Yes, reading a book about the world falling apart while the literal world falls apart feels meta, but Leave the World Behind is also a much-needed, delicious escape. With no cell phone service and very little incoming information about the events unfolding outside, the families are forced to navigate a looming crisis together. However, their fantasy is quickly disrupted when the owners of their rental, who happen to be Black, knock on their door in the middle of the night after a massive blackout.
Leave the World Behind is a seductive and gripping story about a middle-class white family who goes on vacation to a remote part of Long Island, away from the noise of New York City and, ideally, their problems. Did we mention this all happened before the book, out now, was even published?īut unlike most buzzy things you read about, the hype is real.
Roxane Gay has praised it as “exceptional,” it’s been included as a finalist for the 2020 National Book Awards for Fiction, and Netflix just nabbed the rights for a film adaption to be written and directed by Sam Esmail that will feature Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington in starring roles. If it seems like everyone is talking about Rumaan Alam’s new novel, Leave the World Behind, it’s because they are.
