Leave the World Behind: A Novel
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Leave the World Behind: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Rumaan Alam (Author), Marin Ireland (Narrator), HarperAudio (Publisher)
Editors' pick Best Literature & Fiction
See all formats and editions

A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick!

Finalist for the 2020 National Book Award (Fiction)

A Best Book of the Year From: The Washington Post * Time * NPR * Elle * Esquire * Kirkus * Library Journal * The Chicago Public Library * The New York Public Library * BookPage * The Globe and Mail * EW.com * The LA Times * USA Today * InStyle * The New Yorker * AARP * Publisher's Lunch * LitHub * Book Marks * Electric Literature * Brooklyn Based * The Boston Globe

A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong.

From the bestselling author of Rich and Pretty comes a suspenseful and provocative novel 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.

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 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 other?

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  1. Listening Length
    7 hours and 26 minutes
  2. Author
    Rumaan Alam
  3. Narrator
    Marin Ireland
  4. Audible release date
    October 6, 2020
  5. Language
    English
  6. Publisher
    HarperAudio
  7. ASIN
    B083Y64H85
  8. Version
    Unabridged
  9. Program Type
    Audiobook
  10. See all details
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Product details

Listening Length 7 hours and 26 minutes
Author Rumaan Alam
Narrator Marin Ireland
Whispersync for Voice Ready
Audible.com Release Date October 06, 2020
Publisher HarperAudio
Program Type Audiobook
Version Unabridged
Language English
ASIN B083Y64H85
Best Sellers Rank #11,092 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals)
#309 in Family Life Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#530 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)
#580 in Women's Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars
3.6 out of 5
19,157 global ratings
OVERLY PERVERSE in just four chapters & I wish I could return it. The writing is awful.
1 Star
OVERLY PERVERSE in just four chapters & I wish I could return it. The writing is awful.
Where do I begin? I had such high hopes for this but after four chapters I couldn’t do it anymore. The husband is sexist, the kids are portrayed ungrateful since infants. Also talks about the male genitalia way too much and how he’s expecting to be rough with the wife later. Also the wording is pretentious and when the wife went to the store every sentence started with “she bought”. This was done repeatedly. After the first five times a sentence started out that way I was face palming. I’ve never not finished a book but screw this pathetic attempt of a novel.
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Top reviews from the United States

DimeStoreShoes
5.0 out of 5 stars Some Christmas gift!
Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2021
Verified Purchase
I threw this book at my husband after finishing it! Can’t you buy me a decent book for Christmas? Are you trying to depress me? I have Fox and Friends for that! I feel like i was forced to sit in their studio with them for the few hours it took to read it. I’m starting to believe in their conspiracy theory’s now - like your all trying to make me crazy! ‘Well, i liked it’, he said. I found it tastefully apoplectic,’ he said rubbing his head. ‘I think you mean apocalyptic!’ My outburst was apoplectic, you dummy! just be glad I didn’t throw Obama’s book at you - it’s a thousand pages, but i loved that one. maybe you should check the list under his book where it says, ‘people who liked this book didn’t throw these other books at their husband..’
So, I picked the book up that was hurled at me and opened it, wondering what had inflamed her wrath. I began to read and couldn’t put it down! Inciteful, funny, so funny! Totally captures a day in the life of parents and their offspring. I’m only 20 pages in and I’m enjoying it so much. I can actually finish it in a day! The chapters are small, so i can rest, get a snack, more wine, check if the wife is fuming about something, check my email and texts and all the social sites I joined and don’t really understand - not being particularly social. Nope. No one is interested in me today. Good. I can leave the world behind and finish this book! I love his writing style and new words i learned, i have read passages out loud to my wife, busy having resumed crosswords, her preferred pastime. Wonder where this book is going.. wait, do i care? No, i think too much emphasis is on story development instead of good writing, like books are all candidates for a Netflix movie instead of reavealing our shared experiences. my favorite authors write essays and books that would bore teenagers to tears. i read each paragraph with holy reverence, my mind trying to expand within the confines of its limited DNA appropriation from the swampy gene pool. My wife finally agreed the book is funny, but wants to know what is happening. I opened the last chapter and stated bluntly, the daughter did this and the dad did that, there were no sharks observed at the beach, Washington was probably overrun by militias - some far-fetched movie idea, who cares!! This book is an observation on the human condition.. lazy, noble, bleak.. I will buy her slippers next time, Ok? Maybe a magazine subscription and a nightie.
10 people found this helpful
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Lionel S. Taylor
4.0 out of 5 stars You Will Either Love It Or Hate It.
Reviewed in the United States on November 24, 2020
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This book seems to garner strong opinions in the reviews, and after reading it, I can see why. The opening is very simple: a family rents an isolated house out on Long Island for a vacation. Shortly after their arrival, the owners of the house show up with the news that something has happened, but it is not clear what that something was, and there is not an easy way to find out since all modern forms of communication have are not working. Now at this point, there are many directions this story could go in. I cannot count how many horror/thrillers I have seen start out with a similar premise. But the author takes the story in a different direction, and I believe this is the source of many diverging opinions.
Rather than take the story in the familiar directions that we have seen similar tales go, the author chooses to focus on the most mundane things of the family's visit. The first part of their vacation and the people involved's inner thoughts. In fact, the story has a very Closter phobic feel to it where the characters seem just as trapped in their own thoughts and emotions as they do by the events unfolding around them. The anxiety of interacting with strangers on an intimate level comes off as just as bad as whatever it is that is going on in the outside world, and I believe that is what the title implies. The disjointed feel to the narrative as it jumps from person to person adds to the feeling of confusion and disruption that is contrasted with what is conveyed in the characters' conversations. ( Something we have all done saying one thing while thinking another.) As events unfold very slowly ( most of the book takes place within a 48-hour time span), I could not help but wonder how I would behave in such a scary and disorienting situation and how my behavior would change if there were strangers there to witness it. This is played out as the characters swing between overconfident speculation, hedonistic denial, and confused dread as events unfold. Simultaneously, the reader is provided with information that highlights the situation's seriousness without really explaining what the situation is. This is both these books' greatest strength and weakness.
Like most people, I am used to having stories be wrapped up in a clear conclusion at the end, where all is revealed, and the protagonists have a clear path forward to the future. But too often, this type of ending seems lazy and simplistic. This book avoids doing this with its ending and the style in which it is written. While looking for some clear answers and a reassuring conclusion, I do not believe that was the author's goal. This book is more a study of human emotions and interactions. How we perceive others and how they perceive themselves and how we present ourselves to the world and look at from that perspective accomplishes its goal. If you are looking for a neat survival story that hits all of the familiar marks, you will be sorely disappointed. If you are looking for a story about human interactions and the contrast of how we present ourselves to the world as opposed to our inner thoughts, you will like this book. I liked this book.
132 people found this helpful
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Sweetbooks
3.0 out of 5 stars Did I need to know that?
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2024
Verified Purchase
There's no doubt, Rumaan Alam has a way with words. There are some sentences in this novel that are just beautifully constructed. I loved the premise of the plot. The characters were decently developed in a short amount of time. Short quick moving chapters.

What bothered me was input of too much detail at times. Did I need to know the pasta was Barilla? Every single item in her grocery list? The name dropping felt like product placement. The bodily descriptions and masturbation detail was just too much as well. Even creepy. Those details were unnecessary to the plot.

In contrast to the film, I'd say the film script had some more favorable aspects to it. Danny (a cameo role played by Kevin Bacon) was better developed in the film with one of the greatest dialogue lines of the film, but in the book I was left unfulfilled. Making the wife the daughter in the film was a silly idea, so the book was better in that regard. The book also showed a lot more at the end, though I don't really know how I felt about both endings.

The theme is there. Appreciate what we have, while we have it, and remember that it could all change over night. Delivery was messy at times though.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
3.0 out of 5 stars Mejor la pelicula
Reviewed in Mexico on March 31, 2024
Verified Purchase
No me gustó y dejé el libro a medio leer
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PATRICK KELLY
5.0 out of 5 stars Saw the movie first
Reviewed in Canada on January 8, 2024
Verified Purchase
Read the book but the movie is different in a good way. Saw the movie three times. It takes a new perspective on war
One person found this helpful
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Mike R
5.0 out of 5 stars Unsettling read in these dangerous times
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 25, 2024
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Pager turner.
Brilliant contrast between the mundanity of everyday life, prejudices, family relationships and the unknowable (and unknown) horror of global conflict.
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Paul@Aude_France
5.0 out of 5 stars Scary
Reviewed in France on February 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
A very intense novel that should be read within as short a time as possible to keep the tension going. Throughout the book, the author builds a feeling of menace which at first the reader might believe is just in the characters' imaginations but which gradually becomes real.

This is also a book about being a parent, especially a father as the fathers in the story struggle with helplessness and despair. Not to mention their own fear.

Very much recommended.
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Carolina
5.0 out of 5 stars etwas zu detailliert, aber spannend
Reviewed in Germany on January 22, 2024
Verified Purchase
Ich habe das Buch noch nicht fertig, aber die Spannung lässt mich weiter.
Lieferung was schnell und das Buch war gut verpackt
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