Amber Herbert reviewed A Short Stay in Hell by Steven L. Peck
Borges' "The Library of Babel" meets Ajram's "Coup de Grâce"
4 stars
A Short Stay in Hell is engaging, thoughtful, and existentially dreadful. What it isn't is original. Based on Borges' "The Library of Babel", the inhabitants of this particular Hell must find the book that accurately depicts their life story without a moment missing or a misspelled word, all in an unfathomably vast library. Since the library is made up of texts full of nothing but symbols and gibberish, it seems impossible. A proper, coherent sentence is celebrated as poetry and combed for meaning.
I enjoyed the endless, sprawling, identical sections of the library and the lack of diversity. The themes of sameness were ever present. I also found the Zoroastrianism reality hilarious. Of course no one would have assumed that was the one true religion!
Despite being about one hundred pages long, there was a lot of repetition that felt more like a constant reminder of the fairly …
A Short Stay in Hell is engaging, thoughtful, and existentially dreadful. What it isn't is original. Based on Borges' "The Library of Babel", the inhabitants of this particular Hell must find the book that accurately depicts their life story without a moment missing or a misspelled word, all in an unfathomably vast library. Since the library is made up of texts full of nothing but symbols and gibberish, it seems impossible. A proper, coherent sentence is celebrated as poetry and combed for meaning.
I enjoyed the endless, sprawling, identical sections of the library and the lack of diversity. The themes of sameness were ever present. I also found the Zoroastrianism reality hilarious. Of course no one would have assumed that was the one true religion!
Despite being about one hundred pages long, there was a lot of repetition that felt more like a constant reminder of the fairly shallow themes than an intentional framing device to complement the inescapable monotony.
All in all, it's a worthwhile read for those who appreciate infinite, liminal spaces and existential horror.
