A review by britttobegorey94
Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam

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

3.5

Very slow with no real climax or ending. This book walks the line of horror and mystery and keeps its readers on their toes with no real answers for so long that it's hard to feel any real satisfaction for finishing it. A strange shuffle in writing occurs approximately when Ruth and G.H show up. I think this was done to show the difference between a holiday enjoyed and a abrupt unplanned end to the holiday. Either way this is not pulled off as well as intended and it makes it feel like the first few chapters in the book are misplaced and almost like they belong to a different book entirely. The characters are frustrating and for a book lamenting how humanity might survive if technology failed, I felt this book showed a profound lack of knowledge in relation to how phones in particular, actually worked. This book also knee capped itself by shutting down technology - the audience could only know what was happening in a very specific place in America and with such a scope, this meant the world was not necessarily ending but was likely just ending in America. Perhaps the author was trying to make a statement here about America's focus on being "the main character" but the book tells us so little about anything that you could never know for sure. 
This is an anxiety inducing read with no real answers but a somewhat interesting examination of classissm and racism in America, although again, I felt like these themes were not explored to their highest potential either.
Do not read if you are looking for a satisfying conclusion.
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