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Leave the World Behind: A Novel
Leave the World Behind: A Novel
Leave the World Behind: A Novel
Audiobook7 hours

Leave the World Behind: A Novel

Written by Rumaan Alam

Narrated by Marin Ireland

3.5/5

()

About this audiobook

Soon to be 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? 

Editor's Note

National Book Award shortlist…

A simple premise belies the provocative racial themes that unfold in this slow burn thriller nominated for the National Book Award in Fiction. A white Brooklyn family rents a luxurious house in the Hamptons for a weeklong getaway, but they’re barely settled in when there’s a late night knock at the door. It’s an older Black couple claiming to be the owners who rented the house out, but they’re back due to a severe power outage in the city. With no internet or cell phone access in this remote area, it’s difficult to verify what’s really going on. The tension keeps ratcheting up until the pulse-pounding end. Netflix has already scooped up the movie rights with Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali to star.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperAudio
Release dateOct 6, 2020
ISBN9780063033504
Leave the World Behind: A Novel
Author

Rumaan Alam

Rumaan Alam is the author of the novels Rich and Pretty, That Kind of Mother, and the instant New York Times bestseller Leave the World Behind. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Bookforum, and the New Republic, where he is a contributing editor. He studied writing at Oberlin College and lives in New York with his family.

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Reviews for Leave the World Behind

3.5/5

1,466 ratings107 reviews

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  • 5/5
    I loved the author’s writing style. There wasn’t one minute that I was bored. I was on the edge of my seat from the first big sound until the end. I love how the author sprinkles the middle of the book with what everyone else is going through. Although it’s not exactly revealed what happened, the mystery of it and the eeriness of everyone’s physical side effects is creepy enough. I loved it, can’t wait for the movie to come out!
  • 5/5
    I want to READ portions of this book. I'm anxious to see the show. I need to look it up on Netflix. Highly recommended!
  • 3/5
    I enjoyed this storyline and was curious to find out how it would end…and then it did and I’m a little disappointed. The ending feels like it was made to be discussed in a book club.
  • 2/5
    . I had to stop, I couldn’t go on listening because it was just not entertaining or enjoyable
  • 4/5
    Wow, this storyline was out there! I cannot even begin to describe it, but I absolutely loved it. Definitely an end-of-the-world novel. I have to admit that the first chapters of the book seemed a little drawn out. I had a hard time figuring out where the story was going, until Ruth and G.H. White arrived. Then the book went on a wild ride. This is one of those books where you have to be OK with not having all the answers, just go along with the story. It reminded me a lot of Emily St. John Mandel’s novels, Station Eleven and Sea of Tranquility. I am starting to realize that I do appreciate a dark end-of-the-world type novel, don’t ask me where that came from. I listened to the audiobook and I think it really helped me stay focused on the story. But I am also glad to have a hard copy of the book, I am definitely going to reread this book with my flags and highlighter to make note of significant passages. It will be interesting to see how this is adapted to film on Netflix, starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawk, Kevin Bacon, and Mahershala Ali, what a cast! The release date is currently December 7, 2023.
  • 5/5
    Chilling. read it. Lots to think about. Much more to if than the unexpected visitors in the night that the description focuses on
  • 3/5
    2.75

    Pretentious writting? Sure. Insightful? Absolutely.

    This reads almost like an expose of upper class people navigating the unknown incident trying to make sense of something under a narcissistic lens. Scrambling to make sense of things based on vague knowledge of how the world works while clinging to belongings, thier American dream, and a place like a liferaft. Passing through and by one another with the hesitation of people that don't know how to really cling or find comfort in things not tangible.

    Still, I can't help but feel like I'm reading a piece being vocally applauded by a circle of students in some English composition class in an ivy covered building. Another piece of rich contemporary fiction just as far removed as its characters.
  • 5/5
    Wow! Set me on edge. I’ve heard they are planning to make a movie of it. I’m not sure how successful it will be, compared to the book itself. So much of the density and movement of this book take place inside peoples’ heads. Don’t know how they’re going to do that. Sure, they can make a movie out of the actual events but it’ll be interesting to see how and if they communicate the internal aspects of the novel. The descriptions of place and action are exquisite.
    I listened to this as an audio book. The reader was a perfect match for the story. So often the reader’s voice can doom an audiobook. Not so in this case.
  • 5/5
    Gorgeous writing. I still don’t quite know what happened but still great story telling.
  • 4/5
    Probably not the best reading choice when already drowning in anxiety and dread but I couldn't put it down.
  • 5/5
    This novel was quite the surprise! I suspected before cracking the spine that big events were at the heart of this novel's impetus, but I wasn't quite imagining the apocalyptic level it attains. What's best about this story is the creeping uneasiness of it. Increasingly, it becomes more and more clear that everything is at stake (or perhaps already lost).This is such a riveting and intelligent literary thriller, complete with scenes that are absolutely heartbreaking. Yet I appreciate that the author never tries too hard to force the reader's feelings. This isn't the kind of story that provides all the answers, but if that's something that doesn't bother you, I highly recommend this one.
  • 5/5
    Read this in a day and was also left hanging by the ending. We never know what exactly happens to cause the power to go out and the planes to leave the sky and the deer to suddenly join into a herd of thousands and migrate away. A family leaves their NYC home to vacation at a rented house in rural Long Island. A couple, claiming to be the home's owners, appear at their door one night, explaining that something has happened in NYC and the power is out so they aren't sure they can get to their high-rise apartment. Could they stay downstairs? it is safe here, out here in the boonies of Long Island and the house still has power. Then the loud sounds from the sky start and the teenage son becomes feverish and his teeth are falling out, and the daughter wanders into the woods and notices the deer. I really wanted some closure and explanation, but leaving it wide open is also an effective, if annoying way to end this book.
  • 5/5
    JFC!!!! This book had me on the edge of my seat! Best mail biter since Bird Box. Some people complained about the nonstop inner thoughts and dialogue of the characters but for me that helped make it even more suspenseful. I liked all the crazy tangents their minds wandered off to.

    Best book of the year so far!
  • 2/5
    The premise of this novel is interesting, but the writing didn't work for me. Gratuitous sex, metaphors that didn't work well, and other inconsistencies took away from its potential. Dystopia, post-apocalypse in the Hamptons. Out of touch rich people caught unawares and unprepared for disaster. It did not ring realistic to me, but having never had to survive an apocalypse, who am I to judge?
  • 4/5
    Some readers complain of coyness, feel cheated. But that is precisely the point of this beautifully written book. Something happened. But, like the characters, we can't know what we don't know. "You never know when a time is the last time, because if you did you could never go on with life." And "Whatever they thought they’d understood was not wrong but irrelevant."
  • 5/5
    A horror story disguised as speculative fiction. I am haunted. I can't stop thinking about the lengths the characters went through to make each step to hell feel normal, and I've recommended the book to everyone I know.
  • 4/5
    I could relate to the digital reviewer who wrote that he ended this book unsure whether he liked or disliked Alam’s odd tale. True, “Leave the World Behind” is oozing with intrigue and mystery. Given the book’s brevity, some characters are surprisingly developed. The author is a skilled storyteller who uses words with impressive impact. Finally, the book explores some important issues, including bias and racial tensions. Still, I have to agree with those intimate that the book has a bit of identity crisis. It’s not really horror. It’s not quite science fiction. It only subtly teeters on the edges of being social commentary. As I read Alam’s work, I couldn’t help but draw comparison’s to a similar book I read a few months earlier: Don DeLillo’s truly bizarre novella, “The Silence.” Neither work was my “dystopian cup of tea.” However, to both authors’ credit, I continued reading until the very end.
  • 2/5
    Very many mixed thoughts on Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. New York City experiences a blackout. Amanda and Clay with their two children: Archie and Rose leave the city for a week vacation in a rural area. Once they arrive at the house they have rented for a week, the owners, Ruth and G.H., arrive at the house and explain the blackout and that they need to stay. A luxury equipped house with all the conveniences needed to survive any disaster. Many of the scenes depict chilling happenings, but the writer does not venture back to the blacked-out city. Alam leaves the reader to figure what happens in the end. I do not like this type of book, but Alam handles the situation well.
  • 3/5
    2021 pandemic read. While omicron was spreading, I was reading this. End of the world as we know it isn't as hard to imagine, but these people are.
  • 3/5
    I read the whole thing despite being tempted to quit throughout. I just didn't get it!
  • 5/5
    GREAT!I don’t understand why people didn’t like this book. I think it is brilliant. It’s poetry. Everything is happening somewhere else and in the future.
  • 5/5
    This one touched close to home in our present moment. I think nothing I've read since Cormac McCarthy's _The Road_ hit my dad senses so hard.The flamingos, the sickness, the booms, the vacation. So many relatable moments.
  • 4/5
    A Brooklyn family finds the perfect holiday rental on Long Island. It's not near the beach, but it's beautifully appointed, has a pool and they can afford it. They settle in for their summer holiday, playing in the pool, relaxing in the jacuzzi, taking a day trip to the beach and enjoying themselves. Then things begin to happen. Someone knocks on the door. The daughter sees something extraordinary in the woods. This is the kind of novel that you don't want to know too much about before you read. It depends on atmosphere and the reader's imagination for it's effectiveness and it ends at exactly the right point. This is also a novel where the characters remain somewhat unnuanced. I can see this being easily adapted for the screen because the novel doesn't depend on the interior lives of the characters, or more precisely, the characters outward appearances perfectly coincide with their thoughts and reactions. I did enjoy this novel. It was well-paced and unsettling.
  • 4/5
    This was perhaps not the best book to read on election night. It is suspenseful and anxiety producing. However, these traits also made it very compelling, and I finished it almost in one sitting.
  • 3/5
    I hated this book!It was the depressing story I hated.The writing was good enough but the story, in my opinion, left a lot to be desired.I’d heard a review on the radio that this book was up for some award. They hyped the story mostly about two families. One a young one (white) with children who had rented a home for a week vacation and the other (black) an older couple who apparently (? In white families eyes) own the house.There has been a blackout in New York where black family lives and they’ve come to see if they can stay in their house that they’ve rented out to younger couple, it has a mother-in-law’s suite in the basement). Communications are all down so there is no way to variety just who black couple are or if they actually own the home. This is how the radio presented the book but really, this is not the crutch of it in my opinion.Again, I really hated this book!
  • 5/5

    Chilling in a subtle suspenseful way that reminds me of Donna Tartt.
  • 3/5
    A spooky mysterious tale - what starts as a vacation for a family at a house they are renting for the week quickly goes off the rails, but for the most part they remain in a bubble of safety. What's happening out in the world? I don't want to say too much of what the book entails, but if the narrator knows more, I would like the narrator to tell more - to me, if not the characters. The omniscient mysterious narrator is like pulling teeth! But this is always the problem I have with this sort of book. I just want the information. I'm not sure if it's a 'me' problem or a problem of too much/not enough information for other readers. I know that Alam has read 'Fever Dream' by Samanta Schweblin and I'm not sure if this book hits that disconcerting level of mystery that is parceled out to the reader (which also wasn't telling me enough, probably) - but I think that is what Alam was inspired by. I was waiting for him to mention "rescue distance".
  • 3/5
    Another end-of-the-world novel from 2020. There are some good ideas and good writing, particularly in the passages about what will or will not happen. But the novel is unfocused, especially since it is a short work, and seemed to be one kind of story before it turned into another. This is the kind of book that will have to sit on the back of the stove for a few days while the stew of its intent and purposes slowly cook.
  • 1/5
    "End-of-the-world-as-we-know-it" books intrigue me, so I started this one eagerly. Unfortunately, my expectations were too high. I don't mind flawed characters, but I do need for the author to like his characters or find something to respect in them, and Alam seemed to feel neither affection or even grudging admiration for anyone in the book.
  • 2/5
    The story clearly illustrates the horror of the unknown. I really expected the story to progress much like Stephen King’s The Mist but despite some really good leads and almost hints...what happened in the outside world that night is never really explained. Was it a nuclear war? A terrorist attacks?... Who knows? Certainly not the reader. I was also disappointed that the book just ended abruptly and in an unsatisfactory manner...not to mention the entire page devoted to what the wife purchased at the grocery store. It could have been a good story. Actually...it could have been a great story but I felt that I was wandering around in the dark for most of it.