Reviews tagging 'Body shaming'

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

8 reviews

lauracollins096's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ifoundcallie's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I feel like if you read this book as a literacy fiction novel with a lens towards social commentary in America, it is stunning. The layers and layers of metaphor on discomfort and humanity—so good! The author’s craft leads readers through a sociological exercise where they is forced to grapple with what it means to be part of the human race, particularly in the context of individualism in Western culture. The fact that the author took ALL OF THAT, and weaved it within the unraveling of a literal apocalypse (of which specifics are vastly unknown)….So. Damn. Good. I had chills multiple times and ran out of ink in my highlighter. 

Very reminiscent of Stephen King, particularly “Under the Dome”. If you liked that, you’ll love this. For people SOLELY looking for a thriller or commentary on race/social class, turn elsewhere…this book intentionally subverts the expectations of those genres. 

I love how the omniscient narrator stingily portioned out information, which shamefully left me feeling the same desperate NEED for information that the book was critiquing! 

There are a few times in this book where the writing could use some trimming/adjusting towards purpose—the heavy emphasis on certain carnal images felt self-righteous and cheap for the rest of the story. Honestly, this is the only thing that keeps this book from being a “perfect” book for me. This pitfall is reminiscent of Stephen King’s writing, again, which makes sense knowing that the author reread Pet Semetary while editing this book. I can only read so many descriptions of bored and worn out married couples “tumbling into the only comfort: of flesh smacking against flesh” or teenage male characters and their detailed descriptions of “spit-in-hand, spurting release”, or adult men who are dumbstruck by their unexpected “large load of vitality and youth long gone”. I felt disappointed every time the book swung back to these tropes, faithfully. Yawn.

There are many passages/chapters in this novel that blew me away and can easily stand on their own as brilliant pieces of art. I would love to sit and analyze some of the turn-of-phrase, allusions, and imagery handpicked by this intelligent author. I was giddy with annotation, and this book rewards you for paying attention to these nuances of craft. Overall, I’m so glad I was recommended this book. It itched an “am I spiraling and paranoid or is the world ending” scratch that is often not done well. 

Bravo, Rumaan Alam.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

jei_alexander's review against another edition

Go to review page

Pretentious writing. Chapter 3 was a shopping list. Transphobic later in the book. Talks too much about naked bodies. No plot. The main character Amanda is awful. No explanation for anything that happens in the book. Amanda is racist. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

nytefall_library's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.25

Where to begin…. (Potential spoilers)

This book was sold to me as a type of apocalyptic story that would be like a thriller and mystery with tense moments and a murder mystery feel. I don’t feel like I read that book. The adult characters in the story are horrible - all of them. They are arrogant, rude and so self absorbed to think they’re the most important people when they’re not. The children are the only ones to act as their age and the least annoying characters in this book. Amanda and Clay are beyond strange and when they meet the owners of the house I honestly didn’t know the story could get worse. G. H and Ruth are just as rude and selfish as Amanda and Clay - also who drives out of town to their holiday home knowing you have people staying there??? The subtle racism, fat shaming and sexism in the story was just so irrelevant to the whole story and some sentences were far too over descriptive and didn’t lend anything further to the story. The only interesting bit, where the story pace gets slightly faster and more interesting was right at the end. This is also where Ruth and Amanda started to act like actual human beings and not just a 2d version of themselves. If the rest of the book was like the last few chapters I may have rated this slightly higher. Also make sure you like abrupt endings because that’s all you’re left with. No answers - I just assumed they all died and the world ended.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

ctrl_shift_dlt's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

leekaufman's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I really liked the concept of this book. It took me a while to get into, because I found the characters lacked depth. I hoped that the interaction between the two couples would allow for character development, but ended up a bit disappointed. The tension was really good at times, and at others a bit patchy. Maybe just not my writing style. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

bodiesinbooks's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

scoti's review against another edition

Go to review page

mysterious tense fast-paced

4.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings