What if one day random people simply vanished? Apparently, there is a precedent for this in the Bible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapture) - however, the Bible suggests that to be "taken" is a reflection of your true belief in God. Perrotta makes no such claim in his novel. It's random, some people disappear and some people don't and no one understands why.
Perrotta describes this novel as "a post-apocalyptic comedy." The rapture has already occurred once the book begins - so we see people trying to get on with their lives. We see the mundane realities after a life-changing, supernatural event.
Perrotta is pretty good at creating the small details of daily life - and he creates characters who respond in interesting ways. But I don't really appreciate the top-down approach he took in this novel. He created a massive event offstage and then writes of its trickling down affects on all these people's lives. It's very after the fact. I prefer a writer who can create the moment and the characters and the actions they take/thoughts they have, etc. With a book like this I feel like I'm being toyed with in a way.
The characters are this entire novel. There are few philosophical or descriptive passages for instance. So if you don't like the characters it's unlikely that you'll enjoy the book. And I didn't really like how Perrotta created his characters. Again, he takes an after the fact type approach by creating characters from the outside in. Kevin, the central character of this story, is depicted as a father/mayor/widower before you have any sense of who he really is. I suppose this makes sense in a way because everyone in this book is trying to discover how they'll adjust to this new world that was thrust on them by the rapture. Everybody is running to catch up to the new world. But I suspect that Perrotta creates characters in this way because it's a device that works for him. I just happen to think that device creates less interesting characters.
They say that we can learn more from doing something incorrectly sometimes. A mistake can reveal more than a success. I read this book because my book club chose it. I was going to skip it but decided against it and I'm kinda glad. I think the strength of this book is in its mundane details - just small things that Perrotta focuses on. He made me think about that. I've been really stressed out for a while and living in these characters heads took me out of my own. It was escapism for me - which I don't view as a good thing - but in the moment I hope it was okay.
Reading something I didn't like, made me think of what I enjoy most about reading. I like that it's apart from the world at large, moves slower, you have more time to consider what you've seen, and yet since it is rooted in real life you can learn a lot that might be of use to you in your life. At least, that's what I had hoped for before going away to college and majoring in English. I got too wrapped up in the requirements I forgot why I had chosen that goal in the first place. I'm finding that if you get too enmeshed with each step towards a goal, it's so easy to lose your motive, your purpose, and all the value that you hoped to inherit from the process. Unfortunately, I sense that knowing that isn't really helping me avoid that pitfall.
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