Review: The Leftovers

The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



I wanted to read this book because I really enjoyed The Leftovers television series. However, when I go from TV to book (or vice versa) I tend to look at the two as completely different beasts, which definitely holds true for Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers.

The Leftovers television series certainly finds its roots in the book, but the series has a number of introduced elements which make it more suspenseful - Kevin is a police officer, more development for Pastor Matt Jamison, there's more of a conspiracy afoot, Jill is more of a rebel.

The book, by contrast, is comparatively bland. It is more a study on what people would do when faced with an extraordinary event, how they continue relating to others, how people return to normal life without it really feeling normal at all. This, in itself, is done really really well. That said, the book isn't without its dramatic moments, and there are some points where I gasped because they would just creep up on you out of the blue.

I listened to the audiobook, which I enjoyed. Dennis Boutsikaris is very easy to listen to. (5/5)



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