Title: Leave The World Behind
Rating: 4 Stars
If you check this book on Goodreads, you’ll see some truly polarized reviews. Those that hate it really hate it. I can understand why. This is not in any way a typical apocalypse novel. The approach that it took was much more interesting to me.
A married couple (Amanda and Clay) and their two children (Archie and Ruth) have planned a getaway vacation from their Brooklyn apartment. Somewhere far out on Long Island, they’re renting what appears to be a perfect vacation home. It’s so isolated that, not only does it not have any neighbors, it’s out of cell phone service.
At first, things go well. The house is beautiful. There’s a swimming pool for the kids to play in. There’s a hot tub that the adults can relax in at night. This appears to be the perfect escape from the chaos of the city.
That is until the second night. In the darkness, there is a very unexpected knock on their door. Being so remote, they’re scared to even open it. When they do, this discover an elderly Black couple (Ruth and G.H.). Despite Amanda’s knee jerk suspicion of them, they are clearly a sophisticated, wealthy, couple. In fact, they are the actual owners of the house that the family is renting.
G.H. explains that they were at an event in New York City when the city experienced an apparent blackout. Living on the fourteenth floor, they didn’t relish the idea of going up to their apartment, so instead, they decided to drive out to their vacation home and stay there until it clears up. G.H. understands that this is an inconvenience and offers to compensate Clay and Amanda.
Clay believes them and agrees to let them stay over Amanda’s objection. The next day the confusion over exactly who is the host and who is the guest leads to some tension between the two couples.
This tension dissipates while another tension begins to build when they discover that, although the house still has power and water, that all internet connectivity has broken off.
As time goes on, the children get increasingly annoyed and bored while the adults become more concerned. The few alerts that they receive on their phones are just short headlines about blackouts, and even more concerningly, one alert that is just gibberish.
The next day, there is a sudden loud boom that sounds across the sky, cracking windows. This unknown sound terrifies all of them. Very large herds of deer, and even more strangely, a flock of flamingoes, appear in the wilderness. At one point Clay goes out to get information but promptly gets lost. The only person that he encounters is a sobbing Hispanic woman speaking to him desperately in Spanish. At a loss of what to do, he simply abandons her. Later, the eldest child, Archie, begins to vomit and his teeth begin to fall out.
What is going on? Are they doomed? Are they overreacting to a disconnected series of events?
You might understand why the reviews of this book are so divided. If you’re a fan of apocalyptic fiction, you kind of have some expectations. Usually there’s a pretty clear description of the danger that the world is facing (be it nuclear or disease or zombies). The characters are often brave and resolute, looking to find solutions for the situation that they are in, even if there are no solutions.
Here there is none of that. By the end of the novel, the characters still have no idea of what’s going on. The reader has a bit more information because there is an omniscient narrator providing information that the characters do not possess. Even so, it’s not real clear exactly what the triggering event was. Terrorist action? State action? Environmental disaster?
The characters do not take heroic action. In fact, hardly any action takes place at all. They barely leave the house.
Ruth would like nothing more than to pretend that everything is OK and it will all work out. G.H., a wealthy financier, is looking for numbers and evidence from which to draw conclusions. Amanda, used to knowing what to do, is falling part in this situation where so little is known. Clay, a college professor, is finding out, when his family is in serious trouble, how useless of a modern man that he actually is.
Much of the unease of this novel comes out of their isolation. It’s not as if they’re living off the grid in a log cabin in the Yukon. They’re on Long Island. They’re just a couple of hours away from their homes. They’re staying at a beautiful, well appointed house. Even so, their lack of any connectivity to the outside world puts all of them on edge. We’re all used to having the world effortlessly at our fingertips. Abruptly with no cell service and no other internet connectivity available, they simply cannot cope. Desperately seeking data where no data is to be found, they grasp weakly at decisions that are almost immediately abandoned.
I can see why readers could be frustrated at the lack of action in this novel. At least while I was reading it, if anything this book felt somehow more realistic. I think that most people think of an apocalypse as a global event that is felt by all essentially simultaneously.
Given the size and complexity of our planet, that wouldn’t be the case. Some people could go days without really understanding the gravity of the situation. If my internet goes out, my first inclination is not to presume some catastrophic global cataclysm has taken place. This would go double if I’m out on vacation in some remote area that probably has spotty service to being with.
Put yourself in their situation. You’re in a nice house with power and water flowing. Your internet goes out, leaving you somewhat cut off from the world. How long would you want to live in denial until you can no longer do so?
dorkenstein 