Everything is going well at the secluded property they rented in a far-flung corner of Long Island, until an elderly Black couple-the owners, as it turns out-knocks at the door in the middle of the night, seeking refuge from a blackout in the city. The story begins with Amanda, a type-A working mom her cigarette-sneaking husband, Clay and their two teenage children, Rose and Archie as they embark on a picturesque vacation from their busy Brooklyn-based lives. I’m not typically drawn to books like this but I was captivated by Alam’s masterfully written characters and the detail and intimacy with which he writes about family dynamics and race. The feelings of isolation, fear and uncertainty were so vivid in Alam’s writing that I worried it would be too immediate. I first read Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam in the middle of the darkest days of the pandemic.
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