It’s not often that you watch a film adaptation of a novel and ask yourself, “wow…was that actually better than the book?” Well, as I sat on my mattress turned couch, I pondered exactly that after indulging in the Netflix adaptation of “Leave the World Behind” originally written by Rumaan Alam. Unlike many of my other book reviews on this blog, I will be etching into deeper “spoiler warning” territory, so if you have not seen this fascinating movie, or read the somewhat questionable book, I suggest you do that first.
About the Story:
First off, let’s talk about the book. In 2020, during the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rumaan Alam released the novel, “Leave the World Behind.” The book became somewhat popular on social media, but didn’t get major recognition until three years later when it became adapted into a Netflix film that took the same social environments by storm. The adaptation closely follows the nearly unchanged plot of the book, so I will explain both simultaneously and then reflect on the differences afterwards.
The story begins as a nuclear family of four, consisting of parents, Amanda and Clay, their teenage son, Archie, and young daughter Rose, as they take a vacation out of New York City to the far edge of Long Island, NY to “leave the world behind,” as the house rental’s website claimed. It is clear from the beginning that the family is heavily reliable on modern technology and struggle as they become disconnected in the imminent disaster ahead. The first day of the vacation goes well, but everything changes when the two homeowners, George and Ruth Washington, show up on the front porch asking to stay at their house because they do not want to return to the city as strange occurrences begin taking place. Both the book and movie rely heavily on the tension of unknowingness as these disconnected family struggle to find solutions to the everchanging world around them.
Reviews of the Story:
Now, let’s talk about what makes these two tales similar and different. Like I said, the film and book are extremely similar as they follow the same plot and conflicts between the families inside the home, though, there are many differences outside this safe haven. In the movie, we see many more scenes outside the home, rather than the book almost entirely taking place on the inside; we see many events that explore the disaster going on around the country in the film, such as a cargo ship crashing into the beach they visit, or when the family of four tries to get back to the city and are cut off by self-driven Tesla cars crashing and clogging up the road. What made the book stand out in comparison to the movie was the fact that many of these events that tell us about the incoming disaster never take place, creating an eerie, cutoff feeling that may be more relatable in a realistic scenario. While this feeling massively adds to the book and tells a fascinating story, I felt that the book was a block and chain, constantly dragging on boring and uninformative scenes that honestly just frustrated me. But on the other hand, the movie was jam-packed with informative action, which while somewhat changing the theme of the story, I still felt far more on edge and intrigued in the characters and overall story, even though I thought I already knew everything that would happen.
From the amazing cinematography to the hidden details littered through the scenes, I would have the say the movie was far more worth my time than the audiobook that was almost three times as long. Though, if there was one thing that the movie got wrong, it was the changes made to the Washington family, whereas in the book they were an endearing old couple, the movie portrays them both as younger, and made Ruth into George’s daughter, I mainly disliked this because I loved the relationship that Ruth and Amanda formed by the end of the book. I am not going to do any direct comparisons between either of the stories’ endings because I overall still heavily encourage you to read and or watch this tale, with a tad more emphasis on the latter.
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