Leave the World Behind: A Novel

Written by Rumaan Alam

Narrated by Marin Ireland

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? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9780063033504

Rumaan Alam

Rumaan Alam is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel Leave the World Behind, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and adapted into a major motion picture, as well as two other novels. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker and elsewhere. He lives in Brooklyn.

[Natasha Farrell · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great book, terrible abrupt ending. I want to know what happened.

[Rose Gold · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I read this book after watching the movie on Netflix and while it was interesting I found certain details given In the story to be uncomfortable and in my opinion unnecessary but overall it was a decent read 3.5/5

[Whitney · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book, from the writing to the subject, to the development of the characters. I enjoyed this peek into human behaviour when our normal is interrupted. I enjoyed Amanda's plainness and I also enjoyed how the writer gave us an almost prophetic insight into what happened next amidst the ignorance of the characters as to the gravity of their situation. I also enjoyed the way this story was narrated, it was very engaging.

[Lucia Garcia · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is a bit different than the rest of its apocalyptic kind. I enjoyed how it portrays normal people with their thoughts, and how it can hit "too close to home", regarding all the racist, classist, education and gender preconceptions that our society teaches since birth. Even when we work hard to get rid of them, some just stay as a first response, to be corrected through action later.
The whole idea of the apocalypse being triggered by the mal function of our technology, is a fascinating concept to me.

[Dundee Cantu · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Havent seen the movie. It is a fine read. Not a lot of plot. And the payoff for me wasnt worth it.

[Claudinha · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I don’t know how I got to chapter 17. What a boring story. Nothing interesting in it but the regular lives of regular people.

[Jessica Barreto · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

The book and movie both sucked especially the end. How tf are you gonna end a book with a little girl watching friends ?

[Laurie BrysonHarpel · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Definitely not a book I would recommend. It dragged on and on with unnecessary details. Lots of unanswered questions yet none that leave me pondering, rather just wondering why I kept reading at all. Will be interested to see if the movie coming out can make a decent movie out of what I read as a nominal to poor read.

[Charles Jones · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I went back and forth for so long on whether or not to read this novel, but after seeing the trailer for the movie coming out soon on Netflix I decided to give it a go as the trailer seemed very intriguing. After finally reading the novel I was left very disappointed.

Maybe the movie's trailer hyped me up too much, but this book was a dud for me. Pretty much nothing happens. Yes, there are things that take place to "progress" the story, but it's really just a whole lot of nothing. The plot is so vague and the author does little to fill in any gaps for the ready to really understand just what is happening in the world beyond the house our characters find themselves in. The plot moves so sluggishly at times, that I almost stopped reading because I was getting bored.

There is also too much unnecessary content in the novel that does little to nothing to help advance the plot. There are pages devoted to sex, bodily fluids, and teenage masturbation that add absolutely nothing to the overall narrative.

[Tom Sixsmith · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Lots of details about their individual lives and thoughts and expecting these to lead to something, but never materialized. Events not very realistic under circumstances- power outage: losing teeth, big bang, deer, flamingos ??? Not my cup

[Real Facade · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Drama with horror elements. If you like the style of The Happening, you'll like this.

Absolutely loved it. Finished in 2 days. Great writing, fresh premise, eerie, and 100% possible.

I started it 2 or 3 days after the terror attack on Israel. This novel's timeliness makes it even better.

Definitely hooked.

[Kim Griffin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Too many details. Couldn’t wait for it to be over. You never find out what it is in the end.

[Lucille · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Well there were many options to add to the race differences if the writer just left out the ridiculous nonsense writing like clay driving around for nothing and many other gibberish. I liked that the two couples became somewhat of friends and the children were cared for by both couples. End of the world leaves no reason or ending. My guess is the writer wants us to think about our own behavior and ponder this book in different ways so I totally get it and many readers will like this. It is in my own personal opinion a sci-fi book not a thriller although it has lots of suspense don’t expect a reason for it at the end.

[Donna · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I want to READ portions of this book. I'm anxious to see the show. I need to look it up on Netflix. Highly recommended!

[joanie Edwards · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The author’s constant racial overtones of “ bad white people” made it hard to listen to. She’s far too descriptive with unnecessary details that make me think she’s run out of content or just using fillers when she could have gotten more miles if she had crafted a better ending.

[Taylor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Beautiful writing. Bit of a psychological thriller. The moments is suspense and tension go up an down but it is true the ending leaves you pretty much hanging with more questions than answers.

[Lisa Kilby · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Thought provoking story with very real characters, readers will love or hate this one…

[SJ Fournier · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This had me in a trance til it was through!

[Cody · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It kept me glued the whole time. I’m a little disappointed with how it seemed to fizzle out, but it was definitely still worth reading. It made me feel uneasy, which is unfortunately a familiar feeling these days. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

[Leslie Cohen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I haven’t read a book that sums up the situation better, it isn’t comforting, but it does show that some people are better equipped than others to cope with uncertainty and disaster.

[Christa J Seeley · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Great narration and prose but I was disappointed by the story.

[CherylFigueroa · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I’m no expert but I know a good read and THIS was not one of them...

[Mindy Lail · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This most definitely is not a thriller. Not even a little bit. The premise is intriguing, the book is well written-although prone to tangents and multiple descriptions of the same object or circumstance. The problem is, I kept waiting for something, anything, that would spur the story on. I looked to see how many more chapters I had and imagine my surprise to see I only had 8 minutes left in the book. Complete non-ending. Her ending sounded just like all the other superfluous descriptions.

[Joyce · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The people that make up the story are believable. The story is one of hope or not, which lies in our children. I thought it one of the best stories I’ve read this year.

[davidegallo · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

It was too slow. And I finish it with too many questions unanswered.
However, the writing per se, the descriptions, were very good.

[Tonje Johansen · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I’ve always found it weird how male authors sexualise everything with their writing. This man literally took every opportunity to describe something as sexual. A bunch of words were used to make the writing seem profound while actually saying absolutely nothing and just filling out the pages with nonsense. If ONLY he spent as much time on the actual plot as he did trying to include the words sex, penis, masturbation or orgy in every chapter then maybe this would’ve been an interesting book.

[Sheri Edelman · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Funny how our fears change the reality and our perception.

[Joe Russell · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As long as you can deal with no closure it’s a good book

[Diane Wagoner · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Reads like it was trying really hard to impress the cool tenth grade English teacher.

[Jeanne · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

You never find out what happened. Three of us listened on a car trip. None of us liked it. It didn’t go anywhere and did really have a plot of a finish.