Okay, readers, you know that one book that, no matter how long ago you read it, will stick with you for the rest of your life? Well, I just read that book – novella, actually – and I absolutely have to talk about it.
Please know that this is not necessarily a recommendation (you’ll understand why shortly). This is simply me processing this incredibly well-written and haunting piece. Also, be warned that it is somewhat spoilery. I won’t blame you if you want to read it before checking out my musings.
I frequent several book-related subreddits on Reddit. In the HorrorLit subreddit, the Books That Feel Like This subreddit, and the Suggest Me a Book subreddit, I have seen multiple people recommend A Short Stay in Hell by Steven Peck. Of course, there’s always the caveat that the novella caused them to experience an existential crisis, which I can now say is absolutely true.
A Short Stay in Hell tells the story of Soren Johansson, a Mormon who has recently passed away. Excited for the opportunity to join his loved ones in the afterlife, he’s confused to find himself in Hell. There, he learns that the one true religion is Zoroastrianism (this is reminiscent of comedy skit “Heaven is for Presbyterians” by The Frantics), and everyone present has to experience Hell until they are able to move on to Heaven. Of course, each person’s Hell is different.
Soren finds himself in a Hell based upon the short story “Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borges. The library consists of every book that has ever been written. Soren must read through the books until he finds the story of his life. At that point, he will then be allowed to move on to Heaven.
Doesn’t really sound like Hell, does it? Except every book ever written is more like the Infinite Monkey Theorem. You know, the one that says give an infinite number of monkeys typewriters, and eventually, they’ll produce literature such as Hamlet. Each book has 410 pages with 40 lines of 80 characters on each page. Oh, and did I mention that the total number of books in the library is 951,312,000? That means the library that is now Soren’s home is 7.161,297,369 light-years wide and deep.
In other words, it will literally take Soren eons to find his story.
Fortunately, Soren is not alone in his journey. There are others in this version of Hell. Of course, it’s a homogenous group of white people from America who died in about a 50-year range of time.
The time spent in Hell teaches Soren a lot about himself and the religion he once held dear. He realizes that his wife, who in the Mormon religion is his wife in the afterlife, is not necessarily his one true love. And when he does find that one true love, Rachel, who he spends a thousand years with, she’s cruelly taken from him. He vows to continue searching for her, but as the millenia pass, that doubt grows.
The book starts off so positively, but the situation that leads to the loss of Rachel turns the book into the existential nightmare that readers comment upon. The heartache and despondence you the reader experience while reading A Short Stay in Hell stays with you long after you close the book (or e-reader).
What adds to the haunting nature of the book is Peck’s beautiful writing. You can find a sample of quotes that stood out to readers at https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/18985342. He does an excellent job of posing questions to the reader in such an insightful way, which contributes to the fact that this book will follow you wherever you go.
Mindy Kinnaman 