The Leftovers

A book reaction

In 7th grade I had a reading teacher who had an overstuffed couch and a giant library in her classroom. Instead of book reports we had to do book reactions. Of note, that same teacher also taught P.E., and occasionally she’d make us meditate after the 10 minute run. It was 1981. Hippie teachers were awesome. In honor of 12-year-old Janet, each week I will try to share a book reaction. Far out, man. Enjoy!

I watched two episodes of The Leftovers on HBO when it first aired in 2014 before I stopped watching, because I wanted to read Tom Perrotta’s novel on which the series is based before moving forward. The Leftovers takes place three years after a global Rapture-like phenomenon known as the “Sudden Departure,” which caused the sudden and unexplainable disappearance of 2% of the world’s population. The story centers around the Garvey family and most of the action takes place in the fictional town of Mapleton, NY.

The series departs quite a bit from the book for obvious reasons–they really had to flesh out more details to turn this fairly slim novel into several one-hour episodes and to prepare for other potential seasons. I enjoyed the book. It was pretty dark and weird, and there really aren’t any answers. But the story was fascinating and Perrotta’s writing is great. And yet, I never finished the series.

Perrotta has a new book, Ghost Town, coming out this month, which follows a middle-aged writer recalling a transformative, grief-filled summer in 1970s suburban New Jersey. I’ll probably read it at some point, but his new book has me mulling over his other works. Should I take a stab at watching The Leftovers? Will it feel dated? Too depressing for this timeline? Any thoughts are appreciated.