The premise for this book really intrigued me. What would happen if one day random people just disappeared from earth in the blink of an eye? How would those left behind react? What would the world be like? The Leftovers explores just this scenario.
Many in the book thought the sudden disappearance of people was “The Rapture” which presented a big problem for the Christian right because there was no rhyme or reason to who got taken. Some were Christian, others weren’t, children, old people, across races and ethnic groups. How would society square its conscience against this unpredicted and unexplained culling of the American public? I thought it sounded interesting to explore the aftermath of such an event.
And it was…sort of. The story followed a family of 4 through their recovery. Each took a very different path, two joining splinter groups that function on the edge of society, another charging forward toward normalcy as fast as he can and another struggling to maintain her identity during turbulent adolescence. The story is interesting, but not particularly gripping. Sort of like a party game of “what would happen if…”
I like party games as much as the next person, but this one just fell kind of flat. The story was interesting, but honestly rather depressing. The splinter groups that the characters joined sounded tinny and just plain weird to me – people dressing in white gowns, taking a vow of silence and smoking all the time (why?) while others travel the country barefooted, regardless of weather, with big bulls eyes painted on their foreheads (sponsored by Target? Huh?). The requisite wacky gurus emerge to entice people to follow them in trying to make sense of the sudden disappearance. There was not the community banding together in the fact of adversity that you’d hope would happen. The characters drift in separate and strange ways that didn’t always make sense to me. Maybe it’s not so weird to imagine these things happening in the aftermath of a really weird event, I don’t know.
That said, the author did really investigate the effects of such an event, and explore the possible reactions. It was interesting to think of social conventions and standards being thrown aside as a result of such a change in American life. The characters were intriguing and likable. They were all set adrift by what happened; their lives suddenly turned inside out. But, somehow I couldn’t buy their actions quite enough. While some were fully rendered and their actions made sense, others seemed unbelievable. There seemed to be very little explanation of the actual event. I just couldn’t buy that there would be no real mention of the cause of the event and what happened to the people who disappeared, even in casual conversation amongst the characters.
I did consider this as a possible successful book club selection because it would ignite discussion around the book’s premise, but I’d be interested to hear if any others might feel the same way I did. I found this book on the NPR list of the best books of 2011, thought I don’t know if I agree with its status. I think there were plenty of other more interesting candidates out there. I look forward to hearing if others feel differently.
No comments:
Post a Comment