Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
I heard about Leave the World Behind on NPR. The book and author, Rumaan Alam, were the topic of discussion on one of the afternoon shows. I found Alam’s life and career trajectory intriguing. And then, he explained he opts to write narratives about white women of a particular social class. There was something about his answer. It made me curious to read his writing.
A few days later, Jenna Bush Hager announced that her next pick for the Read with Jenna book club would be Leave the World Behind. If you look through the list of previous books, you will notice diversity in genres and of the authors. Some of the books aren’t new releases. This month’s novel is Tony Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Knowing she chooses books that encompass distinct and global narratives, I figured who am I to dispute Jenna Bush Hager and NPR.
Synopsis
A Brooklyn family of four travels to the Hamptons to enjoy a week of summer vacation at a spacious AirBnB. A few days later, an older couple shows up late at night, claiming to be the owners of the house. Two families of different generations, economic status, and racial backgrounds are thrust together after a blackout of the eastern seaboard. Discord ensues, perpetuated by a dearth of information due to no television, radio, phone, or wifi signals.
Review
The book takes on a lot. There’s the age-old theme of money and how it equates to power and ease. The haves and have nots if you will. Tie that in with prejudice, how we see ourselves versus reality, and this book is taking off more than it can chew.
The homeowners are an older Black couple in their 60s. G.H. works at a boutique equity firm, and his wife Ruth is a retired education administrator. Vacationers, Amanda and Clay, are a 40-something white couple escaping the closeness and buzz of the city with their teenage son Archie and pre-teen daughter Rose. The inner monologues of the characters are not shocking but often appalling. And sometimes their external outbursts are too, but some of it can be excused and explained away by the circumstances.
And what are the circumstances? If the Eastern seaboard of the United States is experiencing an unprecedented blackout, why then is there still power in this outpost in the Hamptons? No one knows what’s going all they can do is speculate. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter what’s going on. Because the book isn’t really about whatever is happening out there in the world. It’s about these six people treading carefully around each other, at first out of fake politeness, but later, and more importantly, out of humanity.
Final Thoughts
You may feel my review is vague. But I have a reason. As I was reading Leave the World Behind, I found the first act tedious to read because I already knew the premise from Alam’s NPR interview. And the first third of the book is made up of introductory chapters. The middle portion, shall we say act two, was very slow and somewhat repetitive.
How many times do I need to hear Amanda’s inner voice be irritated that this older black couple can afford this house that she herself cannot even aspire to own? Similarly, G.H. repeatedly thinks about how he saw this coming in the market numbers. The grandiosity and self-importance are real, but there is no nuance in the narrative.
And this is why I’m keeping it close to the chest with this one. Because I wish I knew less about it before I read it. Of course, the conundrum is, would I have read it if I knew less about it? I’m not sure, but I’m guessing I would not have.
Rating 3/5
Let me explain my rating system. If you write a book and get it published, you get one star. If I give my time to your book and finish reading it, you get another star. So, where did Leave the World Behind get it wrong, and what did it get right?
The writing is pretentious. I’m a literary snob and a receptive audience for these things, but some of the analogies are disjointed. Also, I appreciate the choice to include underused words. But at the same time, it felt like Alam was campaigning to get rid of all standard usage. Basically, I shouldn’t feel the effort while I’m reading. It should be enough that I can recognize it, but not so much that I’m thinking about that more than the characters and plot.
That said, the book had the potential to be great. I admit that I may have become overfamiliar with the book by listening to Alam’s NPR interview. So my issues with pacing and repetition can be traced back to there. Still, I only enjoyed the last third of the book. That’s when the action picks up, but it’s too little, too late.
