Leave the World Behind

By Rumaan Alam

Leave the World Behind - Rumaan Alam
  • Release Date: 2020-10-06
  • Genre: Family Fiction & Literature
Score: 3.5
3.5
From 1,494 Ratings

Description

Now a Netflix film starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha'la, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans and Kevin Bacon. Written for the Screen and Directed by Sam Esmail. Executive Producers Barack and Michelle Obama, Tonia Davis, Daniel M. Stillman, Nick Krishnamurthy, Rumaan Alam

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award in Fiction

One of Barack Obama's Summer Reads

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? 

Reviews

  • Good read but no ending

    2
    By Mncm27
    It was a good read with a lot of what I would argue are true human thoughts and actions during some emergency which is never defined. Enough is said to allow you to assume what is happening and the book takes on an air of what would likely happen in a true emergency. However, it’s a book and a story so the expectation is for the story to come to a point and have a defined end and it doesn’t. It’s almost as if the author gave up or ran against a hard deadline to complete the book. Had it not been in the soon to be on Netflix section and on sale I’d be more mad about it but I fell for the hype. 1 star or 2 is fair but mostly disappointed I read it.
  • Ponderous

    2
    By Hoyaderm
    Who cares about who named girl liberty……I bored me from first page……ugh
  • Good read, okay ending

    3
    By cleaning 4 fun
    The book kept me enticed the whole way though, finished it in 3 sittings! Wish there was more closure at the end, kinda a let down to end where it did.
  • Slightly Underwhelming but Entertaining

    3
    By Couch Pot8o
    The novel moves a little slowly and at times the detail was tedious. Still, I found myself wanting to keep turning the proverbial page. It’s fairly short and the ending caught be by surprise. Not surprise of the exciting type but surprise in that the end came in a sudden and unsettled way. It’s like the storyline was finally set and the book ended.
  • Quick Read

    4
    By sunaugs
    Good for a flight or a trip.
  • Not sure I get it

    3
    By Apryle&Ava
    The writing was engaging but never really went anywhere. I kept waiting for more and was disappointed when it never came. I finished the book feeling confused and a bit let down.
  • Unsatisfying

    2
    By NickCabral6781
    That’s it, just unsatisfying.
  • ????

    2
    By Fhfhjgc
    Hated it at the beginning, started to like it, then hated it again. Ending made me look for the other book (which does not exist). So many unsolved plot lines?? I just don’t understand. Also I hate the way gross smells are so heavily elaborated upon within the first 50 pages.
  • Couldn’t put this down!

    5
    By jenny 1222
    What a thriller!
  • Expected more

    2
    By carocross
    Heard review on NPR that this book was good one written during COVID. Wish I’d read reviews here before purchasing. It wasn’t dreadful. But it wasn’t satisfying either.