Book Review: The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

Imagine if you will,  all at once millions of random people just vanished off the face of the earth. Without a trace, literally vaporized into thin air. This event is just a random act, totally random. This phenomenon takes people of different faiths, people of no faith, people that society deems as productive members and people that are deemed unproductive or downright undesirable. Try to imagine what our religious leaders would say, what our governments would say, try to imagine how you would react if a family member of yours was taken or how you would act to those people that had lost family members. Now try to imagine the world three years after this still unexplained event. That is the premise of Tom Perrotta’s newest book, The Leftovers.

I decided to read this book after hearing the author discuss his work on NPR one morning. I found the premise intriguing and when I found out he was writing a treatment for a HBO series based on the book I made a mental note to read it. I have never read any of Perrotta’s other novels. I did see one that was turned into a movie, Election. He also wrote Little Children (also made into a movie) and The Abstinence Teacher.

His novel is peppered with interesting and ordinary characters he has breathed life into. They are full of hope, sadness, conflicting emotions. Their life in suburban ‘Everytown USA’ is a slow crawl into the pull of various cult like trappings with the promise of a better day, like the Barefoot People (Hippies), the followers of Wholly Wayne (the Huggers), or the sinister Guilty Remnant (the Smokers). The main character’s make mistakes and deal with guilt throughout the book…in short, his characters are painstakingly human. There are no heroes and nobody makes an earth shaking discovery to make sense of what has happened. This book is a slice of the slow sad pace of life. On some deep level I suppose 9-11 and it’s aftermath give the author his underlying canvas to paint over. Perrotta gives the characters such ‘normal’ conflicting emotions and thoughts that you care about these people and hope for the best in their decisions that will shape the rest of their lives.

Perrotta writes in a simple style, never getting to overly lyrical. The novel is an easy read with plenty of room to let your mind wonder about one’s self in a similar situation or to just ponder the everyday decisions we all make in our daily lives. Overall I finished the novel with a feeling of having just read a good book. I am not sure if this is a book that will stay in my mind for along time, but if you are looking to get lost in a little escapism (with a slightly moral slant, but never preachy) I would recommend the book.