Leave the World Behind

This was entirely unlike anything I've ever read, and I very much mean that as a compliment. It's a slippery book - you think you know the genre and then it changes, the perspective slips in and out of characters' heads on the same page, then pulls back and is omniscient - you cannot relax. I thought of it falling asleep at night and throughout my day, like it was calling me back to the story.

My only quibble with the shifting perspectives is that I'm a quick, whole-word reader and so having two four-letter character names starting with R… show more.

The opening of this book knocked me out, and I was hooked.

I usually veer toward literary, slower, familial dramas, but this book combined what I love in literary family dynamics with the frightening premise of an inexplicable disaster occurring in the outside world. The suspicion we were quick to possess about others during the early days of the pandemic is heightened to a new level with two couples pitted against each other, one preoccupied with the welfare and antics of their children.

I loved the construct that had even spouses second-guessing each other. The intensity of the situation brought… show more.

This novel pulled me in quickly with its portrayal of a middle-class family hoping to spend a relaxing week in a rented home they could never afford to own. The family’s plans go awry quickly when the owners show up at door wanting to stay there as a refuge from the total blackout in NYC. Adding suspense to witty social commentary, Alam creates a sense that something very bad is happening, without ever describing what that bad thing is. I had a few ideas, but the author outsmarted and surprised me with the ending. I feel he captured a lot… show more.

A surprising choice, perhaps, for a book list framed around comedy, as the lingering feeling this book leaves you with is closer to a deep dread. But the family at the center of this book—who are on vacation during what very much seems to be the beginning of the end of the world—exhibit such a specific and well-observed type of wealth and whiteness. The book’s social satire adds some levity amid really dire circumstances. And the language in this novel is just delicious.