Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam

2.25 out of 5

$29.97

“Leave The World Behind” by Rumaan Alam is an intriguing novel that looks at the challenges of modern life when a vacation is interrupted by a mysterious global crisis. The book explores issues of race, class, and family dynamics while providing an engaging and thought-provoking story about human behavior and societal breakdown.

Summary
Reviews (40)

Book Summary

In the novel “Leave the World Behind,” Amanda and Clay, along with their teenage kids, Archie and Rose, go on a peaceful vacation to a luxury Airbnb in Long Island. Their relaxation is disrupted when an older black couple, George and Ruth, claiming to be the owners, arrive at night due to a blackout.

Initially suspicious, Amanda is surprised to learn that George and Ruth are wealthy and educated. They agree to share the house during the blackout. The vacation home lacks Wi-Fi, landline, TV, and cell service, but they have power. The news confirms a widespread blackout on the East Coast.

The next day, Rose discovers a large herd of deer, and Clay, attempting to assess the situation, gets lost. Archie falls ill, and the family prepares for an extended blackout. Strange occurrences, including wild flamingos and loud noises, unsettle them. Despite considering staying, Amanda decides to leave for medical help, leaving George and Ruth behind to search for Rose.

During their journey to the hospital, Clay reveals he got lost and encountered a scared woman but didn’t help her. George seeks advice from his contractor, Danny, who warns them about a deer migration and advises them to return home. States of emergency are declared, the President is in a bunker, and the world is in chaos. Meanwhile, Rose discovers a deserted house with supplies, intending to share the information with the others.

40 reviews for Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Malcolm Nkomo
4 out of 5
I'm new to end of the world themed stories, but if any of it makes you uncomfortable, the house makes it worthwhile. I think with the present ending, a sequel is due. 4 stars.
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Lisa Lee
1 out of 5
Poor writing. Boring. No story. Skip this one.
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Leo Turner
5 out of 5
Received book in record time, book was like new. Will enjoy for the holidays. Thank you!
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Jeffery Atuhire
1 out of 5
I like that the book was short, maybe to short. I got it due to the movie released on Netflix but apparently not the same story. My recommendation, Watch the film and then read the book or not.
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Kalpit Bakshi
1 out of 5
Thank goodness I got this from the library. Started great.... then just ended right in the middle of the story! No explanation for the event which the entire book is based on. Characters are left dangling. Seriously! I actually looked to see if it was just part one of a series... but no. What a waste of time.
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Catalina Kemmer
3 out of 5
very disappointed in this book, however I did watch the movie and it was so much better than the book which is very unusual
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Aliya Boehm
2 out of 5
I'd seen the movie trailer, so I thought "I'd better read this book!" I'm an avid reader, so a good book will grab my attention and keep it. Not this one. The characters seemed like cardboard cut-outs and their lack of motivation was maddening. They would make fitful attempts to understand what was happening, then decide it was easier to sit around drinking wine before trying once again to uncover the mystery. I think these people may have been metaphors for what happens when you let your life slide while you dawdle through it. Maybe the "disaster" was the characters themselves and their apathetic approach to actually "doing" something.A complete dud, in my opinion. I'll try to watch the movie and see if it lives up to the trailer. I do not "get" the 4 and 5 star reviews. Seriously?
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Lillie Moen
1 out of 5
I liked the very beginning but so tedious with all of the descriptions of every thought in their heads, grocery lists, etc. Occasionally you would have hope something was going to happen but never did!! Terrible ending!What a waste of time!!
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Johanna Harber
1 out of 5
For all the same reasons that are well articulated in pretty much every single one of the other one-starred and two-starred reviews here - I totally agree with everything they point out - I regret having wasted a moment of my time reading this. Fortunately I only borrowed the book from library so I didn't also waste my money. I can't believe there's a Netflix adaptation of this. I'm frankly curious now to see if the story in the movie version improves on this literary disappointment. (I imagine the film won't dwell on stuff he mentions in the book like the 16 year old son's ball sac, or his mother's mons, or his sister's pudenda.
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Freddie Miller
5 out of 5
I enjoyed the movie and I am now looking forward to reading the book.
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Maxime Bednar
3 out of 5
This book had so much potential and kept me turning every page as fast as I could until I was 80% through the book and realized nothing has actually happened yet.
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Poppy Patel
2 out of 5
I don't even have the words to describe this disappointment of a book. It's like the story never really got started and it sure didn't have an ending. It was a waste of time, but at least now I know I won't waste additional time watching the movie. I would say - don't read it - but I'd like to know if anyone got anything out of it?
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Dariana Strosin
1 out of 5
More than halfway through the book NOTHING happens. Had to force myself to finish so I could watch the movie. Skipped a lot of paragraphs that said the same thing but in different ways. Please don't waste your time on this.
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Bongani Willemse
1 out of 5
There is nothing worse than a book that builds up all this suspense, never answers the BIG question (the premise of the whole book) and then just ends leaving you hanging! If I invest my time to read a book I expect a solid ending. Even the movie leaves you hanging, though it at least answers a small part of the BIG question. Very disappointed.
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David Harjo
2 out of 5
I am likely in the minority, and that is OK. I found intense, dense, somewhat repetitive prose matched with an existential refusal to explore action and meaning. I will watch the TV series—that medium must of necessity fill in the blanks?
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Sheila Ahebwe
5 out of 5
I am reminded of both DeLillo and Ballard . Everything is within this book that is needed for a transporting and thoughtful story.
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Sibyl Dooley
1 out of 5
There is really no story here. A group of unremarkable people wait passively for the End. They don't act, don't resolve anything, there is no real conflict. Everything happens TO them. The narrative is cluttered with long lists of what's on the counter, what's in the purse, what is on the mind. All pretty meaningless, like this book.
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Summer Jones
1 out of 5
It's hard to fathom how this book inspired a movie. The story is completely non-sensical. The purpose of the author is unfathomable, to me. I cannot recommend spending money on this book.
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Julia Oberbrunner
2 out of 5
After watching the movie and reading the book, I'm left with the feeling, “Huh?” I just wasted 3 days when I could have spent my time reading something worthwhile.
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Toke Adeyemo
1 out of 5
Terrible from start to finish, don't waste your time.
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Dana Nitzsche
1 out of 5
This book is not worth your time and money. It jumps around to much and doesn't make sense half the time.
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Stan Swaniawski
2 out of 5
What kind of novelist fashions a work that displays so much contempt for its principal characters? Over and over again, in the opening chapters, the narrator describes in odiforous detail how intensely the white parents stink, stuck in an untidy car with their "farting children." (That's a direct quote.) I suppose the author believes that focusing on stench increases the authenticity of his prose, but his narrative voice comes across instead as unacknowledged germophobia layered over an utter lack of empathy.At least the Netflix adaptation of this crude and contemptuous novel generates some empathy, on the part of the viewer, toward the husband and the two children in this family from the start. And, yes, I get the overriding, slap-the-reader's-head-around points the novelist was aiming for, i.e., (1)that white people, esp. white women, need to reckon with and atone for their unacknowledged racism and 2) If we can't get along, a nuclear apocalypse will surely force us to get along beca...More
What kind of novelist fashions a work that displays so much contempt for its principal characters? Over and over again, in the opening chapters, the narrator describes in odiforous detail how intensely the white parents stink, stuck in an untidy car with their "farting children." (That's a direct quote.) I suppose the author believes that focusing on stench increases the authenticity of his prose, but his narrative voice comes across instead as unacknowledged germophobia layered over an utter lack of empathy.At least the Netflix adaptation of this crude and contemptuous novel generates some empathy, on the part of the viewer, toward the husband and the two children in this family from the start. And, yes, I get the overriding, slap-the-reader's-head-around points the novelist was aiming for, i.e., (1)that white people, esp. white women, need to reckon with and atone for their unacknowledged racism and 2) If we can't get along, a nuclear apocalypse will surely force us to get along because we're already "stuck" in one, vast shared house.
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Joshua Hartmann
5 out of 5
Leave the World Behind is a literary tale and after watching the Netflix movie version made this novel a real intense, electrifying and terrifying read. This is a dark tale about our high tech, pessimistic world.Shocking yet moving and unforgettable read...great on audio...WOW! Bravo!
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Eddie Subramaniam
1 out of 5
I can't believe a movie was made based on this book. The characters are uninformed, lacking in self awareness, and just generally unbelievable and unlikable.
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Abisoye Lawal
2 out of 5
Note that I borrowed this book from the public library - that turned out to be an excellent decision! I read about half of "Leave the World Behind" before I just had to give it up. It kind of reminded me of a combination of the 1960s movie "The Swimmer" and "Waiting for Godot" by Becket: Irritatingly pointless, which I guess is kind of the point in such existential pieces. While the writing in "Leave the World Behind" is sometimes interesting and engaging, there's just too much confusing stream of consciousness inner dialog flying around. Also, I found the chracters to be totally self-absorbed and unlikable. There were times I just wanted to slap a couple of them! Plenty of other folks have commented on the non-ending so that also contributed to my decision to give up before I got that far.
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Scarlett Rohan
1 out of 5
AWFUL. Waste of time. Waste of money. Foul language and rudely sexually explicit. Confusing dialogue. No answers. No ending. The most boring apocalypse ever put to page. AMEN.
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Maximillian Kub
1 out of 5
Sorry...I am sorry I wasted my time...I hear the net flex movie is as bad as the book...
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Tulsi Srivastava
1 out of 5
I couldn't warm up to the characters at all. DNF.
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Milton Buyinza
1 out of 5
Weird. Created so many questions with no answers or explanations. I found it boring and frustrating. I'm also not a fan of anything that describes one thing for several paragraphs. It listed everything this woman bought at the grocery store - filled an entire page. Not for me.
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Kara Klocko
1 out of 5
I enjoyed the movie so much that I was eager to “read” the book. Unfortunately they are nothing alike. Similar, but completely different.I always enjoy the books more because they typically delve deeper in to details and are more descriptive. I kept waiting for the scenes of the film to happen, so I could capture the images with the authors words, but none of the 5 major scenes occurred. Plus, the author used a few words wrong … like cacophony. Put the thesaurus down.Movie, spectacular. Book… audaciously underwhelming.
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Urban Ledner
1 out of 5
Same as the movie, what a horrible script. Of crazy Ludacris guy, vengeance, hateful, pure psycho guy to write this type of book or movie . I mean, what are they trying to put in people brains. !!!?!?!?
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Omolara Atanda
1 out of 5
I bought the book hoping it would be better. It wasn't. Long Island is not some desolate uninhabited land of fields and I despise the fact that the author portrayed it in this way. I lost faith in the ability of the author at this point. If you want to conjure up an imaginary place then do so but make it somewhat believable. I despise authors who have to place extraneous thoughts in parentheses. Was there a point to it all? Was I supposed to put down my Kindle and say, "ahhhh I totally get it!" I read the book in one day and I will probably forget about it in less that time. Too bad I can't get my $13 back. Well, at least in the movie Julia Roberts was a joy to watch.
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Cecelia Wunsch
4 out of 5
Yes, I've watched the movie, and really liked it. Then I got the book, knowing that the characters would be deeper. The movie plot was altered from the book, but not that drastically, and was to be expected. The book had more details about the world situation, which was helpful. Sometimes the author got a little heavy with the similes, but not irritatingly so. I'm glad I read this book, and realized the author was somewhat prescient with this story, with the book published in 2020.
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Ismael Ahebwe
5 out of 5
A terrifying story about the likely and approaching rnd of humanity as we know it.The human race has destroyed the Earth. We all deserve the coming apocalypse
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Darby Mertz
4 out of 5
Disclaimer - I actually watched this last night on another network. It had us on the edge of our seats the entire time. Julia Robert's character is to say annoying would be polite. She definitely has moved beyond Pretty Woman. Great actress, just wasn't appealing to us in this role. Truly worth watching/reading but the end had us yelling OH YOU BETTER NOT END THIS NOW.
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Cherechi Adebayo
2 out of 5
Couldn't put this book down, in spite of the meandering inner dialogues of every single character.I read it in two days, and I am a little miffed at the non-ending ending.That's it!? That's really it?! What a bust.
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Aayushi Iyer
1 out of 5
This was the most boring book I have ever read. I don't understand the hype. Would not recommend, time waster
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Emelia Osiki
3 out of 5
The movie was very compelling but unfinished. This book does show how interdependent we all are on the world as it is now. But in real life, humans are smart enough to rebuild and survive
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Toluwani Oladimeji
5 out of 5
The stunning movie version of this book, “Leave the World Behind”, is 100% predictive programming. It is a warning to us all to GET PREPARED, NOW, and get right with your neighbors (the ones who survive the "Great Deception"). Are you self-sufficient? Can you rely on your neighbors to barter and trade with after the SHTF? If not, here ya' go: BarterintheHood
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Serena Auer
5 out of 5
I did really enjoy this but I wish the ending was a little more satisfying. I'm really hoping there is another book to follow.
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