Welcome to the blog-based book discussion for our latest Read With Us book, Leave the World Behind.
I personally have some mixed feelings about how I would rate this book if I was just reading it for myself, but I do think (and hope) it will prompt some very good discussions (and maybe help answer some of my own questions). Carole, Kym, and I are each posing a different question here on our blogs today, and you are welcome to answer, discuss, or just leave a comment with your opinion about the book. Thanks in advance for participating in whatever way works for you!
The question I would like to pose is this: Ruth and G. H. are separated from their daughter and grandsons for the duration of the crisis, while Amanda and Clay have their kids with them. Do you think that changes their response to the situation they are facing together?
The fact that Ruth and G.H. can't even communicate with their daughter but Amanda and Clay are with their kids (even though their daughter is wandering the neighborhood and their son is sick) really struck a nerve with me. I know that my kids and their welfare would be my primary concern if I was facing a distressing and unknown situation. To not even be able to communicate with them by phone sounds like the stuff that nightmares are made of, and I'm pretty sure that would guide my own response. I think that whether my kids were with me or far away and out of reach, I would want to know that were okay. What do you think?
Then tonight at 7:00 pm Eastern, we'll be having a Zoom book discussion! If you haven't already done so, please let Carole, Kym, or me know that you would like to attend and we'll make sure you receive an invitation. I hope to see as many of you that can join us (with your knitting and beverage of choice). We'll have fun and maybe even discuss the book a bit!
I had so many moments reading the book that I just wanted to smack Amanda. I, too, related with Ruth and G.H. and I understood her not wanting G.H. to leave to see what was going on. It was a book that left me feeling very unsettled. I look forward to our discussions tonight.
ReplyDeleteI had some "what are you thinking?" moments with Amanda, too. I think she could have been a little less bossy and a little more understanding of others' feelings. Unsettled surely describes my feelings about the book and I hope we can resolve at least a little of that tonight.
DeleteI'm really looking forward to our discussion tonight! I agree that this is a book I likely wouldn't have read if I didn't know that we'd be discussing it.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really struck me about the parent/child relationships is that Amanda had her kids with her but didn't seem to care about them too much, whereas Ruth was constantly worried about her child/grandchildren because she was separated from them.
I'm getting better with unresolved book endings as I get older, but this one was over the top! It seemed like Amanda's role in the family was the bossy mom in charge, but I agree with you that she also didn't seem to be concerned about her kids when she should have been. I'm very much looking forward to tonight!
DeleteI don't think you can discount the generational differences between Amanda, Ruth, and their children. That affects the reactions they have to the safety of their children.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the things this book does best: highlights the differences between people and their reactions to critical events. There is disparity in race, socioeconomic status,educational status, gender, and generational. All of these things contribute to the point of view of the character and their reactions to the words and actions of the other characters.
IMO the author is less skilled in depicting the apocalyptic scenario. It doesn't explain why they still have electricity, while everyone else does not. And he only hints vaguely at what is going on, just throwing the deer and the flamingos into the story seemed a bit random to me. There are other authors who do a better job at tying that together: Margaret Atwood comes to mind. And Emily St. John Mandel, who wrote Station Eleven.
My personal reaction as the book was progressing was: "Lordy, the alcohol the adults are consuming!!" Perhaps there was some tension between being in "vacation mode" and being subjected to the stress of the unknown. But I can't imagine that hitting the bottle would be my first response to trying to figure out what is going on.
I agree that Alam did a good job highlighting racial disparity along with socioeconomic and educational status. That scene where Ruth and G.H. arrive at the house highlighted that really well. (I do question whether I could have handled that better, and I'm not sure of the answer.)
DeleteYou might have hit on a big part of why the book was unsettling to me, and that's the details about what is going on in the outside world. I couldn't piece together any explanation that made sense and tied together the electricity, lack of communication, wildlife, teeth falling out, etc. There is a fine line between trying to portray potential chaos and confusing your readers.
We enjoy a trip to a local brewery when we go on vacation (remember them?) but all the alcohol would give me a headache and also not help at all in dealing with the possible end of the world.
Bonny, you strike a topic here that I found to be FULL of conflict in the story's telling. For example: The Washingtons. They were SOMEWHAT distanced from their daughter + her family. G. H. often thinks of her childhood but seems to have a better grip on the reality of the current status of their relationship--and while loving, he's more in touch with reality. Ruth, on the other hand--she'd made it clear they'd been scrutinized by her daughter and DIL in terms of how much of a role they could play in the grandbabies' lives. Her obsessiveness over them, her prioritizing of them, seemed out of proportion and very one-dimensional to me. (To say nothing of the fact that they lived relatively far away from NYC/the heart of the mystery. I mean, if they still had water and power in the Hamptons, after all...)
ReplyDeleteThis is getting a bit long here! I'll save my take on Amanda, Clay, + their kids for our live convo!
I thought of Ruth as someone I would have liked to know more about, but she and G.H. seemed relatively one-dimensional to me. I wish all the characters had been better developed, but in this relatively short book, it seems as if we only got glimpses (of a lot of situations and people). My oldest son lives in CO and we haven't seen him in person for > 16 months. He and I talk often, and one of the topics we talk about is if it's really possibly to know someone when you haven't been with them in a very long time. As a parent, I'm always wary of thinking I "know" my kids when what I really know is how they might have reacted when they were ten or teenagers. I'm looking forward to our discussion tonight!
DeleteI wonder if age also had something to do with it. Ruth and GH were older and maybe to get through this they figured their daughter would have a level head and handle what was going on. Especially as they didn't know what was going on anywhere else. Amanda annoyed me most of the time with her attitude or personality.
ReplyDeleteJust like race and socioeconomic status, age could certainly have factored in. During our discussion last night, it seems that most readers were irritated by Amanda and her ways of acting like she was more or better than others.
DeleteSo sorry I am behind on keeping up with y'all and that I missed the discussion. I found the book readable and almost a page turner, but there were so many flaws! The characters were a huge disappointment (flat and terribly underdeveloped), more often annoying rather than interesting. D.H. at least acted on what was obviously a terrible situation, but Amanda and Clay...? Their children acted more like adults than they did. I read a couple of other dystopian genre books this year and LtWB was better written, more believable and, therefore, more disturbing than the others.
ReplyDeleteWe reached most of the same conclusions during the discussion, especially the ones about underdeveloped characters and how immature and annoying Amanda was. Vicki brought up a good point that I hadn't considered. As an Airbnb renter and owner, she said she would never consider renting from someone who didn't have a picture of themselves on their profile and she said it is pretty much not allowed. That would mean that Amanda should have known that GH was Black from their correspondence and that scene with Ruth and GH arriving at night wouldn't really have happened. It's a small detail, but something that should maybe have been caught by an editor. Alam is a decent writer, but this book had plenty of flaws. Hope you can join us for the next discussion! (We haven't decided on the next book, but I've cast my vote for what I hope will be a great one!)
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