HBO's The Leftovers

Few 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 Studies
Borenstein’s book successfully analyzes the unique and mesmerizing Leftovers, unpacking issues like melancholy, religion, and morality. Moreover, like the show itself, one of the greatest traits of this monograph is its ability to do it with a way that is simultaneously beautiful, mysterious, and delicate. -- Drew Morton, Texas A&M University-Texarkana
In this scintillating book, Borenstein pulls off a remarkable accomplishment, using an initially underrated and overlooked HBO series to illuminate the complex relationships between several major themes. These include the logic of melancholia and mourning, the unique potentials of the serial narrative form, attitudes to death and loss, and the enduring power of apocalyptical thought. Applying a highly creative synthesis of Freudian psychoanalysis, adaptation theory, Queer Theory, and biblical hermeneutics in an astute close reading of every episode of The Leftovers, Borenstein consistently generates insights of great profundity. Yet he wears his theory lightly and his text is never anything less than engaging, accessible, witty and, at times, quite moving. Put simply, this is cultural analysis at its very best. -- Stephen Hutchings, University of Manchester