Leave the World Behind

 

Leave the World Behind

By Rumaan Alam

 

Full disclosure: I watched the movie first and thought it was an interesting premise, but it was trying to be something it wasn’t. The music didn’t match up. The cinematography was all over. It detracted from the great acting and interesting story.

But after the book, I think I get it a bit more. The book is similarly strange. Similarly trying to be more than face value. Which worked, mostly.

Basically, this is a story about a very normal family on vacation at the end of the world as we know it. The author did a great job making them real people. And I liked that they were just normal. Not heroic like in so much apocalyptic fiction. They were flawed and they felt real. They felt very American. Casual racism. Unwilling to learn languages or about technology. Just so sure that everything would continue to work for them in the ways they were used to.

Alam did perhaps overdo it with the flowery prose. The story is fairly simple, and not pretty, but the descriptions occasionally read like poetry. I think there is a time and place for such prose. Perhaps it’s more suited for another genre, or short story. It was just a bit over the top for this one.

I enjoyed that the characters and even the reader never really learn what has happened, what is going on. There are some allusions to things happening in the world or things that might happen to certain people. But we never stray far from the house and the six people within.

I liked this as a thought experiment. How would we get around if GPS suddenly stopped? What happens when we can’t get any news? When I cannot google answers to inane questions at any time? I’m pretty sure that communities have emergency contingencies in place. Even if it ends up being people driving door to door. But how long might such an emergency response take?

Anyhow, the book was odd. A bit unsettling which I’m sure it’s supposed to be. I understand and appreciate the film slightly more now. The film actually stayed quite close to the book, with only a few notable changes.

 

3.5-4