Leave the World Behind in What's the Name of That Book???

Jan 25, 2021 jo added it

Shelves: audio, african-american, spec-fantasy-sf

rumaan you and i just don't get along. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jan 20, 2021 Kate rated it really liked it

Shelves: age-adult, adult-book-club, 2021

A family rents an AirBNB house, but after only a day or so of vacation, there's a knock on the door. It's the house's owners, claiming something has happened, a power outage. While the two couples move uneasily around one another, they struggle to figure out what happened and what to do, in the absence of information.

This book was intriguing in that for about 60-70% of the story, nothing hugely dramatic happens, and still I felt uneasy and anxious and was racing along. Literally it was a couple ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jul 21, 2021 Tanya rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Unsettling in subject matter and sometimes frustrating in style, but it still pulled me in, wouldn't let go, and probably will linger on my mind for a while.

The vastness of the world makes it so that tragedy can feel like a far away thing. Political skirmishes, ecological collapse, natural (or unnatural) disasters don't feel truly visceral until they're close to home, and even then, we invent stories and rationalize in such ways that help us build an imaginary fortress: "This isn't really happen Unsettling in subject matter and sometimes frustrating in style, but it still pulled me in, wouldn't let go, and probably will linger on my mind for a while.

The vastness of the world makes it so that tragedy can feel like a far away thing. Political skirmishes, ecological collapse, natural (or unnatural) disasters don't feel truly visceral until they're close to home, and even then, we invent stories and rationalize in such ways that help us build an imaginary fortress: "This isn't really happening, or at least it isn't happening to me."

This is about what people do when they've missed the signs and something apocalyptic washes over them like a wave. It's about the ways they cling to creature comforts and animal instincts, and repeat mundane mantras of self-delusion to make it feel like everything is OK. The fear is made worse by not having any feedback from others going through it, when communications are cut off.

This book is polarizing, apparently. I've seen one or two star reviews raking it over the coals. At the same time, I've seen high praise. There are certain tone and style elements in Alam's writing that I agree are worth critique, such as the occasional verbose use of thesaurus words. At the same time, certain elements - like excessive details of material or logistical things the characters do or talk about - feel very real to me, because I think that most of us, when confronted with something completely outside our frame of experience, wouldn't be clear headed heroes. We would babble, be frantic, distract ourselves with making a cake out of a box mix (pandemic bread baking, anyone?). We would cling to our routines and the hope that the tragedies would pass us by. Most of all, we wouldn't actually know what lies ahead, and that's truly the power of this book.

Don't read this right now if end of the world type of scenarios would be triggering. There were moments I felt my throat catch and I'd wished I hadn't started on the book, but I was too enthralled not too finished. ...more

Like · see review

Oct 20, 2020 Ryan rated it really liked it

Shelves: borrowed, 2020, z2020-published

Sometimes the simplest ideas can be the most unnerving.

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 24, 2022 Michelle rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: lit_fic, book_club_irl

It's no secret that "angst in the suburbs" is my least favorite genre. After reading a few other reviews and checking out how this was shelved by other readers, I had this one flagged for "horror" and "suspense" and "mystery" but it's certainly none of these, just some angsty folks wondering how they measure up against the Jonses.

A generic upper-middle-class couple arrive from their NYC apartment to a tastefully appointed vacation rental in a gentrified agrarian part of Long Island. They bring It's no secret that "angst in the suburbs" is my least favorite genre. After reading a few other reviews and checking out how this was shelved by other readers, I had this one flagged for "horror" and "suspense" and "mystery" but it's certainly none of these, just some angsty folks wondering how they measure up against the Jonses.

A generic upper-middle-class couple arrive from their NYC apartment to a tastefully appointed vacation rental in a gentrified agrarian part of Long Island. They bring 2.4 kids with them (their son is quite tall, so he counts for more than just 1), they go shopping for aspirationally organic groceries, they simultaneously enjoy the house and lament they'll never afford such a place. Their cell phones don't work out here in the middle of nowhere, but that's to be expected, right? Then an older couple arrives, claiming to be the homeowners, and claiming that nobody's cell phones work for some mysterious/nefarious reason.

This book doesn't really know what it wants to be. There's some suggestion of race tensions between the two couples (one white, one black), but not so much that this is what the book is about. Likewise the undertones of dissatisfaction between their upper- and upper-upper-middle class status. It could have been a commentary on the dwindling strength of community in our modern plugged-in era, or how we literally can't live without our gadgets telling us how to, but any tension between the two couples is repeatedly undercut with little tantalizing asides about some nebulously apocalyptic stuff that may be going on elsewhere that our characters remain unaware of. It's a short, breezy read, and it feels earthy and honest (often, too much so - no matter how true, I have no interest in reading about the tolerance all parents possess for their childrens' vomit), but I don't much care for any one of these people. And if that wasn't enough, the end (view spoiler) *Shrug* ...more

Like · see review

Dec 12, 2021 Tami rated it really liked it · review of another edition

While this book is presenting the collapse of society due to a list of reasons that’s basically a greatest hits album of apocalypse fiction, I enjoyed it. If the vague events of this book were to take place, it’s likely that our own experiences would mirror those of the characters. If you read any book you come across with this theme, give it a try. If you’re only going to read one book about the world after catastrophic events, read Station Eleven.

Like · see review

Jan 25, 2021 Carolynn Garcia rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I want to give it 4 stars because it's UNSATISFYING in the things we never get to know. We're not meant to know, it's not as though the author forgot to tell us, or failed in some way. We are as clueless as the people in the story and that is intentional. We feel as they feel. They are us and we are them. We could be, would be them.
Are these events, something like them, an inevitability?
We need certainties to be at ease. We need our phones, the connection, the knowledge, the assurances they prov ...more

Like · see review

Jan 07, 2022 Karol rated it liked it

This is such a different book. For my own mental well being I kind of wish I hadn't read it while stuck inside from a pandemic. On the plus side it is very thought provoking. I had to think of the saying "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men. Gang aft a-gley". (To A Mouse by Robert Burns) That's putting it mildly. ...more

Like · see review