I typically rate books by how long I think about them after reading them. For a book that I read and finish without a second thought, I will never give five stars. For a book that sticks with me, permeates my dreams, or becomes a basis for decision making (even for just a while) I view to be five star worthy.This book meets those requirements. Days after reading it (it's a quick read) I am still thinking about it.The only thing I wish is that the book was 410 pages long, written in pages containing 40 lines of 80 characters. The implications would only be understood after reading the book.Highly recommended. An ordinary family man, geologist, and Mormon, Soren Johansson has always believed he'll be reunited with his loved ones after death in an eternal hereafter. Then, he dies. Soren wakes to find himself cast by a God he has never heard of into a Hell whose dimensions he can barely grasp: a vast library he can only escape from by finding the book that contains the story of his life. While this book doesn’t really line up with my own spiritual beliefs, it does present a very interesting version of hell beyond the stereotyped Dante’s Inferno that much of the western Christian cultures have bought into. The first impression of a strange but not especially menacing existence (that is supposed to be only temporary anyway) initially inspires a sense of tentative relief. Then as the magnitude of the assigned task (finding a specific book among billions of books in a library of infinite dimensions) becomes increasingly evident, the reality of hell begins to assert itself. What temporary can mean in relation to eternity is suddenly daunting. Hopelessness, lack of a true faith to believe in, the absence of behavioral boundaries or consequences, and the lack of diversity among the residents may be a reflection of the type of lives many have lived on earth when our naïve thoughts of our own immortality fool us into careless lives. Do we create our own hells, underestimating the effect on our souls of living for the comfortable and the familiar instead of embracing more diverse possibilities of experience and acquaintance? Beginning with a fairly light tone with humorous episodes, the mood subtly darkens as the story-teller relates his own increasing need to find an escape. Eventually he, and we with him, realize the full impact of his situation. Regardless of your belief or lack of belief in a hellish after-life, this book will challenge your viewpoints, and hopefully challenge your earthly behavior in the reflected image of what this literary hell looks like.
What do You think about A Short Stay In Hell (2012)?
A new perspective on life after death - especially as humans tend to underestimate eternity
—spikemandog
A bibliophilic existential horror story. Recommended for reading in October.
—Diva
Interesting perception of hell as a place without diversity.
—fluffyfish
Loved it. Definitely a page turner. Makes you think.
—kesi
