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    The Leftovers: A Novel
    The Leftovers: A Novel
    The Leftovers: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Leftovers: A Novel

    Written by Tom Perrotta

    Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers—now adapted into an HBO series—is a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.

    What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished? 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. Because nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children.

    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: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne. 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.

    A New York Times Notable Book for 2011
    A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book for 2011
    A USA Today 10 Books We Loved Reading in 2011 Title
    One of NPR's 10 Best Novels of 2011

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateAug 30, 2011
    ISBN9781427213235
    Author

    Tom Perrotta

    Tom Perrotta is the bestselling author of ten works of fiction,including Election and Little Children, both of which were made into critically acclaimed movies, and The Leftovers and Mrs. Fletcher, which were both adapted into series. He lives outside Boston.

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    Reviews for The Leftovers

    3.5/5

    938 ratings125 reviews

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    • 5/5
      Initially attracted to this book because of the timeliness of the subject (the Rapture), the story soon sucked me in and wouldn't let go! I got involved with Kevin and Nora and Tom and the rest of the "leftovers", trying to survive after the Sudden Departure that may or may not have been the biblical Rapture. No matter what happens, life goes on. That's the beauty of the human race...we survive. Some better than others, and their somewhat bumpy journey is what makes this book so enthralling.The story is told by several different characters, but it never got confusing or unwieldy. The narrators were Kevin, his wife Laurie, son Tom, daughter Jill, and Nora, a woman who lost her entire family. The chapters alternated between these people, and we slowly get to know them and their pain. It was fascinating watching how different personalities reacted to the Departure, and the coping mechanisms they came up with: from the Guilty Remnants to Holy Wayne to the Barefoot People. Fascinating!I liked that the story didn't really pick up until a few years after the Departure, as it would have been an entirely different story right afterwards. This way, things had a chance to settle down and people learn how to cope. Or not cope, whatever the case may be. Gave this a 5/5 rating as I couldn't put it down and finished it in a single day! It was an exhausting read, but well worth it! I really liked that we don't know if this was really the Rapture, because the characters don't know. Perrotta is a gifted writer who really made me care about these people, and left me wondering how I would have reacted in the same situation. The story works on different levels, and I'm still digesting it. And BTW, I absolutely love the cover! Very eye-catching!
    • 5/5
      This book isn't quite was I was expecting. I was anticipating it having more of an immediately post-Rapture plot but it doesn't - most of this happens three years afterwards. It did seem to me to be a bit of a long wait between the event and people acting out from their grief, but I still found the book was massively engaging. It's really more of a character study, watching how each member of a family group (plus one) deals with the losses they've experienced. Grief, if done well, interests me (perhaps because of the somewhat higher than average number of family deaths I dealt with when I was young). This grief is done very well and I could barely put the book down. The characters don't always make logical choices or even smart ones, but it was fascinating to watch the paths they choose to take and why. I didn't particularly care for many/any of the characters (especially the males' tendency to be attracted to teenage/underage girls - totally could have done without that) but I was still very into the book and could barely put it down - I finished this book the same day I started it.
    • 3/5
      This book started off strong for me! The prologue rocked my socks off! Did, or did not, the Rapture just happen? But after that, I slowly, but steadily lost interest, and at the end, I just felt disappointed and uninterested. I just hope I'm not one of The Leftovers!
    • 5/5
      Even though The Leftovers has a hint of a supernatural storyline - the characters have been left behind after the Rapture - it is pure Tom Perrotta. There are many characters, but there is never a problem of forgetting who is who, or what storyline goes with which character. While the overall story is very compelling and well-done, I was most engrossed by the people themselves, as if the novel was an in-depth character study. Perrotta is skilled at making each character a real person, with their own unique history and voice. There were certain lines that made me laugh out loud, and some that made me catch my breath. Pure Perrotta.
    • 3/5
      The premise attracted me, but it was very slow, and nothing especially exciting in the plot developed until half way through the 7th of 8 cd's. I was expecting something that examined the rapture-like event a little more closely, but that is my problem and not the author's. No reason to expect that those "leftover" would come to understand exactly what happened with time. I was really torn between the 2 and the 3. Worth the read I suppose, especially is you like sad, unanchored people.
    • 2/5
      Very intriguing characters and their different coping mechanisms dealing with grief. The author built a fascinating world. Sadly the story just spins its wheels with no pay off.
    • 4/5
      The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

      ★ ★ ★ ★

      Description: What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished? 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. Because nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children.

      This is a difficult book for me to review. Not because I didn’t like it because I can’t really pinpoint the exact reason I like it. The plot at times dragged on and the characters themselves were difficult to get into at first. But for some reason, I was sucked in from the beginning, curious to get answers about events and the people. The book didn’t answer all those questions but I was so engrossed by the book that it didn’t even occur to me until the book was over that those questions weren’t answered. I liked the psychological progression of each of the characters – the different ways they handled the sudden Departure through the years. An interesting subject and I learned to love the characters.
    • 3/5
      I found this an enjoyable read, with a story and characters that kept me interested and looking forward to opportunities to read more. It was nothing incredibly deep but held some nice reflections on loss, memory, love...how events change shape in restrospect. I also liked the speculation on the types of religious groups that may form in the wake of a "rapture-like" event. They seemed fairly plausible to me.
    • 2/5
      This is one of the few times the book is not as good as the movie/TV show. The show is much more intense and the characters are developed better believe it or not. I found I liked none of the characters in the book. I felt cheated at the end. Like the author just decided that was a good place to stop. Maybe I was expecting too much.
    • 5/5
      The author's style of narration is exciting. It made me want to know what happens next. Excellent plot and choice of characters. I only wish that there was a satisfying ending to the book. It's one of those open-endings that leave room of lots of speculations. The story for sure sticks with the reader. The HBO adaptation for the new hit series by the same title is slightly different from the original plot in the book. I'm looking forward to watching season 2 on HBO since season 1 ended with the way the book ended.
    • 4/5
      After seeing the HBO version of this book, I had to read the novel. It is different from the series. Not completely different but it has a slightly different "feel" to it. One day, "The Rapture" occurs. Or is really The Rapture? Families are torn apart. Whole families disappear. What does this occurrence do to those left behind? I enjoyed the book a lot and I kind of wish there would be a sequel.
    • 5/5
      In this novel, Perrotta explores a world much like our own, but with the major difference that, in his imagined universe, three per cent of the people of the Earth had suddenly vanished (a few years before the events of the novel) without leaving a trace of evidence as to what caused their disappearance, where they have gone and, most troubling of all- why they have left everyone else behind. While fundamentalist Christians describe the mass disappearance as the Rapture, although the disappeared include proportional numbers of non-Christians, atheists, and unsavory individuals such as Charles Manson, while leaving millions of the presumably "saved" un-Raptured, the general secular term for the event becomes the Sudden Departure. The vast majority left to go on with their lives are the "Leftovers" and this is their story.Unlike the HBO series based on the novel, other than the initial Departure itself, there is not much of the supernatural in this tale. There is the cult of the Guilty Remnants, who believe the End is Near, who take up smoking as a sacrament and a vow of silence and go about annoying people with their morose message. There is also the cult of Holy Wayne, who seems to have supernormal powers of empathy but who turns out to be an all too human con man. And, representing the ordinary man in response to unfathomable tragedy, is Kevin Garvey, mayor of Mapleton, New York, whose family has fallen apart and whose community has also been traumatized by the Departure and its aftermath of emotional stress. It is a tale of loss and grief, and also of hope and the suggestion of recovery.
    • 3/5
      "Just a sec," I told my two-year-old. "I need to get my book."

      "What book?" he asked.

      "My book," I said, showing him the cover.

      "No one is wearing those shoes," he said.

      I confirmed that the shoes were empty.

      "That book is about shoes, and no one is wearing those shoes," he concluded.

      None of this really has anything to do with Tom Perrotta's story. I just like any excuse to share my kids' cuteness.

      As far as the story goes, I can say I enjoyed it, but I wasn't blown away. The idea was awesome: the Rapture (or Rapture-like event) and the confusion and despair of those left behind. I loved that Perrotta left ambiguous just what had happened. Throughout the book, Perrotta presents what might be an explanation---only "good" people were taken, only "bad" people were taken, people were taken whom others had wished away or whom others had forgotten about or begun taking for granted. But as soon as one of these ideas came up, evidence to the contrary appeared. In the end, what happened or the reasons it happened are irrelevant to those remaining: life goes on, and they just have to figure out for themselves what that means.

      This event (at one point referred to as a "harvest," which I find satisfyingly unsettling) opens up the chance for a variety of fresh starts, and I enjoyed reading about the ways in which so many people started over or attempted to stay the course as though nothing had happened. The result is both tragic and hopeful. I particularly enjoyed how the cultish Guilty Remnant evolved throughout the book. I probably ought not to have been surprised about the direction that took, but I was, and I'm glad that I was. I imagine it must have been a lot of fun for Perrotta to play around with all of the possibilities.

      While I enjoyed the book, it never really coalesced into something phenomenal. Not that every book has to (or even could) be phenomenal, I'd just kind of hoped for something a little...I don't know...more. It's kind of how I've felt about all of Tom Perrotta's books, now that I think about it.

      I am glad it wasn't about shoes, though.
    • 5/5
      Tom Perrotta writes about ordinary people, living ordinary lives in suburbia. In his previous books, he’s told the tale of young suburban parents falling into an extra-marital affair (“Little Children”), of a New Jersey student who goes to Yale and learns how to integrate his persona as the son of a lunch-truck driver with that of an Ivy League student (“Joe College”), and of a high school sex-ed teacher whose career is jeopardized after admitting to her students that people may engage in oral sex because they like it (“The Abstinence Teacher”). Even the central dramatic events in these (very good) books are, well, ordinary.“The Leftovers” is different. While it’s again about ordinary people living in suburbia, the novel takes place after a most extraordinary event: the “Sudden Disappearance” in which millions of people around the world have vanished. It’s a rapture-like event, except that unlike the rapture, the people in Perrott’s book just literally disappear rather than flying into the sky, and unlike the rapture, there appears to be no rhyme or reason to which people disappear. Those who do include “Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews and atheists and animists and homosexuals and Eskimos and Mormans and Zoroastrians”, as well as a whole bunch celebrities: “John Mellencamp and Jennifer Lopez, Shaq and Adam Sandler, Miss Texas and Greta Van Susteren, Vladimiar Putin and the Pope.” The Sudden Disappearance happens on Oct. 14, and the multiple references to “Oct. 14” are clearly intended to recall Sept. 11, and the thousands who suddenly disappeared that fateful day.Perrotta’s novel begins three years after the Sudden Disappearance and focuses on the residents of the Mapleton who were left behind—the leftovers. They’ve responded in two ways. Some, like Kevin Garvey, have tried to regain the ordinary lives they led prior to Oct. 14, doing things like running for mayor and joining a softball team, while others, like Kevin’s wife Laurie, adopt extreme and unusual behaviors. Laurie, for example, joins the G.R.—the Guilty Remnants—a cult who members wear white, refuse to speak, and wander around town smoking cigarettes and staring at—“watching”—people outside the G.R. Another cult eschews baths and shoes—allowing just the slight leniency of flip-flops when there’s snow on the ground—while a third gathers around a prophet who offers healing hugs, but also turns out to have a penchant for impregnating underage girls. And then there’s the Rev. Matt Jamison, who is so disappointed that he has been left behind that he makes it his personal mission to out all the infidelities and petty crimes of those who have disappeared.Perrotta makes clear that both types of response to an event like Oct. 14 (and thus, Sept. 11?) are fraught with problems. The craziness of the cults is evident, but so is the craziness of trying to resume an ordinary life: to do so is to behave in ways that can’t be anything but absurd. Here is Perrotta describing a Thanksgiving dinner: “What a beautiful bird, they kept telling one another, which was a weird things to say about a dead thing without a head. And then . . .cousin Jerry had made everyone post for a group photograph, with the beautiful bird occupying the place of honor.” And here, he depicts an announcement at the City Council Meeting: “Congratulations to Brownie Troop 173, whose second annual gingerbread cookie fund-raiser netted over three hundred dollars for Fuzzy Amigos International, a charity that sends stuffed animals to impoverished indigenous children in Ecuador, Boliva, and Peru”. What would pass without comment during a normal time becomes downright ludicrous when huge numbers of people have just evaporated. And yet, the book’s ending makes clear Perrotta’s real belief about how we must respond to tragedy. After an unexpected revelation about the G.R. that wallops the reader, there is a further tidying of loose ends that leaves one with hope about the future of those characters who have determined that they will go on living their ordinary lives.
    • 2/5
      The Leftovers was an unknown book to me until a friend mentioned over coffee one evening this confusing book that had been loaned to him by one of his friends. He mentioned it a couple of times over the next few weeks, and consistently referenced that, while it was an easy read, he just couldn't figure out what it was that the author was up to. Because of my background, though, he had sought his friend's permission to loan the book to me in turn when he finished, because he was interested in my opinion.

      The premise of the Leftovers is this: a Rapture-like event called the Great Departure has occurred, and the story picks up with those who have been (pardon the cliche) left behind. Except this event didn't mesh with the Rapture of Christian theology, because people of all faiths are missing, just as many Christians are left behind. Obviously, the world toys with falling apart, and many individuals do just that. Perrotta centers his story on the citizens of one mid-western U.S. town, Mapleton, and how they survive and move forward.

      Many religious cults begin to manifest in this future world that Perrotta spins, and all of them seem to emerge from a similar motivation: they are all attempting to correct whatever it was that had been missed in the first place. There's the Guilty Remnant, a fascinating idea for a group of characters, consisting of white-clad watchers that smoke cigarettes and mutely stare at you to remind you that you shouldn't be moving on with life or forgetting what they feel God has done. There's the more humorous Holy Wayne, who marries a few teenage girls and manages to get one pregnant with what he predicts will be the miracle child that will save the world. And, there's the more down to earth pastor whom, unbelieving that he has devoted his whole life to God and yet been deserted, begins to self-publish a newsletter exposing all the sins of the people who vanished, as though to find an outlet for his bitterness.

      The Leftovers isn't a heavy read at all, but each evening I picked it up was a struggle. I hefted the book from the coffee table and generally grumbled about how unfair life was and why I should have my head examined for pushing through this thing. In fact, I have difficulty remembering the last time I struggled so much to simply finish a book. This is in contrast, however, to the last twenty pages, which I suddenly found nearly impossible to put down. So, to say that the pacing felt a bit odd to me would be an understatement.

      One of the reviews on the book jacket describes Perrotta as the "Steinbeck of Suburbia," and I'll draw this comparison to Steinbeck's work immediately: this novel is supremely depressing (and this coming from someone who enjoys dystopian concepts). What Perrotta does masterfully is weave thoroughly developed characters who are working, some successfully and some not, through the grief process. I found myself heartbroken for some of them, and the touching descriptions of their most intimate struggles and attempts to cope were perhaps what made the book difficult to take in longer sittings.

      The friend who loaned this book to me? He told me that his friend had told him that, for him, the entire novel came down to the last sentence. He urged me to resist the urge to look forward, and to wait for it to arrive. So I did. My friend also told me that, if that last sentence is really what the novel is working toward, then it didn't have much. I'll just say that it fell hopelessly flat.

      And that, ultimately, is my description of much the book: hopelessly flat. That has a great deal to do with the fact that the reader finishes with absolutely no clue what Perrotta is trying to accomplish here. I've heard others say that he doesn't have an axe to grind, but I'm not so convinced. I would have walked away from the book much more fulfilled had I simply been able to get some glimpse of what axe it was, but Perrotta, perhaps intentionally, leaves it obscured. What seems most likely to me is a treatment of the shortfalls of organized religion, but even this reading runs into difficulties soon enough. I finished this book emotionally wrung out, but more bemused than I have been by a work of literary fiction in some time.

      Perhaps I'm looking too deeply, and Perrotta is simply painting a picture of working through the grief of sudden and enormous loss, and how some always find ways to hope and move forward, while some become twisted and forever fractured, all againt an imaginative premise as a backdrop. If this is the case, then he certainly writes his characters beautifully, but to a shallow end. If this is what Perrotta wanted to accomplish, then he certainly did so, but I found it wanting. I have difficulty recommending this book to anyone.
    • 4/5
      This book has been described as an adult Lord of the Flies, and a modern fable about the disintegration of society. In it the residents, of an upscale high rise residential building descend into anarchy and violence. Ultimately, the building becomes divided into three camps, the upper and most prestigious, and the lower and the middle, the inhabitants of which are seeking to move up. The book describes how "clans broke down into small groups of killers, solitary hunters who built man-traps in empty apartments or preyed on the unwary in deserted elevator lobbies."This was not a pleasant read, but it is compelling, and these days I would say it is just this side of believable. Definitely horrifying and graphic.3 1/2 stars. First Line: "Later as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr. Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months."Last Line: "Laing watched them contentedly, ready to welcome them to their new world."
    • 4/5
      Set itself up very well for a sequel...
    • 2/5
      I was so looking forward to this book - what a great premise! But so many of the characters were incredibly frustrating ( Christine, Nora, need I go on?) and the whole cult sub-plot dragged on and on, and I could not relate at all to Laurie (just up and leaving her daughter like that, particularly when she wasn't even directly touched by loss herself?). Even though i had lost interest in the book by about the mid point, and just wanted it to end, I also found the ending itself abrupt and jarring. A real disappointment.
    • 4/5
      I was really looking forward to this, but I found it almost instantly forgettable
    • 5/5
      Like every Tom Perrotta book I've read so far (or listened to, in this case), I loved it. The characters are complex and real, yet always capable of surprising you. The plot is not action-packed, yet totally engrossing. Highly recommended, especially for forty-somethings and teens, two of his common character types.
    • 4/5
      In the trainwreck of 2020, aspects of Tom Perotta’s The Leftovers feel eerily familiar as people struggle to find a new normal after part of the world’s population disappear without an explanation. Short chapters follow a handful of characters including a small-town mayor, his unhappy wife, and their two teenage children as they deal with their different outlooks and reactions to the Sudden Departure. Perotta does a great job finding the awkwardness in the aftermath, and the humor amidst the loss, but some of his characters fall a bit flat--especially the women. Nonetheless, an interesting read about loss, connections, and moving on that feels timely during COVID-19.
    • 3/5
      Not sure I found the way people's grief played out very plausible.
    • 2/5
      A rare case of the film/tv adaptation being a major improvement on the source material.
    • 3/5
      What a strange, and interesting book...! The rapture occurred, or something like it. Then, everyone is wandering around, not knowing what to do, how to carry on, or even if they are going to have a life anymore. We are left with the 'survivors' of this, while they try and put their lives back together.....or if they even want to.
      Some people have lost a family member or two, while others have lost the ALL. So they flounder around, trying to slap together some kind of 'family unit', like they used to have.

      The premise of this book is fascinating, though its theme of grief and loss are existential. It was told through the relationships and character- building, it was an enjoyable read that doesn't try to tie up all the loose ends in life with neat cliches. I liked it a lot.

      I never once found it boring or "run-on", like other readers have. I didn't think there were too many characters (for once), and I had no problem putting the book down for days, and picking it up and getting right back into it.

      But I couldn't describe this book to you, other than to say it's a good story about acceptance in all its mundane splendor. It's very well written, and I had no problem connecting to the characters, and feeling what they felt. The author is ruthless in his exposure of your secrets, and you won't be able to put it down. It's the most delicate, substantial thing I've read in a very long time. The ending had toe twists I did not expect, did not see coming, and may have made sense to the characters in the novel. I might not have made the same choices, but....I haven't gone through these same things.

      Negative reviews about this novel just might be a reflection of the maturity or depth of the reader. I wouldn't pay too much attention to those. **Be warned, this novel has NOTHING to do with the series on tv, so don't expect it to.
    • 1/5
      This is another example of a literary fiction author using a sci-fi trope to jazz up a story and failing to write either a good sci-fi novel or a good story about suburban malaise. The plot is wholly predictable and none of it is engaging. Disappointing after being pleasantly surprised by Little Children.
    • 4/5
      An interesting idea of what would happen if a significant portion of the world's population randomly disappeared, with no detectable rhyme or reason to whom or why. I enjoyed the idea of various cults developing. I read this after watching the HBO series, so was suprrised by the lack of additional characters and not a lot of plot development. There was no real resolution in the book, while the series tried to supply some.
    • 3/5
      The Leftovers is a character study in the lives of a group of people after a Rapture-like event occurs, leaving those left behind feeling survivor's guilt and other emotions that change the course of their lives.

      I feel that the premise for this story was interesting and was certainly engaged enough to want to learn what happened to the people who were focused on throughout the story, but somewhere along the line it began to feel as though nothing remarkable was to come of any of it. While it was an entertaining read, I closed the book feeling a bit disappointed.
    • 5/5
      This is flat-out fantastic. Take all the best bits of Perrotta's previous genius novels (Election, Joe College, Little Children, The Abstinence Teacher) and mix it with a "Rapture-like event" and... Perrotta's best ever!

      Read it quick, before they turn it into a TV show and it loses its amazingness.
    • 5/5
      This was an interesting book. It grabs you if you are interested in takes on the Rapture. This book focuses on the people who are left behind and how they manage to survive.
      The ending was a real twist.
    • 4/5
      THE LEFTOVERS is about the lives of people in one small town after millions of people all over the world suddenly disappeared. Many people think it was "the rapture," the belief among some Christian religions that all Christian believers will rise into the sky and join Christ before the end of the world. Rather than "the rapture," others call this the "sudden departure" because the phenomenon was random, i.e., it involved non-Christians as well as Christians.The town is full of different reactions: cults develop and some people join them. Others are full of guilt or are upset because they, too, were not taken. One woman in town lost her entire family, and she sometimes seems to be the most confused of all. Many people in the town, people like Kevin, the Mayor, and his daughter Jill, have not decided what happened, but they want to get back to their lives as they were before. They have varying degrees of success.This is a thought-provoking book. If I lost someone like this, if they just up and disappeared, would I figure they were gone forever? Or would I keep the faith that they might come back, that they could suddenly reappear just as they suddenly disappeared?I did not want THE LEFTOVERS to end. Even so, I've decided that it's a 4-star novel, not 5. Why?Although its observations about the human condition, all the possible reactions to life-changing events, is well written and right on, although this book is a page turner, it didn't grab me the way 5-star novels have. It kept me expecting something more.