Leftovers: A Novel

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• The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta;
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The website will then calculate your reading speed and give you your WPM. Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down? That's what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Kevin Garvey, Mapleton's new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin's own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: Only Kevin's teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she's definitely not the sweet "A" student she used to be.

Kevin wants to help her, but he's distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start. With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers is a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss. You read this over an average of words per minute. A Novel Look on Amazon. Election Look on Amazon.

Toggle navigation Menu Reading Length. Kevin is left with his teenage daughter Jill and her best friend who has moved in with them to get away from the creepy stepfather she was left with when her mom went poof. The girls are blowing off class to get drunk and high at parties that seem more depressing than fun. While there are no definite answers as to what exactly happened to the missing people; the implication is that most of them believe deep down that this was a religious judgment of some kind.

However, while it seems to fit the template of the Christian Rapture, people of all faiths from all over the world were taken while some hard core believers were not, and those who vanished were seemingly just as flawed in their lives as those who remain. So those left behind walk around feeling like they were judged and found wanting. The real bitch of this is because these people have realized that the biggest event in human history occurred, and they were left out of it.

Study for a test? Start a softball league? Can any of them find a reason to go on? Is it even worth trying? While the basic plot and most of the characters are the same, the show seems to be hinting that there is still something looming, that this was just the first act which makes sense since most of the book's plot was used in the first season so it needs more story to tell. View all 28 comments. Tom Perrotta scrive libri amati dal cinema.

E ritengo che Perrotta ami scrivere libri adatti al cinema. Da quello che ho visto nelle prime due puntate in lingua originale con sottotitoli, grazie a un benedetto sciopero degli italici doppiatori , come sempre, qualcosa si perde e qualcosa si guadagna. Come potrebbe essere altrimenti? Sono due media diversi, molto diversi. Un giorno, qualcosa o qualcuno si porta via milioni di persone: Senza guerra, catastrofi, epidemie, tsunami. Senza trombe e neppure tamburi.

Se ne vanno buoni e cattivi, santi e peccatori, belli e brutti, giovani e vecchi, cristiani, cattolici, ebrei, musulmani, fanatici di qualsiasi tipo, e anche non. Non da tutti, almeno. Racconto che focalizza su come reagisce la gente a un evento simile. O, semplicemente, di sopravvivere.

Essenzialmente, in grande solitudine. PS Ho trovato la serie insopportabile, lenta, noiosa, monotona, deprimente. E, quindi, ho pensato di occupare meglio il mio tempo e non ho finito di vederla. View all 3 comments. Nov 06, Fabian rated it liked it. This is about the cult of cults, a very fascinating topic. Its something that baffles me, and thinking about joining a collective of weirdos which is the reason I naturally avoid malls and Wal-Mart gives me the willies.

Anyway, the thing about Perrotta is that his work, as terrific or as pedestrian as it is, is insanely readable and "getting into it" is easy and fun. His books are given the usual three stars by me, but it really means something that some of his novels have made terrific films This is about the cult of cults, a very fascinating topic. His books are given the usual three stars by me, but it really means something that some of his novels have made terrific films "Election," "Little Children".

I only need time to read everything of his, minus "L. Another genuine Perrottatism is the ambiguous "sloppy" or "moralizing"? I need to KNOW!! It is askew, ambitious. But then, it kinda does have a hard time being about national themes of global catastrophe such as The Rapture, The Apocalypse and the personal minutiae in which they are somehow played out. Perrotta's scale is incredibly, claustrophobically small. No, there is something rather paint-it-by-numbers here. But still, I must reiterate that I must read everything else. At least the guy sure knows how to entertain!

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The Leftovers

Mar 21, Alias Pending rated it it was ok Shelves: No, that's too kind. A book so OK it hurts. I liked this better the first time, when it was called American Beauty. Reading this book was like heading down a playground slide made of glass. It starts off fun, but soon the smooth, featureless texture is burning your skin and all you can see is the cold, rocky ground waiting for you at the end. And then you hit the rocky ground and it is worse than you imagined.

Speaking of bad comparisons, The Rapture, the author claims, is a metaphor for dealing with grief and loss. Yet, no one in this book deals with grief or loss in any positive fashion. If this was meant to be a strictly humorous book, the multiple negative endings might have wrapped up as punch lines to their various character arcs. However, as the book runs out of irony somewhere at the half way point, the conclusion to the novel is about as downbeat as they come.

The real irony is that this well told tale of mediocrity in the face of extraordinary change never becomes more than a mediocre reflection of itself. View all 10 comments. Jun 24, Jill rated it liked it. This is quite the literary year for ordinary families becoming enmeshed in extraordinary, indeed, catastrophic, situations. And now Tom Perrotta one-ups him by introducing the Garveys…a suburban family who was left behind in the aftermath of a Rapture-like event.

To his credit, Tom Perrotta drinks no Kool-aid. Before the event occurs, one character says this about the Rapture: There seems to rhyme or reason as to who disappears. He wisely leaves it to the imagination of the reader. They try to move forward while grieving the departed and getting by in a world where consumerism, politics, conventional religion, and mindless entertainment have lost their meaning.

Time moved on, seasons changed, individuals withdrew into their private lives, turned their faces toward the sun. On balance, it was a good thing. Perhaps a little too ambitious. The grandness of the apocalyptic event is always lurking in the background, making the players who strut and fret their last hours on stage seem rather ordinary. It seemed to me that the random mystery of a devastating event would have created a universal clamor to find out why; otherwise, how to go on? View all 12 comments. Aug 11, Stacia the club rated it it was ok Shelves: Up until the last few pages, I was somewhat enjoying the book, happy sunshine oh wow, I accidentally typed happy sunshit and had to correct that.

I might have just coined a new term. Okay, so there wasn't actually a whole lot of happy or sunshine going on, but compared to the sho Never, have I ever wanted an author to pull a George RR Martin the way I wanted it to happen in The Leftovers. Okay, so there wasn't actually a whole lot of happy or sunshine going on, but compared to the show, this book was very light on the drama. Why I picked up The Leftovers: I was on a "need to know" basis regarding all of the information that the show is leaving out for now. Season 1 is almost over and I was still struggling to figure out what the entire purpose of the Guilty Remnant cult was about.

Why the show felt the need to have to withold info that the book gave away up front, I don't know. Okay, so there was one scene toward the end which was a bit of a trip, but that's the only crumb we got. Even with all of the frustration and lack of info, the show wins because the show actually seems to have a backbone. Laurie on the show is kind of a bitch. Nora on the show is kind of a bitch. I also like that. Both of these characters in the book are weak and boring and in the case of Nora, downright disposable. But again, the book itself wasn't all that bad of a read. It just wasn't very developed either, past the point of showing people surviving their day to day existence after their loved ones vanished into thin air without explanation.

At least the show has more depth to it so far.

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This is where the problem comes in: Oh sure, at first it's this big psychological draw, watching people in their struggle to figure out how to be normal again Surely, the ending was going to give up the goods. I just had to know what had caused the disappearance, and if the missing would ever come back. Here comes the spoiler - view spoiler [Not one damn thing happens. Everyone goes on living their life. Well, except for the whole "who wants to be a martyr? But other than that, there's nothing. Open endings of this magnitude piss me off. Even if there'd just been one person musing at the end about how "one random idea" could have been the reason for the disappearance, I would have been okay.

Give me just one hint as to a possible reason - just one. Even if it wasn't going to be a case solved, I could have handled a glimpse, or a clue, or even a hair-brained idea. I don't count my read as wasted time, but if the only reason you want to pick this book up is to get some answers, just read this: They see smoking as a show of them not being afraid to die.

They see martyrdom as a way to keep the "rapture" fresh in people's minds. If people remember, they feel guilty. If they feel guilty, they may seek out the remnant. If you don't watch the show, this review probably makes no sense. If you don't watch the show, I wouldn't bother with the book anyway. So there we go. View all 11 comments. Aug 18, Peter Derk rated it it was ok. Have you ever read one of those books where it feels like the middle part of a trilogy, like all the action happened just before the first page and then kicks into gear right on the last page?

I guess it doesn't matter if you've read one like that or not. That little description makes sense enough, right? Okay, how about this: When I get a pizza, the first slice is awesome. Because I was so hungry and anticipating it. And then you get into a cycle of diminishing returns about three slices in. Then Have you ever read one of those books where it feels like the middle part of a trilogy, like all the action happened just before the first page and then kicks into gear right on the last page?

Then it just becomes another food, what you're eating for that meal and nothing more. The bookends of pizza are awesome, but the middle is kind of lame. Nothing really happens, and it's just an unnecessary way of getting you from the beginning of the pizza to the end. A smarter man would eat a few slices on day one, and then a second set the next day, after which the pizza could go out. A smarter man would have also read the setup in this book, then skipped to the end to see what all happened without slogging through a lot of I don't know what.

What's so weird about this book is that other than the setup, a large portion of the population mysteriously disappearing all at the same time, there's almost nothing really remarkable about what happens. It's all kind of mundane. Well, except for the rising up of a cult of people who don't talk except when they do and smoke all the time except when they don't and are pretty much harmless except when they aren't. Plus, nobody mentions the benefits. Anyway, if you're considering this book, I'd say reconsider.

It's fine overall, but you can find what you're looking for somewhere else that'll be preferable, whether it's suburban drama, attempting to put a shape to loss, or a miracle baby.

The Leftovers: A Novel | Reading Length

View all 5 comments. May 09, James Thane rated it really liked it. What if there suddenly were a "Rapture" or something like it, where millions of people around the world disappeared in an instant, vaporized into nothingness? How would those left behind cope with such an amazing and inexplicable development? Such is the premise of Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers , which focuses on the small town of Mapleton and on the family of the newly-elected mayor, Kevin Garvey.

Everyone in town has been affected by the event and large numbers of people have been traumatized, th What if there suddenly were a "Rapture" or something like it, where millions of people around the world disappeared in an instant, vaporized into nothingness? Everyone in town has been affected by the event and large numbers of people have been traumatized, though no one knows exactly what has happened. Some fervently believe that this was, in fact, the Rapture for which some Christians have long awaited, though some of the "leftover" Christians cannot understand why some Muslims, Jews and others were carried away while they were left behind.

Many non-believers refuse to accept this explanation and attribute the disappearance to some strange phenomenon that no one can understand. Over time, the event becomes known as the "Sudden Departure," and people react in a variety of ways. Some join religious cults, expecting that the End Days are near. Others attempt to return to a "normal" life, as if nothing had happened. Large numbers of people are, understandably, traumatized and cannot get over the loss of the family members and friends who so abruptly left their lives. As is clear from his previous book, The Abstinence Teacher , Perrotta has a keen insight into modern suburban life.

In this book, he has created a memorable cast of characters and he examines their lives with sympathy, wit and wisdom. This is a very enjoyable and compelling book that will leave readers thinking about its premise and about its characters for a very long time. May 04, Cody rated it did not like it. What the shit did I just read? I read, why would I watch TV? She was simply trying to find a common-ground for us to share. That she had to go to such extreme lengths to get me to participate in something outside my hermitage is actually a reflection on my deficits and certainly not hers.

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This is THE lowest-common denominator, the dregs. I wanted this book to mimic its subject matter: Pure, lovely, good, oxygenating trees died for this to come into being. I think that Todd Field is in the van of the few truly innovative filmmakers America has left, so it raised my hopes a bit. These same hopes were quickly bashed against the wall, melon-head exploding in slo-mo. This is artless, meritless, useless drivel. The writing grades is so fundamentally juvenile that it just leaves me embarrassed for Perrotta. Hey, if the pince-nez fits.

My opinion is my own and is not worth taking seriously in any way. It has nothing to do with you. Or Harry Potter or Goldfinches or the many, many shades that grey apparently comes in. Live and let live. But if I may be so bold: Would you be interested in experiencing mine, just once? It would be my honor to offer my panga. Medoubts Perrotta lives in a double-wide on the Res' with that fat HBO check and all his feature film credits, but his glass house is apparently constructed out of mirrors facing-inward only View all 35 comments.

Jul 13, Kim rated it really liked it Shelves: The fact that life after The Rapture was central to the story made me that much more curious. I was not disappointed. The book opens just a short time after millions of people have just disappeared from the earth. Two of the main characters even join strange cults that spring up after The Rapture.

Both follow apocalyptic events, yet the way life goes on after the events in the two novels could not be more different. Perotta leaves the reader feeling that even after an apocalyptic event, life would go on in a strangely normal fashion. That left me pondering the story long after it was over. Jan 25, Lisa rated it it was amazing Shelves: I thought this audio would be decent laundry-folding entertainment, but I seriously underestimated Mr.

Tom Perrotta and his awesome ability to tell a rad story!!!! This book was killer!!!!! The premise is this: And it appears to have been a totally random sampling: The people who are left really can't make sense of it. Some folks get the I thought this audio would be decent laundry-folding entertainment, but I seriously underestimated Mr. Some folks get their acts together and carry on, and others really take a flying leap into full-on insanity. I didn't want it to end. I wish this was the first book of a twenty book series!

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The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta – review

Sep 17, Larry H rated it really liked it. Most of Tom Perrotta's novels have been wry examinations of society and its foibles. Election, Little Children and The Abstinence Teacher each did a terrific job in chronicling the positives and negatives of human behavior. His characters aren't always sympathetic, their motivations aren't always understandable, but his books always make you think. With his newest novel, The Leftovers, Perrotta ponders an interesting question: How would the rest of the world cope?

How would a person deal with the disappearance of a spouse, children, or parents? These are the issues that the citizens of Mapleton, a small midwestern town, are confronted with when an event called the "Sudden Departure" affects the world. No one—not even religious leaders—can explain who was chosen and why, and no one can help those left behind to try and get on with their lives. Kevin Garvey, the mayor of Mapleton, lost none of his family to the Sudden Departure directly, but his family has fallen apart in the wake of the event. His wife, Laurie, joined a cult of survivors called the Guilty Remnant; his daughter, Jill, has started failing out of school and become promiscuous; and his son, Tom, dropped out of college to follow a questionable prophet named Holy Wayne.

As Kevin tries to help the people of his town rebuild their lives, he embarks on a relationship with Nora Durst, whose husband and children were lost to the Departure. I always marvel at Perrotta's storytelling ability and the way he thinks things through. He did a great job creating a post-Rapture world without actually having you experience what happened that day, so much like the characters themselves, you don't really know what happened to those who disappeared.

When I finished the book, I found myself frustrated that not one character's situation was resolved, but then I realized that this must be a metaphor for how the world felt after the Sudden Departure. It's still frustrating to me, though, that no narrative threads were wrapped up. I like some ambiguity, but this was tough. In the end, though, this is a well-written and tremendously captivating book, and I'm so glad Perrotta is still in fine writing form.

Nov 19, Cathy rated it really liked it. This book takes on some weighty issues but leavened with comic twists. The author plays with issues I've dealing with as I get older; my life is increasingly influenced by absences, by who and what I have lost. I remember the people who have disappeared from my life or roads not taken. Yet I also mistrust my memories of events; what was real and what were simply stories that I told myself?

These are my 2 am musings. The novel also explores how people deal with losses and what things do they tell This book takes on some weighty issues but leavened with comic twists. The novel also explores how people deal with losses and what things do they tell themselves to get through it. It has has funny little twists, like mandatory smoking for cult members who have a fatalistic view of the world. It was entertaining and thoughtful and I wouldn't be surprised to see it made into a movie. View all 4 comments.

Mar 27, Kelly and the Book Boar rated it liked it Shelves: Find all of my reviews at: People, seemingly chosen at random, simply vanished. The Leftovers focuses on the residents of a small town called Mapleton. Some, like Kevin, have decided to move on with life — and are maybe doing a little better or feeling a little more needed than they were before the Sudden Departure Find all of my reviews at: Some, like Kevin, have decided to move on with life — and are maybe doing a little better or feeling a little more needed than they were before the Sudden Departure.

This is the story of how these ordinary people move on in the face of extraordinary circumstances. Months passed and someone recommended this book to me. I have confirmed my suspicions — Perrotta can choose any topic from a hat and roll with it to create something pretty fabulous. Apr 23, Katie rated it it was ok Shelves: I dreamed dreams and saw visions! Oh wait, no I didn't.

I enjoyed it briefly. Then I got to halfway and started wondering if it were going to go anyplace. Then I got farther and started wondering if it were ever, ever going to go anyplace. Then I wondered if it were going to end. Then I saw it was going to end, and I wondered if it were going to have a climax. If this book were food, it would be carob. Great sell I laughed! Great sell, great build-up, I chose it, and it turned to crud in my mouth. The plot jumps around from one character to another, as is the fashion lately.

As the pagination continues, the plot jumps more and more quickly, each character getting less and less time. Each mini-cliffhanger comes more and more quickly. And there are hordes of characters, each main character having his or her own attachments, and I had a hell of a time telling them apart, they were so much alike.

Oh, what makes them tick is grief, loneliness, wanting to go back to before the disappearances of their Loved Ones, and wanting to sleep with something. They all want to sleep with something. At least the thing is vivid, and not completely depressing. I chuckled exactly twice, over the smoking and Holy Wayne. View all 6 comments. Sep 06, Caitlin rated it really liked it Shelves: This one comes from the author of Election and Little Children.

Yeah, those movies you sort of forgot about. After listening to an NPR interview with Perrotta, I ran out and bought the book despite it being hardcover. He came off so intelligent and likeable on the radio, and his ideas were so provoking, I couldn't help being drawn to the book. While sometimes I found his writing a bit colloquial, I really enjoyed this novel and hated to see it end. The book takes place after a Rapture-like event This one comes from the author of Election and Little Children.

The book takes place after a Rapture-like event, but it isn't about the rapture at all. It's much more focused on what happens after these huge events - who is left behind and how do they deal?

The characters in The Leftovers go about searching for meaning in their lives. The Book Bench just posted an interview with Perrotta. It's worth a read. Check it out here: Nov 06, John Wiswell rated it it was amazing. Perrotta tells us multiple times that no one can figure it out. We go to inspirational speeches, grief counseling and A. We hit the bottle, seek out any company we can get, and watch obscene amounts of talk-TV.

We get a mother walking fugally through her empty house and writing a journal to the son who no longer exists. Marriages break up and cities tremble. The analogs to real life are refreshingly distinct. Where it could be generic anti-Westboro fiction, Perrotta instead depicts them as some of the saddest people, and introduces the group through the lens of a husband whose wife is in that hushed crowd, having seemingly shed her gross depression for this zeal.

Religion gets its stage time, as it ought to in a book using a Rapture-gimmick.