The Gilmore Guide to Books

Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Genre
  • More Books
  • Policies
    • Review Policy
    • Privacy Policy

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

July 14, 2012

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta
Published by St. Martin's Press
Publication date: August 30th 2011
Genres: Dystopian, Fantasy, Fiction
four-stars

leftovers

 

Was it The Rapture or not? This is the launch point for Tom Perrotta’s new novel The Leftovers and his take on the possibly apocryphal event is so well done it’s one more reminder to me that I’ll never be a novelist. This theme has been cartoonized by every fundamentalist/zombie writer in the world with heavy emphasis on the horror and suffering that such an event would engender. Perrotta neatly renders those simple-minded constructs irrelevant and focuses instead on a more realistic view of those still living. If it was the Rapture then why are there religious figures, doctors, loving, caring, believers left behind? And why are families and virtually every other socially constructed group (workplace, church, sports team, school) split apart with some members gone and the rest left to figure it out? Will such an event, regardless of the reason, change the world for better…or worse?

In tackling such a ponderous subject (for some people that is- myself, I’ve already booked first class accommodations on the train to hell) there are many ways to overindulge and yet Perrotta’s writing is almost surgical as it cuts to the heart of the matter. He uses one intact family and their individual responses and slices a macro level occurrence into tiny human pieces.

If this sounds like way too much metaphysical esoteric nonsense, blame this inept writer because it’s not. The Leftovers moves through an entire panoply of human emotion without ever judging. A book about Judgement that doesn’t judge? How can that be? Because for every answer given another question is raised, which makes for marvelous and engrossing reading.

By the end we see that the world goes on. I’m only sad that the book doesn’t because I wanted to keep reading Perrotta’s picture of the life after.

four-stars

Related Posts

  • Related Posts
  • Same Genre
  • 4 Star Books
  • By Tom Perrotta
eight
Eight Books I Can’t Wait to Read This Fall
eight
Riots I Have Known
empty glass
The Empty Glass
The Night Rainbow
The Night Rainbow
Swimming Lessons
california
California: A Novel
doctor sleep
Doctor Sleep: A Novel
Victoria: A Novel
two years
Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
belzhar
Belzhar: A Novel
You Will Know Me
night
The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani
great work
The Great Work of Your Life
enemies
The Enemies of Versailles
112263
11/22/63 by Stephen King
fletcher
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mrs. Fletcher

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, dystopia, fantasy, literary, religion, St. Martin's Press

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Save time and subscribe via email

No time to keep checking for new reviews? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. No spam!

Currently Reading

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski
The Dutch House
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

goodreads.com

Affiliate Disclosure

I’m an affiliate for Indiebound and Amazon. If you click on a link that takes you to any of these sites and make a purchase I’ll earn a small fee, which goes towards the costs of maintaining this site. Your support is appreciated. Thank you!

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2021

Copyright © 2021 · Beyond Madison Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in