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A review by bookph1le
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
3.0
I feel kind of...tepid about this book?
There are many things about this book I could praise. I thought it did an excellent job of portraying the characters as individual humans with individual emotions and motivations, though I did sometimes find it a little confusing to follow as it would jump from perspective to perspective within chapters. I thought it had a lot of interesting things to say about the unsavory aspects of our characters, our inherent racism and selfishness, the way we cling to technology. And I also thought it had a lot of good points about how we ignore the evidence that our planet is getting closer to the precipice, the way humans favor burying their heads in the sand to facing the reality of our situations.
Yet despite all this, I'm not sure I really liked the book. Admittedly, my reaction to it may have to do with where I am right now. Had I read this book at any time other than in the middle of a pandemic, I suspect I would have gotten more out of it. Part of my discontent with its message, one that I found rather nihilistic, is probably due to the fact that what's going on in the U.S. at this time lends credence to the idea that people are better at being fractious than they are at coming together in times of crisis.
That isn't the one and only thing I disliked about it, though. The writing was sometimes grittier than I wanted it to be, and that was off-putting to me. Also, every character except Amanda made sense to me. Her portrayal felt a little stereotypical, like she was the one "type" in the book while everyone else felt like a genuine human being with all their little flaws and foibles.
There are many things about this book I could praise. I thought it did an excellent job of portraying the characters as individual humans with individual emotions and motivations, though I did sometimes find it a little confusing to follow as it would jump from perspective to perspective within chapters. I thought it had a lot of interesting things to say about the unsavory aspects of our characters, our inherent racism and selfishness, the way we cling to technology. And I also thought it had a lot of good points about how we ignore the evidence that our planet is getting closer to the precipice, the way humans favor burying their heads in the sand to facing the reality of our situations.
Yet despite all this, I'm not sure I really liked the book. Admittedly, my reaction to it may have to do with where I am right now. Had I read this book at any time other than in the middle of a pandemic, I suspect I would have gotten more out of it. Part of my discontent with its message, one that I found rather nihilistic, is probably due to the fact that what's going on in the U.S. at this time lends credence to the idea that people are better at being fractious than they are at coming together in times of crisis.
That isn't the one and only thing I disliked about it, though. The writing was sometimes grittier than I wanted it to be, and that was off-putting to me. Also, every character except Amanda made sense to me. Her portrayal felt a little stereotypical, like she was the one "type" in the book while everyone else felt like a genuine human being with all their little flaws and foibles.