Friday, April 17, 2020

A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck



Soren Johansson, an ordinary, Mormon man always believed he'd be reunited with his loved ones after death. Then he dies. He wakes to find himself cast by a God of a religion he's never heard of into a Hell based off the Library of Babel: "a vast library he can only escape by finding the book that contains the story of his life." In Steven L. Peck's existential novella about theology and philosophy, the author explores a chilling version of eternity, captivating readers from every background and every belief system with the idea that everything everyone believed turns out to be wrong. Though a short read, it haunts you long after you've finished reading it. It questions the concepts of finite and infinite, and it takes a beloved hobby of many—reading—and turns it into a horrifying nightmare. With plenty of dark humor, thought-provoking quotes, and a simple premise, the author forces readers to come to their own conclusions about the cruelty and hope of humanity in the best way possible, and I will forever wonder why I hadn't heard about this book earlier.