Readers! It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for since last September. It’s time to announce our winter book selection. Without further delay, I am excited to tell you that we will be reading Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam.
In a totally lazy move, I’m going to just plop the description from GoodReads right here:
A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong
Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older black couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe.
Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of parenthood, race, and class. Leave the World Behind explores how our closest bonds are reshaped—and unexpected new ones are forged—in moments of crisis.
I read this book in 2 days last month. It’s a slow burn of suspense and dread and character development that makes for a great read. I have other feelings about it, too, that I’ll hold off on sharing until the time when we are promoting and discussing the book, but I do hope you’ll read it. And maybe even join us for our Zoom discussion this go round because that was not only really fun last time but it also added a lot to my appreciation for the book we read.
Be sure and check out Kym’s blog and Bonny’s blog today, too, and see why they think you should read it, too.
I’m looking forward to reading this one! And I’m nearly to the top of my library hold-list. It won’t be long now. . .
This sounds like a really interesting read! I am off to see how long the wait is from the library.
500 holds on 95 copies at my library but I added my name to the queue
I have so many questions and can’t wait to discuss this one!
#19 on 2 copies Wait time est 19 weeks.
Yay! I remember you liked this book! Looks like the audio will come up pretty quickly but if you read it in two days I may hold out for the book!
I’ll get it from my library, but closer to the time we discuss it (otherwise I’ll forget…age…). It does look and sound interesting to me, but I was surprised the reviews on amazon were not really good.
How does your reading group work? I might be interested for something new for the winter.