LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND by Rumaan Alam ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The apocalypse could be happening right now, somewhere down the street and around the corner. What would first give it away? What’s the first sign leading to the first chord of unease? What would you do with that feeling when it comes? Where do you put that panic, that dread, that frustration now that there is no future and no world outside of what you can touch and see, and all you are left with is the wait for something worse to happen?

Those feelings are explored expertly in this book, granting me with a strong sense of literary satisfaction and a whole hell of a lot of existential dread. But as much as it may seem so, we do not live in the reality inside this story. Not yet anyway, thank god. And at least for today, I can try to forget the palpitations and stomach knots I experienced along the way.

Going into this, I knew it would partly be a character study on the relationships between these two couples thrust together in an impossible scenario. One where something unexplained and menacing is happening, yet they are stuck staring at each other while their thoughts search for the escape their bodies can’t have. But it also carries countless spot-on extrapolations on life and reality and the nuances of humanity in the current age. Short and simple descriptions, quick anecdotes of a scene or a moment or a thought that ring true to the root of the thing. Something relatable explained with pure observational clarity. The author taps into the current foreboding mood of today, where it feels like something bad (worse than the last thing, possible warning of the worst thing) is on the horizon or is already happening, and we are forced to face the fact that we are too small or too late to do anything about it now.

It feels like everything I read lately circles back to this sentiment.

The only nitpick I have revolves around the author’s choice to include all character perspectives at once, sometimes changing within the same paragraph. It’s hard to base yourself as the reader that way, but I understand the goal and I honestly grew used to it as the overall disorientation came on.

In the end, the completionist in me would rather walk away with more answers, but as I’ve realized in reality these days, maybe having less is the easier pill to swallow.