Let me begin with a few things. First, I do believe that the overall themes of race and gender were and are important topics to explore. Second, the audiobook was well done.

Now, why only 2 stars. The narration was disjointed and abrupt, switching between perspectives and a general omniscience - all while being a 3rd personal narration - that just left a feeling of being jerked around a bit. The theme of race and gender (I do see some gendered items in there though it is clear the race is the majority of the message) is just a bit too heavy handed and lacks subtlety and nuance. It was very much, mostly the white wife, going: “racist comment, oh was that racist? I didn’t mean to be racist.”

The story itself had good bones but should have been severely edited down and made into a short story. I don’t care that the daughter was watching a particular episode of a particular show. It added nothing to the story. Nor did the lists! Lists of what the white lady bought when they arrived at their vacation rental/Airbnb-type set up. You bought cheese! Fantastic. So happy for you. Overall, it was overwritten with copious descriptions and a clear love of a thesaurus as well as some obscure knowledge of words and references that have no bearing on the story but also are sudden blips like a skipping record. A bit repetitive and dangerously SLOW at times, I’m glad I could listen to the audiobook at 1.5 speed to move it along and still get the story.

One other pet peeve of the narration and writing is the interjection of what is happening elsewhere or will happen elsewhere or in the future at odd moments. “She didn’t know that Gary was going to kill April. She didn’t know that right then Jack was lying on his back in the middle of the sidewalk having slipped on a banana peal after leaving the cream pie store and, covered in pie, is slowly being eaten by the corpse stripping ants from elsewhere that are suddenly migrating here. She didn’t know...” and I don’t care anymore. (This was all made up by me to illustrate the point.)

And finally, I’m not a prude but I don’t need to hear how a hard penis looks like it’s in a yoga pose greeting the sun. And I don’t need to hear about kid (16 year old male) masturbation.

This was largely “The Happening” meets “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” with a dash of clawingly whining characters and two children who are so spoiled and obnoxious I could have left them in the woods. (I’d never really do that.) But it lacks the punc of “Who’s Afraid” and the rationale behind the story’s events which, even though it was stunningly bad, at least “The Happening” had. I read this to find out the hype. I’m glad it was short and I only borrowed it from the library. 2 stars for subject matter with a lot of deductions for execution.

Content Warnings

cereads's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

Content Warnings

sorcha's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Content Warnings

girlonbooks's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

🦩🦩🦩🦩(four stars as rated in flamingos because.... um... flamingos?)

Something is happening. Something is happening. It was supposed to be relaxing a weekend away for Clay, Amanda and their two teenage children; a few days to unwind. And then, well, something happened. This other couple arrived. The power went out in the city. And that noise... What even was that? Are they safe where they are? Should they leave? Or should they wait until they know what's going on? What do you do when you have no idea what to do? You leave the world behind you.

“They had asked themselves questions when they decided to have children — do we have the money, do we have the space, do we have what it takes — but they didn’t ask what the world would be when their children grew.”

If you are into the kind of film where you don't see the monster until 2/3 of the way through, then have I got the book for you! Leave The World Behind is, in my opinion, the definition of a psychological thriller. What is most unsettling about this story isn't what it shows you but what it doesn't. There is very little action, but don't take that to mean that the book does not move. I genuinely could not put it down. The prose, the characters, the narration... it was all expertly done, in my opinion. I would highly recommend listening to this book. Rumaan Alam's words in Marin Ireland's voice was as beautiful as it was unsettling. This is the kind of story you keep thinking about for days afterward.

✨ Rep in this book: Black supporting characters, AOC

✨ Content warnings for this book: the mention of death, disease and unrest, vomit, medical stuff, cursing, racism, blood

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Content Warnings

hmatt's review against another edition

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challenging mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Ummmm yeah I'm not sure what this was but it was not great. It's trying to be too literary, and there's a weird omniscient narrator and constantly switching perspectives, and then

it just ends before you get any answers???

Content Warnings

jennhammel's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book is unapologetically vulgar, filled with a brutally honest take on the inner thoughts of humans. It’s an interesting character study kind of book, with a vague worldwide emergency going on in the background. I think the author accomplished exactly what was intended, but it wasn’t necessarily for me.

Content Warnings

ctrl_shift_dlt's review against another edition

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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

Content Warnings

kayleedlaudick's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

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