The Leftovers

　　2011年紐約時報年度矚目好書
　　2011年亞馬遜網路書店年度好書
　　2011年華盛頓郵報年度矚目小說
　　2011年NPR十大最佳小說

    面對生命的無常，你，準備好了嗎？

    請想像這樣的場景：前一刻，還牽著手的伴侶、正在聊天的家人突然一聲不響地從地表消失；下一刻，你要如何面對已經空了的手心、倏然寂靜的屋子，以及少了他們的「日常生活」？

　　以上，正是在一次「Sudden Departure」事變中，無預警失去許多親朋好友的梅普爾頓市民們所要面對的難題。對他們而言，世界早已隨著那些消失的人們崩毀、顛覆。

　　眼看著市民們生活失序，新市長Kevin Garvey希望能協助大家減輕哀痛，給予他們活下去的新希望，但大家不知道的是，市長的家庭也早已因為變故而四分五裂……。

    Tom Perrotta這部發人深省的作品，如實地刻劃出當平凡人遇到突如其來的變故時，即便哀傷逾恆，心中仍想牢牢抓住某種信念的強烈渴望。

 (文/博客來編譯)

　　A New York Times Notable Book for 2011
　　A Washington Post Notable Fiction Book for 2011

　　What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished?  Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world turned upside down?

　　That’s what the bewildered citizens of Mapleton, who lost many of their neighbors, friends and lovers in the event known as the Sudden Departure, have to figure out. Because nothing has been the same since it happened—not marriages, not friendships, not even the relationships between parents and children.

　　Kevin Garvey, Mapleton’s new mayor, wants to speed up the healing process, to bring a sense of renewed hope and purpose to his traumatized community. Kevin’s own family has fallen apart in the wake of the disaster: his wife, Laurie, has left to join the Guilty Remnant, a homegrown cult whose members take a vow of silence; his son, Tom, is gone, too, dropping out of college to follow a sketchy prophet named Holy Wayne.  Only Kevin’s teenaged daughter, Jill, remains, and she’s definitely not the sweet “A” student she used to be.  Kevin wants to help her, but he’s distracted by his growing relationship with Nora Durst, a woman who lost her entire family on October 14th and is still reeling from the tragedy, even as she struggles to move beyond it and make a new start.

　　With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta has written a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.