Leave the World Behind: A Read with Jenna Pick
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?
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Community Reviews
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
241 pages
What’s it about?
Clay and Amanda drive away from Brooklyn with their two teenage children looking forward to a summer vacation on Long Island. They have rented a nice house with a pool out in the countryside and envision barbecues and day trips to the beach. On their second evening there is a knock at the door and their vacation changes. New York City is experiencing a blackout and the homeowners have returned to the country. But is it safe?
What did it make me think about?
I could not help but to think of the beginning of the pandemic when I read this book. Are we ever really prepared for our world to change?
Should I read it?
I enjoyed this book and would recommend it. The story was suspenseful, but in a different way than I expected. Mr. Alam's observations on race, class, and even parenting are thoughtful, "Her distrust was not of her parents but of the world that they had made, and maybe she was right."
Quote-
"They had asked themselves questions when they decided to have children- do we have the money, do we have the space, do we have what it takes- but they didn't ask what the world would be when their children grew."
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