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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
I read a review of this book somewhere that said something to the effect of "don't you have something better to read?" At the time, I thought that was an extraordinarily cruel review, but after weeks of struggling through this book, I have to say that I agree....find something else to read. The premise of the book was what sucked me into wanting to read this from the get-go: that the rapture happens and certain people are whisked off to Heaven or parts unknown, leaving the rest of the world to pick up the pieces and go on. See, I thought this book would be more about this Rapture and less day to day life of those left behind. Alas, the book starts several years after the Rapture and if you want an explanation of what happened to at least one family, you're going to be stuck reading till the end of the book to get it. Mr. Perrotta isn't a bad writer (I hope; I have several more of his books left on my TBR list), but this book was like a cheese sandwich when you're expecting pizza....unsatisfying, leaving you wanting more (but not in a good way), and with more questions than answers. Meh.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
The Leftovers reminds me of a book someone might refer to when they "needed a good cry". There's a lot of emotion in this story, both on the surface and raging underneath. And most of it is quite effective. I enjoyed it so much I read it all in the same day.
I'm not going to debate the plot concept of this book. You're either in or you're not. For those of us who are in, there's a lot left to see besides the wreckage it leaves in the character's lives. Perotta has built a uniquely interesting alternate reality that both strains relation to this one and also puts forth just how much an event like the Sudden Departure the book is centered around would have on it. I appreciate this craftsmanship of showing how we (and our world) change even when we fight it every step of the way. The plot isn't really the point of the story, anyway--it seems more a vehicle to relay the grief and aftermath of its characters. Does the plot make sense? Not always. Do the emotions ring true? Almost always.
World building and plot aside, that focus on its characters, pays off. Perotta does a fine job of making us care for them, particularly the central family. I did find the son, Tom, and his storyline with Holy Wayne to be clearly the weakest, but it was one dim spot in a bright bouquet of sadness.
And sad is what you're going to get. Leftovers is not generally uplifting, it's a long dirge of poignant sorrow and grief and not for the meek at heart. It's almost a study that way. This is how we deal with loss, with grief, and life-changing sadness. And it's brutal. And messy. And brave.
Recommended for those who want to see emotion on the page, who can dip into that well of feelings and don't mind getting their hands wet. It's very worth your time, unless you only read for fun, escapist jolly romps (and there's nothing wrong with that either, good cry or no).
I'm not going to debate the plot concept of this book. You're either in or you're not. For those of us who are in, there's a lot left to see besides the wreckage it leaves in the character's lives. Perotta has built a uniquely interesting alternate reality that both strains relation to this one and also puts forth just how much an event like the Sudden Departure the book is centered around would have on it. I appreciate this craftsmanship of showing how we (and our world) change even when we fight it every step of the way. The plot isn't really the point of the story, anyway--it seems more a vehicle to relay the grief and aftermath of its characters. Does the plot make sense? Not always. Do the emotions ring true? Almost always.
World building and plot aside, that focus on its characters, pays off. Perotta does a fine job of making us care for them, particularly the central family. I did find the son, Tom, and his storyline with Holy Wayne to be clearly the weakest, but it was one dim spot in a bright bouquet of sadness.
And sad is what you're going to get. Leftovers is not generally uplifting, it's a long dirge of poignant sorrow and grief and not for the meek at heart. It's almost a study that way. This is how we deal with loss, with grief, and life-changing sadness. And it's brutal. And messy. And brave.
Recommended for those who want to see emotion on the page, who can dip into that well of feelings and don't mind getting their hands wet. It's very worth your time, unless you only read for fun, escapist jolly romps (and there's nothing wrong with that either, good cry or no).
I watched the first episode of the show and then ran to get the book, finishing it before I had a chance to watch any of the other episodes, I got this strange cross-spoilering thing going on.
The Leftovers is a strange post-apocalyptic tale, in that the apocalypse wasn't all it's cracked up to be and on the surface, very little changed. About 2% of the population (actually, I'm not sure that figure appears in the book - I might have picked it up from the show) disappeared all of a sudden, and everyone else just have to figure out their lives after something happens that makes to doubt everything you believed it. It's of course crafted after the idea of the rapture, but there are enough anomalies to make most people doubt that this is indeed what happened, but then science fails to provide an explanation either, leaving the majority of people just groping around to help themselves move on with their lives.
The book follows one family, the Garveys, whose various members experience the gamut of human responses to this anticlimactic apocalypse - the mother joins a quasi-Christian cult, the Guilty Remnants, that believe the events of October 14 were indeed the rapture, the son joins a cult of personality that grows from what seems like a mutation of the ethos of support groups, the daughter gives in to decadence and nihilism, while the father tries to push forward and make the world sane again, becoming mayor of their town of Mapleton and trying to figure out how to best set about to get back on track.
There is very little of the outside world in the book - Mapleton is a bubble, with only the son's -- Tom -- life extending beyond it, but even then there is very little context for what was dramatically a global catastrophe, but is experienced in the book as a very local one. And that's a good thing. Avoiding the scope that such an apocalypse would normally require makes it plausible to believe that Mapleton is just a good representative sample of what happened all over the world. Just like the apocalypse itself is somewhat underwhelming, the stories too are not ones of complete societal collapse, but small, individual crises. This is not a book about how the world, or a country, crumbles under an unfathomable catastrophe. It's a book about how people falter when they are left with nothing to believe in, yet life moves on.
At the very beginning Laurie, the mother, describes herself and her family as "agnostics", but the story reveals that this isn't really true - they believed in SOMETHING, and when that something was taken away from them, the family got ripped apart. It's a story about the importance of faith, but not in the religious sense, but in the sense that we as humans need to believe we have some grasp of the world around us, no matter how far removed from reality that grasp truly is. It's a story about the lengths we're willing to go to to re-establish that sense of grasp when it is shaken.
The Leftovers is a strange post-apocalyptic tale, in that the apocalypse wasn't all it's cracked up to be and on the surface, very little changed. About 2% of the population (actually, I'm not sure that figure appears in the book - I might have picked it up from the show) disappeared all of a sudden, and everyone else just have to figure out their lives after something happens that makes to doubt everything you believed it. It's of course crafted after the idea of the rapture, but there are enough anomalies to make most people doubt that this is indeed what happened, but then science fails to provide an explanation either, leaving the majority of people just groping around to help themselves move on with their lives.
The book follows one family, the Garveys, whose various members experience the gamut of human responses to this anticlimactic apocalypse - the mother joins a quasi-Christian cult, the Guilty Remnants, that believe the events of October 14 were indeed the rapture, the son joins a cult of personality that grows from what seems like a mutation of the ethos of support groups, the daughter gives in to decadence and nihilism, while the father tries to push forward and make the world sane again, becoming mayor of their town of Mapleton and trying to figure out how to best set about to get back on track.
There is very little of the outside world in the book - Mapleton is a bubble, with only the son's -- Tom -- life extending beyond it, but even then there is very little context for what was dramatically a global catastrophe, but is experienced in the book as a very local one. And that's a good thing. Avoiding the scope that such an apocalypse would normally require makes it plausible to believe that Mapleton is just a good representative sample of what happened all over the world. Just like the apocalypse itself is somewhat underwhelming, the stories too are not ones of complete societal collapse, but small, individual crises. This is not a book about how the world, or a country, crumbles under an unfathomable catastrophe. It's a book about how people falter when they are left with nothing to believe in, yet life moves on.
At the very beginning Laurie, the mother, describes herself and her family as "agnostics", but the story reveals that this isn't really true - they believed in SOMETHING, and when that something was taken away from them, the family got ripped apart. It's a story about the importance of faith, but not in the religious sense, but in the sense that we as humans need to believe we have some grasp of the world around us, no matter how far removed from reality that grasp truly is. It's a story about the lengths we're willing to go to to re-establish that sense of grasp when it is shaken.
I wanted more out of this book. Not sure what I wanted, but something more. Oh well, still going to watch the show.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The series really enriched this book for me but it also took away from the experience in a way too. It's hard to explain. I much prefer the take the series has on the story. It feels very unfinished.
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Perrotta paints his characters and scenes so vividly - I could sit with his prose for hours. Also the ending made me cry
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Infertility, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Rape