Story by Tasina Ducheneaux
You’re sitting there one day and all of a sudden people start disappearing all around you. Your children, your best friend, your waitress, some guy on the street – all just gone. The Rapture, just as described in the Bible, has appeared to have finally happened and you didn’t get to go. So now what? Tom Perrotta explores this scenario in his latest work.
“The Leftovers” follows characters from a somewhat average American city as they try to understand and deal with the bizarre event that has led to the disappearance of so many people. Many believe that the Rapture really did occur and it is time for everyone to start living better lives. An entire industry of cults springs up in the wake of the event – some of them legitimate, some of them fronts for charlatans and con men, some of them murderous and insane.
Interestingly, many Christians in the novel do not believe the event was The Rapture – because they didn’t get to go. One former preacher makes it his life’s work to expose the sins of those who did disappear to prove that they were not worthy to be called home to Jesus and thus the event was not really the Rapture.
But for most people the event is yet another thing to survive. Meals need to be cooked, government needs to run, children need to be nurtured and educated, the missing need to be mourned … life goes on. The vast majority are content to leave the philosophizing to others and just continue with their existence, trying to find happiness and fulfillment wherever they may.
What’s interesting about this work is that it is one that examines what happens AFTER a big climactic event. We all read books and see movies where the big earth shattering event occurs, the hero saves the day, the damsel in distress is rescued … but now what? Who cleans up afterward? What happens to all the people affected by the big event? Where do we go from here? Not many works bother to examine the consequences of a major happening.
Readers familiar with Perrotta’s other books and movie adaptations (Election and Little Children being the most noteworthy) will be happy to note that he is still one of contemporary literature’s keenest eyes and biting commentators on modern society. He is not afraid to examine not just the grand heroics and depths of depravity in his characters, but also the small victories and petty, self-serving acts in all of us, set against the backdrop of quintessential America. This is a quiet work of examination of both self and culture that encourages the reader to do their own inner examination. 5/5.
