A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong

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 black 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 another?

Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel is 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.

Did not actually get a chance to give this book more than a too brief chance. Just didn't care for it from the get go, not for me - wasn't at all what I expected. Perhaps not enough of the world left far enough behind. Thank you and apologies for the cursory treatment.

Novel felt more like a short story you would read in a literary magazine. I felt 110% uncomfortable the entire time reading it, not because of the uncertainty of the cause and expanse of the apocalypse, but with the actions of the characters. Feeling very disappointed and duped by the misleading reviews.

A doomsday beach read that gestures at more issues than it ever fully explores. Alam has said in interviews that he wrote this novel line by line via tweets, and... you can tell. This novel has a few memorable passages, but not quite enough to map them together.

This quote from the last few pages was an interesting thought—“Trees knew not to grow into one another, held themselves that some remove from their neighbors. Trees knew only to be occupy their given patch of earth and sky. Trees were generous and careful, and maybe that would be their salvation.”—mainly because I love trees. Otherwise, though the writing is fine, I didn’t care about this book or these characters & only finished because so many people were talking about it. For such a short book, there was a lot of weird sex stuff that felt totally unnecessary to the plot or characters and only made the story more shallow.

Maybe it was just the narrator’s tempo or monotone voice, but I had such a hard time paying attention to this audiobook. Rumaan Alam is a favorite of mine and I can’t help but think I would have enjoyed reading this better. However, I did not love how this ended with no resolution, and no one has any clue wtf was actually going on. But I’m sure that was some calculated decision by the author.

This book was hard to put down it was that good. I would highly recommend it to library patrons. It was full of mystery, commentary on society, and relationships. It is a relevant book to the times we are experiencing.

The audiobook was well done. The initial story was interesting and had so much potential, but ultimately fell short, in my opinion. A well-off White family rents an Airbnb in the middle of nowhere -- a beautiful, idyllic home far away from the worries and strains of their lives. However, a knock in the middle of the night destroys that paradise, and the renters are forced to allow the owners, an older Black couple, to their racist astonishment, back inside their home when *something* happens in the outside world.

This is where my disappointment stems. The something that has disrupted all communication and media, that seems to have heralded the 'beginning of the end,' is never fully explored or explained. I like a good ambiguous story now and then, but this was unsatisfying.

The premise of the book is /were intriguing. However, I found the presentation to be a bit tedious and crude. I could have dealt okay with the tedious to investigate the premise, but the crude parts would greatly inhibit discussions of the book.

Not my chosen type of reading. I do try to vary genres, but this book left me hanging in a less satisfying way than Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, Perhaps it is the current times that we are in, but I did not feel the appeal of this book emotionally or intellectually.

Such a timely book to read in the middle of the pandemic. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Net Galley, and was reading it in July 2020. So fitting as it tells the story of a young family who has left Brooklyn to stay at a rented vacation home at the end of Long Island. Soon after arriving, there comes a late-night knock on the door. It is an older African American couple who claim that the home is theirs and they have fled NYC due to a mysterious black out. The two couples have to figure out how to proceed from there. It was optioned by Netflix before publication -- and I'm not the least surprised. Recommend.

Ugh! Spoiler alert. This book hints at a worldwide disaster the entire time but never really reveals what it is. The entire book is just about the fear the adults have about what might have happened. Thanks to Netgalley for provide me with this audio version in exchange for my honest review.

I received an ARC of this audiobook in exchange fore an honest review. I liked the narration but the story was hard to get into. The parents are very entitled adults with two children a teen boy and younger girl who rent a home in the Hamptons to get away. They are so self absorbed that they do not notice anything going on around them. The descriptions about what they think are overdone and annoying. Perhaps that is on purpose to get into their characters.
The premise of the book is good. Something strange happens that is never explained, it is catastrophic and causes communications to shut down, animals to act strange and people to become very sick. The owners of the house have fled New York to go to the safety of their country home arriving in the night. The renters are not convinced they should let them in but finally relent. I was really frustrated by the tones in the book of the character interaction. Everyone except the little girl appear to be very self absorbed. Perhaps it was intentional to point out the dysfunctionality our society has achieved. The ending was very abrupt and up in the air.

Did not finish. I didn't get very far into this audiobook because I did not care for the narrator. The book itself also was not what I was expecting. I may give the print book a try instead of audio to see if I enjoy that more. For a book that was so hyped and that I was very excited about, I was disappointed both with the narrator and the narrative.

I started but did not finish listening to this book. I found the writing pretentious--the vocabulary was just too much. When you have to stop and think about the words the author is using that you have never heard of your mind is not in the story. Also, the first chapters had sexual content/language that I could have done without. However, I really stopped reading because I was just bored with the slow build up (and annoyed by the pretentious writing style).

The premise of Rumaan Alam’s Leave The World Behind was intriguing: Amanda and Clay take their teenage children on a week-long getaway from their home in NewYork City to a luxury vacation rental (think top-of-the-line AirBnB) and find their peace and quiet abruptly ended by the arrival of a frantic older African-American couple (Ruth and G.H.) in the middle of the night. This couple claims they are the owners of the house, and they say they have come to stay in “their” house because a sudden blackout has completely shut down the City. There is iffy cell reception in this quiet rural area, and they are all without cell service, TV, or Internet, so they don’t really know what is going on…then creepy things start to happen.

All kinds of questions come up: can Amanda and Clay believe what they are told by this couple? What exactly is happening? Apparently, some cataclysmic event has taken (or is taking?) place, but what? And is this a safe place to be? Should Clay and Amanda try to get home? Or stay in the home that they feel is rightfully theirs for the coming week?

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 time heir families? And are they safe from one other?

The biases, fears, and issues of age, class, and race all enter into the story, and the gradual revelations about WTF is going on are REALLY creepy…but in a good way. The writing is sharp, and I loved the way I came to know things about each of the characters by their actions and thoughts, without being hit over the head by declarations about their past situation or current challenges.

I had just read that a movie is planned with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, so I had a nice visual aid while I read this book (provided by Harper Collins Ecco and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review). It’s a bit dark, and the ending may leave some readers frustrated…but I keep thinking about it and can’t come up with an ending that would have been better. I wavered between four and five stars, but settled on four. Highly recommended, and might be good for book clubs.

An excellent read (or in my case, listen- since I listened to the audiobook). The language is descriptive, nuanced, and drew me in from the beginning. The plot centers on a white family of four who rent a house for their vacation from the city. A few days into their vacation, the owners of the home they are renting, a wealthy black family appear at the door, requesting to be allowed in to avert a situation. The plot gradually unfolds from there. I was kept guessing about was happening outside the home that kept these families in a bubble , The author uses a technique of surmounting horror, and foreboding detail to draw the reader in. It is what is not said, that makes the novel so powerful. This story has a lot of character development, which makes the characters likable, and identifiable . The author shows a deep understanding of how race, and class play out in modern day America.
I listened to this audiobook on a recent road trip, and it was engrossing enough to keep me entertained, and engaged for the duration of my trip. Highly recommend. I see this being a popular book club read. The audio book was excellent, and narration was beautiful, given the rich and evocative language used throughout the book.

This was a beautifully written and thought-provoking story. The tension and sense of impending doom built slowly and steadily, highlighting the discomfort of the situation.

So I thought either Rumaan Alam took a big risk with readers likes, or he was a genius and captivated his audience with suspence. I am a audio reader, my car most of the time my theater. Marin Ireland was splendid as the narrator of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND. A story of a city family going off on a vacation in the country is pretty typical for most, we all do it, Yet Rumaan story, Marin voice just pulled me in under a spell. I found I drove my car slower, eager to get back in after work, my commute almost a pleasure. This is me time, doing my favorite thing reading. The characters became my friends my family. And then, the finale act I will call it is where Rumaan is either a genius or where a shame on you comes in. No spoilers here. I was recommended to read this book, and although I want to point my finger at Rumaan and say shame on you, I rather ask if there will be a second book to quench my thirst? If readers are looking for something different to read, if book clubs want a good discussion LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND is your next pick.

This psychological drama between strangers brought together by a mysterious catastrophe focuses on two families from the city as they meet and struggle with trust and an uncertain future together in a rural America after an unknown disaster disrupts all the lives around them. Great animal migrations in the background and teeth falling out in the fire, we get inside the heads of each of the characters as they grapple with a world that has suddenly and drastically changing around them. Touching on themes of race, class, and mortality, readers will follow these characters as they grieve a life of privilege that is lost and come to terms with a new reality that is unfolding around them and decide who they can trust. Though not about COVID, this would be an excellent bookclub pick for 2020: an engaging plot and relatable characters living through a time of great uncertainty would be a great jumping off point for discussions about community, health and resilience in the face of a global challenge like a pandemic.

In a previous review of this book, I wrote that this is one of those books that makes you want to go "hmmmm". I am definitely stretching the theme of coming of age for this book, but I think once you finish reading, you will also see the growth, actually of more than one character. This book moves along very innocently and then it takes a very sharp turn and you are on a downhill rollercoaster you might not find stopping any time soon. I felt like I was watching (or listening to) an M. Night Shymalan movie. The characters are well developed and the plot very intriguing. Clay, Amanda, and their children experience the same isolation of those who are facing quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet they are far outside of the city with no contact with the outside world.