Title: Leave the World Behind Author: Rumaan Alam Published: 2020
Call #: FIC ALAM
When Clay and Amanda go on a rustic vacation in Long Island with their teenage son and daughter, they hardly expect a knock on the door in the middle of the night. Amanda tells her husband to answer the door, as she has the phone in her hand ready to dial 9-1-1. When they answer the door, it’s two elderly people named Ruth and G.H. Washington, who explains they are the ones who own the home which the family has rented. The Washington’s tell them there has been a blackout in New York City, where they are from as well, and the city was turning into very chaotic scene. While, they realize they are intruding on an agreement, Ruth and G.H. prod on to see if they can stay in the vacation home also.
Amanda is sure they are conning them. They are in the middle of nowhere, with no cell signal or WIFI, and suddenly a couple comes up and tries to stay the night in the same house as her and her children. Motherly instinct and city smarts tell her not to believe it. That is, until they try to turn on the TV and all they see is the blue screen with white lettering stating “Emergency Broadcast System” on every channel – no test there. They resolve to all stay in the large home nestled in the forest, and see what they can figure out in the morning. Only, the next couple days feel like weeks and everything gets weirder by the hour.
Author Rumaan Alam brilliantly explores how much differences of class and race matter when intermixed with the necessity of surviving the unknown. Strangers suddenly become family when they are all you have. He illuminates how different people react in truly difficult circumstances, and what it really means to be human.
Erin I.
Popular Materials Senior Services Librarian