LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

Be warned: this unsettling, atmospheric, gripping novel will hum inside your brain until the last page, and for a considerable time after. Leave The World Behind begins as a social commentary, as a white Brooklyn family’s escape to the Hamptons is interrupted by a knock at the door: an older Black couple claiming to be the owners of the rental house are requesting entry due to an emergency. A weekend confined to an airbnb with strangers becomes a revealing study in manners, class, race and family, until … I can’t really get into the “until” of this novel without spoilers, but do read the second half of the book with the lights on.

This book was surprising and intense, with characters that feel knowable and flawed … and then are turned on their head, slowly, unavoidably unraveling. As the suspense builds, Rumaan Alam deftly holds an eerie lens to the mundane, where food, trees and ordinary tasks seem vaguely sinister. Or do they? Is everything we know about ourselves, others, and our surroundings simply a construct? And can any of it be sustained in the face of fear? This book (written pre-pandemic) is a lot for right now, with many questions and few answers, but that’s also what makes it a perfect for this moment. It demands that we face our own incredulity at what the world has become.

What to serve guests who aren’t guests, on a vacation that’s not a vacation, where politeness is strained and tension abounds? Pretty cheeseboards filled with apps from the local market sounds about right. There’s something so civilized about a cheeseboard; how can anything be wrong in the world when there are some well plated snacks and good wine? Read and find out …