The Leftovers – Tom Perrotta

Following the end of the television show on HBO earlier this year, I was interested in the book that started it all.  Loosely adapted as the first season of the show, The Leftovers tells the story of a small town three years after a rapture-like event causes people to disappear.  Some, like Nora Durst, lost their entire family.  Some, like Laurie Garvey, don’t know how to cope with the new world order and leave their family to join a cult.  Others, like Kevin and Jill Garvey, learn to deal with the losses around them.

It had been a few years since the first season of the show aired, so, aside from the characters, I wasn’t too familiar with the beats of the tale.  While there were obviously some liberties taken in the adaptation, the book brings you back to a simpler time, just as everyone is starting to really deal with the events of October 14.

This was my first experience with Perrotta’s work, though it appears that I’ve seen movie adaptations of some of his other books.  I may try to track down some of those other books and see if the experience is as good as this one.