As is usually the case when a book is adapted, a few of us wondered, in the 4th Estate office, how true to the book The Leftovers HBO adaptation would be. The first question was, ‘who will be cast?’ An all-star cast was delivered to us. Second question: ‘do you think the disappearances will be limited to Mapleton, like in Tom Perrotta’s novel, or would the rapture be worldwide?’ The latter is true, and, to our delight, this aspect of the novel, like many others, is done so well that there were no grumbles the following day that ‘the book is so much better, they shouldn’t have bloody touched it’. Read more…
When reading The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta, I found myself haunted by the notion of those around me disappearing in a split second. Even once I’d accepted the ‘Sudden Departure’, the sense of unease it had provoked rooted itself in my mind. With loved ones disappearing into the unknown and those left behind in turmoil, the severed contact between the lost and the leftover is deeply unnerving. Read more…
‘Like Six Feet Under this is an adult drama, an examination of love and loss that is unafraid to take risks while, as the title suggests, always keeping the focus not on what happened but on what it means to those left behind … The Leftovers might not be overly concerned with providing straightforward answers, but as a celebration of the human condition few current series have it beat.’
