The Leftovers

Wow.

“The Leftovers” was a “ignore the kids, bring the book in the car to read at stoplights” kind of adventure. If you are a fan of “Little Children,” or “The Abstinence Teacher,” you need to run to the library or bookstore now.

Centered on the Garvey family three years after what appears to have been The Rapture, the remaining residents of Mapleton are left to ponder their fate. Referred to as the Sudden Departure, millions of people around the globe have up and vanished. The religious left behind refuse to believe it was The Big Event, and a variety of cults spring up – most notably, the Guilty Remnant, a group of white-clad, smoking, non-speakers who travel in pairs and follow Mapleton-ites around town, in an attempt to be that visual reminder that the world has changed forever.

So how do the Garveys manage? I don’t want to give anything away, but husband and wife Kevin and Laurie, along with kids Tom and Jill, each deal with the Sudden Departure differently, especially as the theme of sudden departure revisits them again and again throughout the book.

Loved, loved, LOVED it. Loved the Garveys, as well as the peripheral characters — especially Nora Durst, who thought the thought all mothers think at least once, and then has to deal with the guilt when it comes true.

The Leftovers
Tom Perrotta