Dear Listener,
I reckon the idea of a rapture-like event has existed for a while. I’m not an expert on The Rapture, or even Christianity for that matter, but I have always been aware of the possibility of waking up to find the world picked of its morally elite. The circumstances of such an event have always been mysterious to me, even pondering the idea of a sky engulfed in flame and menacing creatures torturing the remaining. What seems unanswered is the question as to how long it will take for the world to end after millions of people suddenly disappear. Having never read any Tom Perrotta, I was very welcoming to the idea of starting with his post-rapture story laced with suburban trends. 
I found exactly what I was looking for with The Leftovers. Beginning three years after the Sudden Departure, Perrotta follows a family who have fallen apart due to differing personal beliefs concerning the missing. The son joins a cult, the mother joins a creepier cult, the daughter shaves her head, and the father becomes mayor. The problems of a normal family are magnified by the lack of knowledge concerning why people of all nationalities, religions, and beliefs suddenly disappear. After three years, some people in the town are beginning to build a life that they once knew, equipped with softball leagues and white collar jobs. But as Stephen King wrote in his review for the New York Times, “The Leftovers is, simply put, the best Twilight Zone episode you never saw.” While some are searching once again for suburban happiness, there is a group known as the Guilty Remnant who stalk the town’s most morally questionable while wearing all white and maintaining a vow of silence. And just like the Twilight Zone, Perotta juxtaposes the wrecked with the rebuilt so beautifully, you can’t help but shut the book and giggle.
As if a fun, different read weren’t enough, Perrotta mapped out just how people would react to such a change. While reading it, I felt if there were such an event like the Sudden Departure, everything that happened in the novel probably wouldn’t be that far off. It just wasn’t that far-fetched, which really is quite terrifying. I’m relieved to know Harold Camping was wrong. Let’s see how wrong the Mayans are, huh?
You can read Stephen King’s review here. Below is a song by a duo from San Francisco called Two Gallants that deals with a rapturous breakup.
by Simon
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