Leave the World Behind
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?
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A quietly unsettling novel. Really enjoyed it.
0Incredibly timely book that depicts the complexity of race relations in America. Add to that the end of world, and you get a pressurized atmosphere that's bristling with tension and as a reader, not knowing what/who to trust.
0my reading vlog: https://youtu.be/R2-ec_6sfks
Mostly I hated this writing style immediately, and thought there were weird word choices and the whole thing read as pretentious to me.
Minimal to no plot, everyone is just confused and unknowing throughout. I assume part of the point of the book was to show that in crisis many people flounder and are unable to make plans or be brave or do the daring-do... this just read as boring in this book.
The weird writing did provide an unsettling atmosphere, but if not for a book club I would have DNF'd, and quite quickly too.
(Was weird sexualization happening? I didn't like the sex scenes or the masturbation commentary, or even the clothing descriptions)
The book club discussion raised my estimation slightly, I think Lindsey liked it more than I did. She pointed out that she felt the characters were written pretty consistently, and gave the example of Amanda being used to giving orders and then was useless at the end because she was expecting her orders to be carried out (unreasonably).
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