aspect of the story.

Leave the World Behind
A Novel
by Rumaan Alam
HarperCollins Publishers
You Like Them You Are Auto-Approved
Ecco
General Fiction (Adult) | Literary Fiction
Also available as an audiobook
Pub Date 06 Oct 2020 | Archive Date 01 Dec 2020

Excellent read! Thanks to Harper Collins Publishers and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I will recommend it to our patrons.

Absolutely going to be one of the biggest books of the fall. Was totally unsurprised to hear of the Netflix deal, too, as this story is so gripping, timely, and cinematic. It's a fantastic "beach read" and I've already recommended it to friends and family. I'm new to Alam's writing, but will be sure to check out his earlier books.