Description
Book SynopsisThis book unpacks and analyzes the central themes of sacrifice, melancholy, apocalypticism, and the nature of family and home in HBO’s The Leftovers to demonstrate the key role it played in the development of early twenty-first-century television. Eliot Borenstein argues that the story of The Leftovers is the most sustained exploration of loss ever to appear on American television and subverts the expectations of viewers who look to prestige dramas as puzzles to solve by providing no clear answers the mysteries most central to the show’s plot. Instead, Borenstein posits, the series endeavors to provide more nuanced and realistic portrayals of the melancholy that occurs when people’s lives are unmoored, leavening an inherently depressing experience with absurdity and moments of grace.
Trade ReviewFew shows in the history of television have been as mesmerizingly brilliant as The Leftovers, and few have left viewers with as much to unpack, discuss, and contemplate long after their sudden departure. Borenstein does a wonderful job with these tasks, commemorating the show with a welcome, thoughtful companion.
-- Jonathan Gray, University of Wisconsin-Madison; author of
Television Entertainment and
Television StudiesTable of ContentsChapter One: The Lessons of Lost, or, Serialization and Its Discontents
Chapter Two: Suburban Rapture: From Book to Series
Chapter Three: Melancholy, Baby
Chapter Four: The Shaman of Melancholia
Chapter Five: No Child Left Behind
Chapter Six: Giving Up Baby
Chapter Seven: Killing the Apocalypse
Chapter Eight: The Wrong Kevin
Chapter Nine: Letting the Mystery Be
