He has given us a tightly contained narrative within the much broader scope of a frightening crisis. He’s telling a story about four adults coming to terms with who they are as people. The enigmatic happenings are not the story Alam is telling. Whether the catalyst event is natural or manmade, malicious or accidental, or even real or imagined is not the point. Something has happened or is happening in the world beyond these six characters, but we’re never going to know precisely what. The strings threaded throughout the novel are not neatly tied up. The conclusion will frustrate readers wanting answers.
The four adults and two teenagers then endure a continuous barrage of mysteries confronting real and existential fears for the remainder of the novel, and perhaps, for the remainder of their lives. and Ruth settle into the in-law suite with everyone agreeing to deal with their new reality in the light of morning. Clay and Amanda eventually concede forcing an elderly couple to leave in the middle of the night is a bad idea, especially when it seems they do in fact own the house. The cellular service, already spotty in the remote location, is non-existent. Even when G.H., a financial advisor by profession, opens a locked desk drawer to retrieve an envelope of cash offering to refund their rental fee, Clay remains skeptical.įurther contributing to the confusion, although the electricity remains on, the phones have gone down. Clay and Amanda are upset by the intrusion. and Ruth, drove out of New York City to escape the darkness of an East Coast power outage.
They settle into lazy rhythms of relaxation until the night an older couple knocks on the front door claiming to own the house and seeking accommodation. Rumaan Alam plays on our anxiety of the unknown in his third novel Leave The World Behind, a fast-paced and haunting examination of two families forced together when the modern world disconnects.Ĭlay, Amanda, and their children Rose and Archie set out to a rural beach house rented for an end-of-summer vacation. We feel more secure with the constant feed of data, even when that information foretells doom and gloom.
In our overly connected world, it is a rare moment to not have all the information.
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