They also think the house is out of their league, though they happily “pantomime ownership” for the time being. Clay means to write a book review for the Times, but he “wanted to be asked to write” it more than actually write it. Amanda does the New York Times crossword on her phone to prevent dementia. The writing is spectacular, and we begin to get to know the vacationers. “The house between him and them was not so large, but the trees absorbed their noise as cotton might blood.” Keen details pull the reader right in: Amanda spends lavishly on a long list of food items, including “Ben & Jerry’s politically virtuous ice cream,” “two tumescent zucchini,” “marbled green and shocking orange” heirloom tomatoes, and “a sandy bundle of cilantro.”Ĭlay stealthily smokes a cigarette on the front lawn, while their kids, Rose and Archie, are in the pool behind the house. Clay, a professor, and Amanda, a media professional, escape New York City to a beautiful rental house on Long Island for a vacation. The beginning of Leave the World Behind, the new novel by Rumaan Alam, is full of promise.
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