Leave the World Behind

How do race and class intersect in the crisis of the novel? How have the two families sheltered themselves from matters of race and class?

Do you agree with the novel’s assertion that the bigger picture no longer matters in a postapocalyptic society? Why or why not?

The sharing economy, which the Airbnb represents, promises a community-based way to share goods and services. What is the novel trying to say about the sharing economy and its effects?

The novel refers to Ariadne’s thread several times, which is how Theseus escaped the labyrinth in Greek myth. How is this an apt metaphor for technology in the novel?

Toward the end of the novel, the two families begin to think of themselves as a collective unit. What drove them to this realization? In what ways is it a tenuous connection?

Clay compares himself to Indigenous or prehistoric people several times in the early parts of the novel. Is this comparison apt, or is it a function of his self-delusion?

In literary analysis, the unheimlich usually refers to the point at which both the rational or supernatural world explain a phenomenon, with many ghost stories using this tension to create suspense or dread. How does this novel embody a different kind of unheimlich between the rational and the apocalyptic?

Is Rose better prepared than the other characters for the coming world, as the ending implies? Or is this just wishful thinking on the part of her character?