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Entitlement

The exhilarating new novel from the author of Leave the World Behind

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Entitlement

By: Rumaan Alam
Narrated by: Nicole Lewis
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Bloomsbury presents Entitlement by Rumaan Alam, read by Nicole Lewis

From the bestselling author of Leave the World Behind – ‘the book of an era’ (Independent) – a biting tale for our new gilded age

‘A slow-burn tale of connivance and deceit with a knockout ending’ OBSERVER

Money talks. But what if it lies?

An ambitious young Black woman, plotting her way into the world of the one percent. An old white billionaire, facing his own extinction.

He’s attracted to her intelligence, her refusal to be deferential, maybe also her Blackness. She’s drawn to his power and money – and his apparent willingness to share both with her.

But how far is each prepared to go to get what they think they deserve?©2024 Max Revision Ltd (P)2024 Penguin Random House LLC Suspense Thriller & Suspense Money
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Critic reviews

These characters, their money and their morality come together in an absolutely devastating thunderclap (Kiley Reid, Sunday Times bestselling author of Such a Fun Age)
Written with Alam’s customary alertness to how small details ... can reveal a whole life, Entitlement is an engrossing exploration of the pitfalls of privilege and philanthropy
Alam is scathingly funny ... Entitlement invites comparison to Edith Warton’s House of Mirth and Sylvia Plath’s Bell Jar ... Books of this calibre transcend personal experience. I barrelled through – propelled by its wit and unshakeable dread – and promptly read it again. Only then could I luxuriate in its tautness. Mundane conversations distil into dazzling singsong and the whole is expertly held together by its narrator’s sly interjections. Its stylishness belies discipline, for not a word is wasted. Like New York, it will linger despite its apparently cavalier air
The eagerly awaited follow-up to Alam’s brilliant Leave the World Behind, which was made into a Netflix movie by the Obamas, is a searing look at race and class
Alam knows how to develop a character, measuring each stage in Brooke’s corruption carefully against the constants of family and friends. He is also a superb writer about New York, Brooke’s sweaty subway journeys being a particular highlight. And his technique of parachuting into other characters’ points of view – a hallmark of Leave the World Behind – remains a brilliant way of energising dialogue scenes
Alam’s well-honed instinct to endow Brooke with a selfishness that could give any Ottessa Moshfegh protagonist a run for her money – a statement issued here with sincere admiration ... Alam’s writing is never more brilliant than when it ridicules corporate America ...The sort of shrewd, propulsive read the word “zeitgeisty” ought to be reserved for
With his slow-building drama and carefully drawn characters, Alam makes clear he is writing fiction rather than creating content ... Artfully, Alam presents Brooke as neither a victim nor a do-gooder, making her instead more selfish than selfless, more prickly than pricked
Rumaan Alam is a rarity ... It feels like the setup of a familiar drama about workplace power and its abuses, but Alam has something more interesting in mind ... Entitlement – a psychological thriller that subtly turns into a vicious exposé of affluent liberalism – also sneaks up on you, and wins you over
Alam’s writing is loose-limbed, expertly observed, flying along with the engine of a commercial novel and the fine eye of a literary one
Alam’s observation of the attitudes and trappings of contemporary upper-middle-class American life has a delicious precision. His shopping lists are as vivid as poems
All stars
Most relevant
That I could not empathise with any of the characters, if that was the point. Well done.

That I could not empathise with any of the characters, if that was the point. Well done.

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I am a huge fan of the author. I thought his last book was an absolute revelation. This, on the other hand, feels so much less substantial. Only in the last quarter does it come anywhere near to the blistering social commentary that ‘leave the world behind’ thrummed with. In fact, great swaths of the book read like a Kylie Reid novel. an author I also adore, but one who is able to find much more layered meanings in the ephemeral. She is also a lot funnier and more adapt at telling the stories of young black women. On the whole it feels like a missed opportunity.

All the looks none of the feels

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I had high hopes for this having enjoyed the author’s previous book Leave the World Behind. And the theme of the novel has great potential, an exploration of wealth in 21st century Manhattan. The trouble is, it reads more like an earnest polemic than a story. Hardly anything happens and by the time we reach the final denouement, I was struggling to care about any of the characters. It is beautifully read though.

Disappointing

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Deeply implausible set up, deeply unlikeable characters, barely anything happens - this was a strain to sit through. Kept wanting to stop listening - pushed through in the hope it had something more to say or somewhere to go but didn’t get better. Save yourself!

Did not enjoy

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As ever, his well observed nuances of the frailty of sophisticated life in America are brought to full effect in this latest story.

The premise

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