Tackles the end of the world with quiet precision. A book about the invulnerability of selfishness, the insidiousness of stereotypes, and our inability to face what's in front of us. This book, which must have been drafted a couple of years ago, is frighteningly prescient. Alam imagines America imploding and white people hoping they'll still be able to get a reservation at their favorite restaurant. Whelp.

The end of the world? We don’t know but we suspect it is. A family vacationing hears a loud boom, the next morning hundreds of deer show up, then flamingos. The owners of the vacation house show up to be a bit of sanity. What is going on? No phones, no television, but out in the country there is electricity, lights and water. It seems safer to stay put and one little girl seems to know what to do, but she is only a little girl and no one listens to little girls.
Dark, sad and very end of the world. Well written, beautiful descriptions but it doesn’t look like there will be a happy ending.

Wow! Thrilling, thoughtful, and unlike anything I’ve read before. If left me wanting more, but this book will stay with me!

Such a sneaker of a dark horse book! I was so taken aback at how wonderful Leave the World Behind was! Even reading the grocery lists was interesting. It was so atmospheric and eerie with just an impending sense of doom throughout. I did feel a little incomplete at the end, I wanted a little more "this is what happens and why" but at the same time, I had no problems drawing my own conclusions thanks to a really well thought out book!

I had to sit on this one for a few days to think about because I couldn't decide on a rating. Aside from the sometimes long winded details (that grocery list) I was hooked right away with this book. It could have been shorter without all the extra verbiage or longer if more was added on to what had happened. (I am still not sure what exactly happened in the end).

I honestly don't know how to describe this book because it's got a lot of underlying themes going on. However, I will say that it was very tense and given what's going on in the world right now, particularly frightening! Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc copy.

If you’re looking for a page-turner that will completely consume you - this is it! What starts as a relaxing family vacation “off the grid” turns out to be... a nightmare. There is no power in New York City, mysterious sounds are booming down from the sky, and animals are appearing in droves. Is it a nuclear war? Alien invasion? Or simply the end of the world? Alam’s writing immediately transports you to the scene. You feel completely engrossed in the character’s emotions and dilemmas. His unnerving descriptions will stick with you and force you to ask yourself how you would react in the same situation. A fantastic read!

Loved this book! Thank you so much for the advanced copy. I think that the story was intriguing and claustrophic. It really kept me on my toes and I was dying to see what happened.

It’s been awhile since I spent time with horror literature. But I got a tip from a good friend of mine who knows me well, i.e. how I was a big H.P. Lovecraft fan and how I just had to see “Get Out” three times to make sure that I caught all the nuances. She said that I must read “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam. And, oh, how right she was.

It didn’t take long to get into the rhythm. It’s not just Alam’s use of character and plot, it’s more language and syntax. There are lots of short, choppy, staccato sentences. Word choice is spot on alliterative, clever, and creepy.
I’m not one to get into debates about genre but, suffice it to say that “Leave the World Behind” is way more than lost in the woods horror. There is serious treatment of race, class, gender, mental health, and climate change among other topical themes. Nothing is slapped on and added for effect. It all fits together until nothing fits together.

You tell me what happens next. Maybe a sequel. Definitely fodder for a mini-series. Excellent stuff.

Thanks to Harper Collins and NetGalley for the eARC. Much appreciated.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam is a suspenseful work of literary fiction. It starts slowly with Amanda and Clay renting a remote country house to spend a vacation with their teen children. As the story progresses, the owners of the rental home seek shelter due to a dramatic blackout on the east coast, so they arrive unannounced after dark. The drama increases after their unexpected arrival as suspicions arise and mysterious catastrophic world events unfold. This novel reminded me of a Twilight Zone episode where communities will either unite or dissolve due to suspicion and paranoia of the unknowable "enemy" and I found it to be cinematic in its scope. There are underlying threads of racism, current US politics, and survival of the fittest.

I am rating it a 4.5 because I feel like several elements could have been explored a bit more and the ending felt abrupt, but I recommend this book to those who enjoy suspenseful gothic narratives.

Advanced copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book - oh my goodness. What started as a slow burn - a wealthy family goes on vacation from NYC to a rural Air BNB rental - kicks into high gear and I could. not. stop. reading!!!
Enter the couple that actually owns the Air BNB home. At first, I was convinced that they were not friendly, this has to be the plot twist that spells out doom right? Nope!
Enter in some sort of power outage, blackout, possible war or terror attack that is outside in the world and since there is no news source available - these folks have no clue what is going on - and neither do we!
The author seamlessly weaves little hints and glimpses about the exterior world events, but we never do really get a full picture of what is happening.
Meanwhile, there are animals migrating in herds and a weird illness has struck one of the household members too.
This book was riveting - I could not put it down. The ending left me unsatisfied as there are no concrete answers and no real closure provided. I am sure this was purposeful, but it left me a little Meh at the end since I was so heavily involved with the plot.
I would give this a 5 if not for the ending, ultimately it's a 4.5 for me but I'll mark as a 5.
Great read, stays with you!

good novel about parental anxieties. a bit slow to start, and there's not nearly as much thought given to race as there should be--does crisis cause prejudice and power to melt away? I don't think so.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam.

What kind of descent into madness did I just fall into??

This is an exquisitely written, slow moving story of when a family of four escapes the noise of the city for the quiet of a cabin. It is only after a very short time there that the owners of the cabin arrive late one evening, unannounced. They were driving by, and after a sign of danger, felt like stopping and staying on their property was the safest option. But they don't know each other, and does ownership of the property allow them to invade their space and vacation like this.

I will give no more away but to say that I never saw any of this coming. The story was surprising, but also, the writing! I was constantly moved at the beauty Alam was able to weave with language, even if it meant that I had to look up definitions...a lot.

WOW. This was so unsettling to read during these pandemic times. This is like a COVID-type book except that it is about a completely different disaster which may lead to the end of life as we know it. This was terrifying and jolting as we have all learned how it feels to just try and stay safe and healthy with those we love in these times of terrible uncertainty. The writing was intense and challenging and I found it to be an absolute page-turner.

The book starts like a sunny happy beach read. An affluent white couple rents an Air BnB for a nice vacation with their two teenagers. There is no cell phone service so when something big happens, they are no aware until the owners of the property- a black couple- show up unexpectedly. At the risk of spoiling, I don't want to reveal more details, but i will conclude by saying this book is a unique examination of race and class and family and what the world looks like when it’s ending—which is creepily similar to the world we are in now. It was just fantastic and I even found myself pacing during some parts. I am still thinking about this. I guess I'm glad I read this at this exact moment in time. I think it gave it a whole different feel than if I had read it a year ago. Thank you for the approval. I will read this author again.

This is a book that meets our apocalyptic moment, this catastrophic era of unraveling we're all living through; a book that feels expressly of that era; a book whose escalating sense of dread perfectly encapsulates the psyche of the present; a book that fulfills its premise so skillfully and subtly that a careless reader might miss its full impact, all the little clues and asides that add up to something brilliant and shattering; a book that will haunt me in many of the same ways that Station Eleven haunts me; a book that will be read decades from now as an example of great literature of the Trump period.

This is a slow burn of a read. Deceptively easy going at the beginning, it starts to close in on the reader and change from what one could call a summer beach read to an apocalyptic novel, examining how we react as the world mysteriously falls apart around us.

This novel about six people who are isolated together as a cataclysmic event occurs at some distance from a vacation home in Long Island. A family of four has rented the home, but the owners of the home retreat because the power goes out in the city. As the families uneasily co-exist, the world around them reacts to the event. There is an exploration of wealth inequality, race, and the inevitability of death. There is a palpable feeling of unease and the uncanny, and each character has their own specific reaction. Rumaan Alam's ability to observe human behavior and turn over the rocks where people hide their feelings and motivations is astute. What starts off seeming like satire soon pares down into a serious novel about the ends of the earth. Highly recommended to people who don't mind reading about human emergencies during our own pandemic reality.

I could not believe how fast this book grabbed my attention, and held it all the way through - no exaggeration to say I finished it in one sitting. Reminiscent of Parasite in the way it deals with issues of class and money in the intimate setting of a lovely home. I loved the way the author was able to get into the minds of each character, so the reader is able to understand the motivations of each person and explore what they know and what they don't. I kind of wish that I knew more about what exactly was happening in the outside world, but at the same time, that unknowing is so critical to the suspense and is also totally immaterial to the story itself - regardless of what is going on in the world, what is going on right in front of you is really more important. I'll be thinking about this book for a long time to come. Thanks to the publisher for a NetGalley.

Clay and Amanda and their children Archie and Rose are leaving Brooklyn, headed to their rental home on Long Island for a much-needed vacation. The cell phone service is spotty and their GPS stops working, but they are prepared with written directions. They have rented a beautiful house, secluded in the woods with seemingly no neighbors for miles.
They enjoy the quiet, the pool, and a day trip to the ocean, the adults satiated and the children slightly bored. It is only their second night, but it looks like it will be a successful trip. Then there is a knock at the door, and Amanda is fearful knowing they are truly alone in this house. It could be robbers, rapists, or murderers, but Clay opens the door believing someone is lost or in trouble.
An elderly couple, G.H, and Ruth are standing on the doorstep. They state that they are the owners of this house and a blackout in the city caused them to flee to the safety of their second home. Should Clay and Amanda trust what they say? Could they be lying about the blackout and their claim to the house?
This may seem like the strangest thing that will happen to this family, but things are about to get much worse. Partial emergency broadcast notifications before the cable goes out, a deal landline, strange animal behavior, and an unbearable noise are just a few of the things they will have to navigate.
Two families from two different worlds, separated by race and class and preconceived notions will have to decide who they were, who they are now, and how to handle the growing sense of unease and isolation. It wasn't the easiest read and making sense of the situation left me without all the answers I wanted. But it kept me flipping pages, trying to pick up clues, and desperately trying to figure out this odd, perhaps apocalyptic nightmare. I didn't love the ending but I enjoyed the journey.
Once again, Buzz Books 2020 Fall/Winter edition lead me to another great read.

Whoa! What's going on in Rumaan Alam's world anyway?
Compelling, creepy, scary as all hell, but all in a manner that keeps you reading till the end. And then you'll think about it for a very long time.

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

Hang on to your seats, especially if you are reading this during our present pandemic. Alam has a winner here in this apocalyptic novel of two families caught in its onslaught.

I generally read two to three books at a time, and I kept putting the others down to go back to this one. The author has this uncanny ability to not only drag the reader in, but to add insight to future events of the story, as it goes, that the characters cannot see or predict. I loved that!!

Central to the tale are two New York couples and the one couple’s two teenage children. Unusual circumstances brought them together and necessity made them companions, if not friends. The dialog is spot on, the story grows more eerie as it goes and is very well written. Five stars from this reviewer for a fabulous story!

My sincere thanks to #HarperCollins and #NetGalley for an ARC for my review.