Publication Date September 17, 2024
Back in 2020, I read and reviewed Rumaan Alam’s Leave The World Behind and it was a solid five-star read for me. If you missed that one, here’s a quick summary from my review: “Amanda and Clay take their teenage children on a week-long getaway from their home in NewYork City to a luxury vacation rental (think top-of-the-line AirBnB) and find their peace and quiet abruptly ended by the arrival of a frantic older African-American couple (Ruth and G.H.) in the middle of the night. This couple claims they are the owners of the house, and they say they have come to stay in “their” house because a sudden blackout has completely shut down the City. There is iffy cell reception in this quiet rural area, and they are all without cell service, TV, or Internet, so they don’t really know what is going on…then creepy things start to happen.”
In 2023, the movie based on the book came out (Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, wow!) and was well received – for the most part. So I was happy to receive a copy of Alam’s next book Entitlement, from Penguin Group/Riverhead and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
The book features a woman named Brooke Orr, who leaves her work as a teacher in order to go to work for a mega-wealthy man who wants to give his fortune away, and has to deal with the consequences of the effect this career change has on her views and values. Brooke begins to take on some of her boss’s world views (like that she is somehow entitled to the “good things in life” that aren’t generally available to someone living on a teacher’s salary).
Described as “a riveting tale for our new gilded age,” this book is similar to Leave The World Behind in some ways. Both examine the biases, fears, and issues of age, class, and race – and while this one doesn’t seem to have quite as frustrating and ambiguous an ending as both the book and the film of Leave The World Behind, I suspect there may once again be some headscratching about the resolution. Aside from that, and the way I sometimes wanted to just YELL at Brooke for some of her choices, it was a well written and entertaining book. Four solid stars.