Leave the World Behind by Rumaan AlamMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This book had some interesting moments but overall I wasn’t a fan of the book. It is certainly an AirBnB rental that doesn’t go well. It could be stuff of nightmares. Not only do the owners (so they say) show up late at night, but they bring bad news, something is going on out there. What, exactly, no one can say for certain. Being in a secluded area, no cell service or tv, it could be anything. Suggestions are made, a few alerts popped up before all information is cut off. Yet, the book turns not so much as an apocalyptic but, a study into what does a family, or two, do when thrust in this odd situation.
Each character gets a moment of being the center focus of the omniscient narrator. It is smart and jabs at stereotypes, classism, racism, and stuff of everyday life. Things are revealed that none of the characters will ever know, at least in the confines of this novel. And yet it is the unknowing that pulls the story along.
The end I found unsatisfying and mediocre, somewhat how I felt through a large portion of the book. For myself it may be the genre or type of book this is, or trying to be, that isn’t what I’m much of a fan.
This book does feel like it will reach a wide audience and likely many will enjoy it much more than myself. I can recommend the book, if only for your own experience, to discover if this is what you like, or don’t.
I listened to the audio book and found the narrator handled
the material very well. Her voice changed enough for character distinctions. I
would give the narration a 4.5 stars.
Thanks to Harper Audio and NetGalley for an uncorrected electronic advance
review copy of this book.
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