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.

A typical family getaway turns deadly in this raw, insidious, slow burn horror story.

Eager for some time away, a family travels to the eastern most part of Long Island where they have rented a luxurious home for the week. Their idyll is soon interrupted, as a late night visit brings a couple to their door- an older pair claiming to be the homeowners seeking solace from a blackout that has affected all of NYC. Soon, the group finds that a blackout was only the beginning, as tensions mount, bonds are tested, and the thin veneer of civility begins wearing away.

Creepy, thought provoking, and delightfully unsettling!

Wow wow wow! This will be one of my favorite books of the year. I could not put down this apocalyptic fiction, despite feeling uneasy during the entire reading. This book is the story of a white family of four that rents a luxurious house in a very remote area of NY state. One night, an older Black couple knocks on the door. They say this is their house, and there has been a major blackout in NYC- can they stay? What follows is a tense and chilling examination of race, class, and how humans respond differently to crisis. We the reader know slightly more than the characters, but not much. That lead to a deeply unsettling reading experience. It felt similarly tow watching the movie "Us". The ending left me with more questions than answers, but I highly recommend this book!

It's difficult to spend time in the heads of parents Clay and Amanda, airbnb-ing in a fancy, isolated house in upstate New York with their two children; they're vapid, well-off white people, and when Ruth and G.H., the black couple who owns the house show up unexpectedly one night, they turn out to be reflexively racist as well. There's been a power outage in the city and Ruth and G.H. are weirded out by it enough that they've come here despite interrupting their renter's vacation. This toes an uneasy line between family literary drama and apocalyptic horror novel and I wish that Alam had learned a little more heavily in one direction. Even now, even six months into this hell year, I still can't help but wish for more apocalypse; he has this masterful way of dropping these absolutely chilling omniscient narrator asides into the story, such as "She did not know that the Chinese man who ran it was inside the elevator that carried passengers between the turnstiles and the platform at the R train station in Brooklyn Heights, and he’d been there for hours, and he’d die there, though that was many hours in the future yet" or "The water was slowly, very slowly, draining from the bathtub in the children’s room, but she didn’t know that" and these served to make me wish I was reading another book that was more concerned with whatever catastrophe the original power outage indicated.

Leave the World Behind captured my interest as it takes place on Long Island and it is set to be a Netflix film. The family remains isolated in a house and are fearful of what is transpiring outside, much like what we have experienced throughout this pandemic and quarantine. Not knowing what is occurring or when something will be over are probably the most worrisome thoughts during this time and parallel the threat looming in this book. This book hints at many possible doomsday scenarios from hurricanes to terrorism which definitely will strike a nerve with everyone who has lived through and experienced these events. This story details the panic that ensues with the unknown as a family scrambles to prepare for an impending disaster. The book gets stranger and stranger especially with the arrival of the flamingoes and the couple’s son getting sick losing teeth and daughter going missing. I wondered as I was reading, if there was a certain message or meaning the author was trying to get across about humanity. It was made very clear how reliant and dependent we are on technology and access to cell phones and the Internet for survival. I was hoping we would get some conclusion about what happened and how the family fared, but it ends rather abruptly and we are left with unanswered questions and uncertainty.

While vacationing at a home rental in a remote part of Long Island, a white couple is surprised when a Black couple shows up claiming to be the homeowners. They say they are fleeing from a mass blackout and disaster in New York City. Reviewers found this family drama thrilling. I could not force myself past the horrible intro to even start on the suspenseful storyline. Alam is a walking thesaurus, always choosing the most complicated descriptions and dragging on for pages about mundane details.

Thank you Harper Collins Publishers for the e-ARC of Leave the World Behind by Rumann Alam. I honestly cannot think of a more timely book for the year we are having!

Leave the World Behind takes place on a remote part of Long Island, where Amanda and Clay pack up themselves and their teenage children to get away from NYC for a bit, in hopes of a relaxing vacation. They've rented a luxurious home and all seems perfect until there is a late-night knock on the front door. Clay and Amanda open the door to be greeted by Ruth and G.H., an older couple and the owners of the home. They bring with them scary news - that the east coast has been hit with a sudden blackout. In this rural area though, where internet and cell phone service are nonexistent and the tv is out, it is hard to know what to believe.

Looking for a place to stay for the night, Ruth and G.H. ask if they can use the in-law suite in the basement. Hesitant, but without another option, Clay and Amanda agree, but are left questioning everything. Is this couple trustworthy? Are they telling the truth? What is going on with this blackout?

Equal parts literary fiction and suspense, this book is a page turner and has a haunting aspect to it given everything the world has faced throughout 2020. The books tackles some hard topics such as family dynamics, privilege and race - it is truly coming out at the perfect time.

Make sure you have this book on your #TBR! Available on 10/6/2020!

I read this book in two days and I'm still reeling. Equal parts literary fiction and suspense, Leave the World Behind is an unsettling, thought-provoking, and disturbing look at class, race, and the precarious state of world affairs. And in a year when anything — including the apocalypse — feels possible, this novel hits especially close to home.

Can't recommend this enough!

I went into this book with just a basic idea of the story, which I think was ideal. It made the characters' unease and confusion about what was happening much more relatable and frightening. This is a very scary book, and it feels realistic and all too plausible. The layers of racial, class and political issues add complexity to the story.

On a sentence level, this is book is top notch. Suspenseful, unnerving, bleak, and often hilarious, Leave the World Behind takes its time to unfold, but by the time the ending hit, I realized I was holding my breath. The prose washes over you, ties you to each character. I found something in each character that I related to, that I was disgusted by, and that I found charming. This is a really smart novel about class, race, and the assumptions we project onto one another to put ourselves at ease. I couldn't put this down.

This book was not at all what I expected! It started out one way and then went in a totally different direction. I happened to read it during a tropical storm, during the pandemic so that really amplified the spooky, not sure what's going on here vibe. I didn't love how the ending was open ended, though.

I'm torn on this one. It wasn't at all what I expected, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Given the description I expected a book where the real horror is the (sometimes) subtle racism of new Yorkers. But it definitely wasn't that- the apocalypse of the book is very real and very well done. I loved how none of the characters had any clue what was going on. That said I found it hard to be attached to anything. The characters were a bit flat, the world didn't ring true to me as a lifelong Long Islanders, and the conflict was too subtle.

Loved loved loved the whole plot of this book. Seemed refreshing and was going to be engrossing. While I did enjoy the story, the way it was presented didn’t work for me. A lot of moments just didn’t make sense from the characters personalities and there was no follow up or conclusion to many scenes in the book. Overall enjoyable if you love drawing your own conclusions.

Chilling to the bone, yet realistic psychological thriller about a possible apocalypse which **explores class relations incredibly well** (!).

Warning: this novel is not an easy read. It's a fascinating story wrapped in complex language and difficult vocabulary. I was looking for an intellectual yet fun read, so this one was a hit for me.

"Leave The World Behind" is a really good thriller, not only because it's creepy and riveting, but also because it hits a much deeper note. It's about a white couple who rents a vacation house at the Hamptons with their two kids for a week when its Black owners show up, claiming that there was a terrifying blackout back in New York. Is it the end of the world, or just a huge scam? Who can you trust when the world may or may not be falling apart?

I was freaked out, intrigued, surprised, and certainly satisfied overall.

*Thank you to the Publisher for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Wonderfully creepy end of days story focusing on a Brooklyn family renting a house on the east end of Long Island. The owners arrive unexpectedly and the world begins to unravel.

This was a middle-of-the-road read for me. While I liked a lot of aspects, there were some things I disliked, and overall, I just didn't feel strongly enough about the book to really warrant adding an in-depth review to the blog.

This was an enjoyable read, however I had to wonder: what was the point? Maybe I'm simply not used to reading suspense novels or maybe I missed something, but was there ever a resolution? Did we ever find out what exactly was going on? I just wish that there had been a more concrete ending. I did like reading about the characters and thought that whatever illness Archie had was interesting, but I wish we had a little more insight onto what that was.

If you like mysteries that don't really get resolved, I do recommend this. However, if during the current times, you aren't interested in reading about the world ending with no answers, maybe steer clear of this book. It was definitely thought provoking, I'm just not sure I would read it if I hadn't received an early e-galley.