"The Leftovers" by Tom Perrotta

Here is one of those books I delved into cold turkey.   I knew nothing more of its plot, or theme, than what I was told by the two friends who loaned it to me.  Most likely, if spying it on the shelf myself, it never would have made my selection list; but when it comes to the word-of-mouth recommendation of friends, no greater advertisement is needed.

In ‘The Leftovers”, one learns the story of standard small-town America – represented through the people of typical small town ‘Mapleton’ -  and the continuing struggles they face trying to deal with the cataclysmic event of three years earlier.  The “Sudden Departure” or “the Rapture”, as others initially conceived, stole people at random from their environments, their friends, their coworkers, their families.  This randomness of selection brought dispute of the event being the actual Biblical Rapture from some religious leaders, prompting the ‘Sudden Departure’ appellation to develop as the name of choice.

No one knows why it happened – or even what really took place.  All anyone can agree upon with conviction was people were gone and no one knows why.

In addition to the recommendation from my friend, it was this concept of the Rapture which stirred my curiosity towards the book.  I personally knew of the concept from my church rearing, and at one time could probably cite Scripture references used in support of it.  I also knew bits and pieces of history, recognizing it as a relatively recent concept in church dogma not all churches believed.  What would this author say?  How would he utilize this belief in relaying his tale?   

As I opened, the story begins following the disappearance – three years after the event occurred.  Laurie Garvey, a middle-age housewife of two (college son, Tom and teenage daughter, Lori) has decided to abandon her family and join a cult, the ‘Guilty Remnant’, that sprung up as a response to the Sudden Departure.  Members of this group swear a vow of silence, while wearing all white, smoking cigarettes, and ominously following the citizens of Mapleton, lurking here and there, in an effort to be the guilty conscience of those left behind.

I can’t help but wonder if the inclusion of this nonsensical religious entity is author Tom Perrotta’s knock on religion.  He also includes a pastor who spends his time trying to prove the Sudden Departure was not the Rapture, so as to exercise his own guilt for not being included; as well as a father who develops a following and turns into a corrupt cult leader.

‘Holy Wayne’, the man Laurie Garvey’s son Tom drops out of college to follow.

Perhaps it is a stretch on my part to make such an assumption.  None of the characters ever explicitly declare a “religion is the opiate of the masses” mantra.  And yet, I always find myself musing over this possibility whenever no redeeming religious figure alters the less-than-redeemable ones.

Laurie’s husband, Kevin, serves as mayor of Mapleton; and while he handles the responsibilities of the job aptly (including a town remembrance day to honor the departed) he’s not doing as well in the fatherhood departure, seeing his straight-A teenage daughter turn to rebellion, embracing the loose morals of her best friend Amy – a girl who has moved into their home because of the poor homelife of her own.

Whenever asked to comment on this story, I could easily say I liked the way the characters were drawn.  Each individual came across as three-dimensional and real; and yet, the story became a more difficult matter to discern.  What was this book all about?  What idea was the author trying to convey?  The characters were going nowhere.  Their lives were crumbling around them as they made one terrible decision after the next.  What was the point?  And how did this mysterious ‘Sudden Departure’ play a key?  What was it?  Why did people accept it so easily?

Such was a grand sticking point for me.  I could not envision a reality where people just randomly began to disappear.  It made no sense for the remaining population to simply accept it.  So I was anticipating some type of resolution by the time the book was done.

However, what I discovered when I reached the last page was nothing more than the end.  The book merely ended.  That was it.  There was no point to the tale; there was no resolution to the mystery of the Sudden Departure; there was nothing to explain how people so readily accepted the unparalleled event absent any fear of it happening again.  I did not understand.

When I read another commentary, I grasped what had eluded me on my own, and then I saw where I tripped.  The book had nothing to do with the disappearance of all those people, the Sudden Departure.  One was not meant to understand why it occurred or why it was accepted so readily by the ‘leftover’ people.  It was nothing more than a vehicle used to determine and explore how people react to a traumatic event.

This was a book about the people left.  “The Leftovers”.  

Would they deal effectively with the tragedy that forever changed their lives?  Or would they allow the circumstances to dictate the rest of their existence?

Such a theme is one I can get behind wholeheartedly, as I see it as a message all of us need to remember when difficult times strike our own lives.  However, using the Rapture as a vehicle to reach that point is more distraction than actual help.  A known event (war, disease, any number of real things) would have grounded the story firmer into reality, brandishing its appeal, and creating a more lasting existence for future people in troubling times.