leave the world behind book review

leave the world behind book review

Book Review: “Leave the World Behind”

1. Introduction

Leave the World Behind is the latest award-winning novel by Rumaan Alam, and in this scenario, we will have a look at this novel. This novel aims to know all those things, somehow things like what happens outside there? What can we do to prevent it? Or what will happen if the worst thing happens to us? A rich family from Brooklyn, Amanda, who works as an HR in an advertising company, and her husband Clay, who has such a boring life, decided to have a holiday for a week during school holidays for their two kids, Rose, a teenager, and Archie, who is 12 years old. They are heading to a remote estate in Long Island, and the father rented a beautiful house for them to spend the week. The first few days are peaceful for them, but that day when the world descends into disaster and chaos. Amanda woke up at midnight and she hears something odd, a noise that came from the owner who bangs their door. They have been terrified, and the owner, who called GH, told them to turn on the TV and see what happens in the world lately. He said he needs to come to their house because the house where he stays is on the same island and is in blackout. Amanda gets scared and panics, but she needs to calm down because there are kids behind her who are sleeping. She does not know what to do, then suddenly GH and his wife Ruth arrive at their house and ask for a place to stay because Ruth has had enough of staying in the dark house. GH told them to turn off the TV because there is a massive blackout in the TV broadcast. The author traces various themes in the book; however, two of the most prominent themes are safety and the unknown. This novel is a reflection of today’s modern society. An event of the world descending into disaster and chaos always creates a phenomenon in society. Some people are labeled as preppers, a group of people who prepare for the worst-case scenario. They would store some essential needs and find a safe place to ride out a potential disaster. Amanda and her family can be described as a group of people who are not prepared for the worst thing to happen. GH and Ruth are also in a panic, and they need a safe place for a while. This novel is a reflection of a different perspective to face a disaster. Next is the unknown. An event/world descending into disaster always creates the next stage of chaos, confusion, and the unknown, and it will take a very long time to recover. We can see in this novel the condition of GH and Ruth, who do not know what to do and need to take a deep breath to face the situation, and Amanda, who is confused and wants clear and certain answers to GH’s behavior because their family assumes there is something wrong with them. These two themes are well intertwined in this novel. Overall, we also will question this novel, what will we do if this thing happens to us? How about our safety? Or what do we need to do if the unknown has already turned into a bad case and there is no hope for the next step? These are always questions for everybody who wants to live in safety and calm.

2. Plot Summary

The second part of the story starts when there was a loud knock on the door at three in the morning. It was a very inappropriate time for unannounced visits. And more shocking are the conditions on the outside of the GHH and Ruth car. They claimed if they are hit by a deer and it makes your head more curious about the reality of their claim because there are no deer in that area. But they provide more shocking news about something that happens in the city. They explained that all the electricity city suddenly dead, then cellular signal is lost, and there is news of an accident at the airport where the crash plane to the control tower. This makes the Amanda and Steve were shocked and even they don’t know it was the early signs disaster in the city. But a strange thing happened after that. GHH and Ruth want to find out about what happened for further tomorrow and asking if the weather tomorrow will be good and even trying to go somewhere for a village festival. This is the latest state of the reality of the world they’ve known and it makes GHH and Ruth so strange to what happened the day after the tragedy. But the story will be more surprising and strange till the end.

The plot should be divided in two because it will make it easier for reader to understand the story. First part starts from when Steve and Amanda who are the owners of summer home see a power failure in the city and they agree to spend an impromptu weekend here. Out of the blue, a black couple come and claims that they are the renters of the city. It was so awkward because Amanda and Steve really do not expect any visitors and asked what the couple doing here? The couple called themselves GHH and Ruth. Especially after the situation happened that they really don’t understand. And it made them sure if something happened in the city. But they were wrong in judging GHH and Ruth. GHH and Ruth are having difficulties contacting their children in the city and looking for certainty on the situation in the city. So, they decided to have a weekend off by renting a house far from the city. But from the overall attitude Amanda and Steve still uncertain. And the not so good feelings from the beginning of their encounter become more real after a weird thing happened in the city and GHH and Ruth gone for a while to the city.

“A white family renting a summer home in a remote area shows up unannounced and claims they are the owners of the home” (p. 196). That’s the first encounter between two parties from the book, Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam. These are the excitement and doubt in reality faced by all characters throughout the story of this novel. Leave the World Behind is a story that describes two families who met two different world reality, being customer or giving service. The family that rents summer houses and the owners of summer home.

3. Analysis of Themes

Yes, discussing the themes of the novel “Leave the World Behind” by Rumaan Alam, the family dismay its misfortune of solace and normalcy. At the point when the power, internet, and telephone service go out, they stress over their daughter’s expectation for the evening TV shows and will not replace their spoiled sustenance in the fridge, suggesting a susceptive of unease, they are less concerned about the results, and rather, the mere suggestion of an intrusion upon their normal lives. Panic and apprehension fast sets in as well-informed facts about the extents of impact, sprout in the anarchy swarm. Amanda catches wind of the snatched young ladies who have vanished just a couple of hundred miles away. At that point, she goes up against an unsettling story she finds about an air crash in Malaysia. Such disasters feel genuine and disturbing portray of contemporary life. The man attempts to relieve G.H., who is obviously alarming himself to death, by proposing that nature is no more odd to hardship and there are no ensures throughout everyday life. But, these disasters and the motivation between the similarities between the airplane passengers and G.H. with this family, recommend an existence of extraordinary uncertainty. An existence where life’s disasters can be particularly subjective and the safe haven may not be sufficiently safe. At the point when the man and Amanda talk about the sufficiency of the stored food, he writes about society having changed for better and lessening costs. She doesn’t concur and the confrontation leads to she turning off the light to sleep. This is representative of dark times ahead where it will not be clear to everyone what constitutes a change for better or a step backwards.

4. Character Analysis

This has the effect of making him a somewhat weak center for the novel. He is clearly an intelligent and thoughtful person, and an excellent writer, but his passivity makes it difficult for the reader to identify with or care about him. This may have been Sonallah Ibrahim’s intention. At the end of the novel, when the narrator is discussing his mission with an evil government official, the official congratulates him for his compliance and promises to reward him in the afterlife. This conversation is set in the underwater museum of human vestiges mentioned at the very beginning of the book, and it is likely that the narrator has been “hijacked” into shifting from his mission to a different and ignoble one. Without feeling in any way sorry for the narrator, it is possible to take his metamorphosis as a warning, and the inefficacy of he and his friends’ actions as a lesson in futility. A subtler message concerning the universality of human weakness and the ways in which various figures manipulate and exploit those weaker than them may have been intended to overlay the story.

The narrative is packed with interesting characters, through whom the story and themes are revealed. They are all, with no exception, impressive and complex. There is not much in the way of backstory for the narrator. We know that his mother was mentally disturbed, and that he has a wife and sons, and has held down various jobs, some of which he was ashamed of. Because he is never given a name, this character seems at times to evolve into an everyman, a universal person from whose muddled consciousness the story emerges.

5. Conclusion

As a critical and catastrophic series of events begin to unfold, the attitude and approach that Amanda has towards the place and its people begin to change. This is catalyzed by the arrival of the homeowners who have been left in a state of abrupt evicted departure and have in turn, hurriedly returned to the house that Amanda and Clay are taking a vacation from the busy daily life that they are subjected to in New York City.

Stephanie Van Rossum also focuses on the cultural connection that Amanda and Clay have with GH throughout the novel. At the beginning of the novel, the family are clearly tourists up from New York City and are near frightened to engage with the native culture due to its foreignness to them. Amanda has a mental predisposed picture of GH and its native people. This is clearly evident from the information she acquires about the place before her and Clay’s arrival. Amanda wants to stay at a motel on the north part of the island but Clay says that they need to go where they are heading so that they can get the feel of the place. This shows that Amanda has yet to change her preconceived notion of what type of place GH is. Of course, this picture of GH as a tourist destination is quite different from what the family and the reader is initially presented with.

The novel, Leave the World Behind, focuses on family dynamics and culture shocks. It navigates through the place crisis in a tasteful manner. Although the problem of race is not fully resolved by the end of the novel, readers enjoy seeing the two families come together in their shared confusion and lack of control over what is happening, and there is a sense of hope that things may get better if they stick together. As many of our readings have done, Leave the World Behind tackles issues in today’s society and manages to do it through a dystopian and apocalyptic quake. The novel is definitely worth a read for its social and cultural commentary, even if the place crisis currently leaves a sour and unimaginable taste.