Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

129 reviews

_fallinglight_'s review

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

3.75

Rumaan Alam did entirely too much with the writing style for this book. It felt like this was a play but switched to literary social/apocalyptic horror novel last minute. In the first 30-ish percent the writing is jarring, almost insulting (maybe part of the point?) with the weird metaphors and descriptors and detached ironic word play but once we get a few lines of what's happening to the world and even tiny glimpses of the future, it was very evocative and finally pulled me into the situation even if the characters were absolutely grating. (Also reading this right now while WWIII was trending on twitter and Putin is talking sh%t added to the scary scale.) This book is spooky, not stomach clenching scary, but unnerving just the same. In spite of the kinda atrocious writing I liked the experience of reading this. I did leave my world behind lol 
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defeating_my_demons's review against another edition

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

3.5

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starryy_nightss's review against another edition

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

0.5

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adamsbookshelf's review against another edition

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sad 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

I'm a little torn on this novel. I enjoyed the alternative view on the apocalypse story but this novel felt a little off. My first problem is the story itself. We get to know literally nothing about the circumstances that have fallen on to this world. We know something like war happened but never see the characters venture out into the chaos. I enjoyed this blind approach but it did leave the overall story feeling unfinished. My second problem with this book is the oversexualization. TW for sexual content in spoiler
I feel like every character besides the 8 year old had some sort of sexual experience. The oldest child is 14-17 (I can't remember the exact age) and we read about is smooth hairless skin, and how he prefers to masturbate and even details about his semen coming out in ropes.
. That all left me uncomfortable and makes me wonder if nudity and self expression was supposed to be a theme for this novel and I just missed it. My third and final problem was the ending. We ended in such a weird spot and when the novel was getting good. This was also an abrupt ending and left us feeling unsatisfied. 

I wish I liked this book because the concept was so strong but I just felt underwhelmed. Shout out to the flamingos!
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doodeedoda's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes

2.0

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granny_weatherwax's review against another edition

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mysterious medium-paced

2.5

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booknerdsinmn's review against another edition

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

4.0

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pinayknitter's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

My first book finished after a long while (I’ve been jumping from book to book, all unfinished). This is dark, mysterious, and tense. Though my curiosity about “what happened” pushed me to go on and finish, it’s the author’s reflections on human behavior and that took hold of me. Not exactly “holiday mode” reading.😅 Now to move on to something cheerier!😆. 4 out of 5 stars.

ETA: I still have a strong desire to know what EXACTLY happened in the end. But as Meredith of the Currently Reading podcast explained, the author was being “purposefully obtuse”. That made me appreciate the vague uncertainties more.
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bootsmom3's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

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

4.0

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