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עולם הסוף
בן מנדלסון הוא סופ-ר, אדם המתמחה בכתיבת סופים בעבור יוצרים שאינם מסוגלים להביא את עבודתם לכדי גמירה. חמישה עשר חודשים לאחר מותה של מריאן, אשתו, בתאונה מחרידה הוא מחליט לשים קץ לחייו בעולם הזה ולצאת למשימה אורפיאית - מסע חיפוש אחריה ברחבי העולם האחר, עולם שהוא הגרסה החילונית של החיים לאחר המוות, עולם שנאספו אליו כל מתי העולם הזה, מאחרון האלמונים ועד ענקי היוצרים דוגמת שייקספיר, מוצרט ואורסון ולס. אולם נדמה שמריאן איננה שם, אלא שדווקא בתל אביב, בעולם שבן הותיר מאחוריו. בצר לו הוא פונה לבלש פרטי לא שגרתי ומבקש ממנו להתחקות על עקבותיה.
התאבדותו של בן וחיפושיו אחר אשתו מציתים בשני העולמות שרשרת של מאורעות שמעורבים בהם בני משפחתו של בן, משפחתה העלומה של מריאן, סיפורי אהבה רבים ומגוונים וסודותיו של העולם האחר.
בעולם הסוף נותן אופיר טושה גפלה תשובה מרעננת על השאלה מה פירוש לא לחוש זר בשום ז´אנר ספרותי קיים. בכתיבתו הוא יונק ממסורת ענפה ומסגנונות שונים - מן הפרוזה הקנונית ומן הספרות הפנטסטית, מספרות ההרפתקאות ומספרות הבלש. מכל אלה הוא מרכיב יצירה מקורית, שופעת חידושים והמצאות, רומן העוסק רובו ככולו באהבה על שלל צורותיה ומנעדה הרחב, מאהבה לספרות ולשפה ועד לאהבת בשר ודם שהמוות הוא רק מכשול אחד מכל המכשולים הנקרים בדרכה.
עולם הסוף הוא ספרו הראשון של אופיר טושה גפלה.
התאבדותו של בן וחיפושיו אחר אשתו מציתים בשני העולמות שרשרת של מאורעות שמעורבים בהם בני משפחתו של בן, משפחתה העלומה של מריאן, סיפורי אהבה רבים ומגוונים וסודותיו של העולם האחר.
בעולם הסוף נותן אופיר טושה גפלה תשובה מרעננת על השאלה מה פירוש לא לחוש זר בשום ז´אנר ספרותי קיים. בכתיבתו הוא יונק ממסורת ענפה ומסגנונות שונים - מן הפרוזה הקנונית ומן הספרות הפנטסטית, מספרות ההרפתקאות ומספרות הבלש. מכל אלה הוא מרכיב יצירה מקורית, שופעת חידושים והמצאות, רומן העוסק רובו ככולו באהבה על שלל צורותיה ומנעדה הרחב, מאהבה לספרות ולשפה ועד לאהבת בשר ודם שהמוות הוא רק מכשול אחד מכל המכשולים הנקרים בדרכה.
עולם הסוף הוא ספרו הראשון של אופיר טושה גפלה.
429 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
32 people are currently reading
1153 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 104 reviews
July 12, 2013
What started out so promising, full of cleverness and interesting mysteries, turned out being something I just wasn't enjoying and thus I had to put it down. There's just too much out there that spending time on something just to finish it will no longer be an activity I pursue.
Ben Mendelssohn commits suicide to be with his wife, Marian, who died a year earlier. He discovers a world, the Other World, that is both similar and completely different from our own world, but completely different from anything any religion has ever predicted.
It was impressive that Gafla is able to handle this topic without any religion at all, except maybe a passing mention at the beginning when Ben laughs at those around him for their misconceptions of the afterlife.
What's also impressive is Gafla's unique humor and creativity. Ben is an epilogist, which is a word that exists but not (that I've found) with the meaning that is given in this book. He rewrites endings, mostly to popular books. He's a genius at his job and saves even the best of writers from poor endings (I guess Stephen King could use his services eh?). In other words, he's a "righter." I loved the clever little details that pop up such as this, it's also what sold me from the beginning when I could have easily moved on to something else.
The World of the End is also unique in that it follows Ben's pursuit of his wife, but alternates between random chapters following for instance the life of a photo or someone from the living world. These began as interesting and fun interludes, but they also take away from the narrative and make it a bit scattered and less cohesive of a narrative, at least until later in the book when they start to fit together a bit more ... well some of them.
As we enter back into Ben's new world, we discover this new world that is extremely well put-together. From the multi-wheel to the godget, we find out more and more of this world of Ben's death, but at the expense of Ben's character. All we know is that he's passionate about finding his wife, but that's about it. We learn about this interesting world, but it gets really hard to care at all about what happens.
And while the world is interesting, some of the things people do is just odd and mildly to deeply depressing. For instance, people don't have the need to eat, but they can and you have to do so immediately or you lose the desire to eat entirely. But this also goes for just about any other vice you want so you have people deliberately falling back into bad habits.
The following are more spoilery, so you've been warned:
I just found these impossibly depressing. Yeah, people do feel this way and they probably would in such a world as Gafla has presented. But like I said, it depressed me to no end. Maybe people just change, but maybe it's because they've failed to work at it and they're selfish. The latter is more how it felt in this novel and its affect on other people, purely out of selfishness, is sad ... and did I mention depressing.
Maybe I'm a romantic (okay, I definitely am), but this novel just wasn't for me. I want to look forward to happiness, not more misery and sadness.
I fully acknowledge that I may be a unique case for this novel. As I mentioned, it's full of unique, clever, and even beautiful ideas and writing. I didn't enjoy it in the end, but then again I did enjoy plenty of things, it's all the pieces together that didn't work for me. I'm sure plenty will be highly impressed and enjoy it very much.
2 out of 5 Stars (did not finish, but enjoyed certain aspects)
Ben Mendelssohn commits suicide to be with his wife, Marian, who died a year earlier. He discovers a world, the Other World, that is both similar and completely different from our own world, but completely different from anything any religion has ever predicted.
It was impressive that Gafla is able to handle this topic without any religion at all, except maybe a passing mention at the beginning when Ben laughs at those around him for their misconceptions of the afterlife.
What's also impressive is Gafla's unique humor and creativity. Ben is an epilogist, which is a word that exists but not (that I've found) with the meaning that is given in this book. He rewrites endings, mostly to popular books. He's a genius at his job and saves even the best of writers from poor endings (I guess Stephen King could use his services eh?). In other words, he's a "righter." I loved the clever little details that pop up such as this, it's also what sold me from the beginning when I could have easily moved on to something else.
The World of the End is also unique in that it follows Ben's pursuit of his wife, but alternates between random chapters following for instance the life of a photo or someone from the living world. These began as interesting and fun interludes, but they also take away from the narrative and make it a bit scattered and less cohesive of a narrative, at least until later in the book when they start to fit together a bit more ... well some of them.
As we enter back into Ben's new world, we discover this new world that is extremely well put-together. From the multi-wheel to the godget, we find out more and more of this world of Ben's death, but at the expense of Ben's character. All we know is that he's passionate about finding his wife, but that's about it. We learn about this interesting world, but it gets really hard to care at all about what happens.
And while the world is interesting, some of the things people do is just odd and mildly to deeply depressing. For instance, people don't have the need to eat, but they can and you have to do so immediately or you lose the desire to eat entirely. But this also goes for just about any other vice you want so you have people deliberately falling back into bad habits.
The following are more spoilery, so you've been warned:
I just found these impossibly depressing. Yeah, people do feel this way and they probably would in such a world as Gafla has presented. But like I said, it depressed me to no end. Maybe people just change, but maybe it's because they've failed to work at it and they're selfish. The latter is more how it felt in this novel and its affect on other people, purely out of selfishness, is sad ... and did I mention depressing.
Maybe I'm a romantic (okay, I definitely am), but this novel just wasn't for me. I want to look forward to happiness, not more misery and sadness.
I fully acknowledge that I may be a unique case for this novel. As I mentioned, it's full of unique, clever, and even beautiful ideas and writing. I didn't enjoy it in the end, but then again I did enjoy plenty of things, it's all the pieces together that didn't work for me. I'm sure plenty will be highly impressed and enjoy it very much.
2 out of 5 Stars (did not finish, but enjoyed certain aspects)
September 10, 2019
Somehow I'm always drawn to the depressing ones ...
Ofir Touche Gafla created an intriguing world for 'life' after death; logical and a bit disturbing. His narration changes between scenes from this world and the world of the living. We follow an editor for endings who shoots himself to be with his dead wife, a nurse whose only purpose in life is to help others to die and who finds herself unrealistically attracted by a man in the window of a fitness studio, a couple who gets to know each other via Internet and their passion for Salman Rushdie, but can't get together in real life, and two brothers who have been abused in their childhood and lead successful but closed off lives as adults. All those (and other) stories are interwoven in tiny moments, small connections in a greater picture about the search for personal happiness in lonely lives.
Not to forget the chapter told in the POV of a photograph and several chapters in the forest of family trees.
I have never read something similiar. The structure, innovation and weirdness of the whole setup convinced me completely. I loved it how the pieces fell together, how the reader was in possession of a vital piece of information that none of the protagonists knew and the knowledge thereof built suspense.
The characters are often flawed and depressed/depressing. The atmosphere is subdued, there is no happy go lucky anywhere, a small flame of hope the most. This is absolutely no feel good book. At times the losses and situations described therein struck home, so that I had to lay the book aside and take a deep breath for a moment. Yet the uncomfortable feeling was by far superimposed by the intrigue for this original approach.
I would love to read more of this exceptional author, unfortunately his other books seem not to have been translated into a language I can read.
Ofir Touche Gafla created an intriguing world for 'life' after death; logical and a bit disturbing. His narration changes between scenes from this world and the world of the living. We follow an editor for endings who shoots himself to be with his dead wife, a nurse whose only purpose in life is to help others to die and who finds herself unrealistically attracted by a man in the window of a fitness studio, a couple who gets to know each other via Internet and their passion for Salman Rushdie, but can't get together in real life, and two brothers who have been abused in their childhood and lead successful but closed off lives as adults. All those (and other) stories are interwoven in tiny moments, small connections in a greater picture about the search for personal happiness in lonely lives.
Not to forget the chapter told in the POV of a photograph and several chapters in the forest of family trees.
I have never read something similiar. The structure, innovation and weirdness of the whole setup convinced me completely. I loved it how the pieces fell together, how the reader was in possession of a vital piece of information that none of the protagonists knew and the knowledge thereof built suspense.
The characters are often flawed and depressed/depressing. The atmosphere is subdued, there is no happy go lucky anywhere, a small flame of hope the most. This is absolutely no feel good book. At times the losses and situations described therein struck home, so that I had to lay the book aside and take a deep breath for a moment. Yet the uncomfortable feeling was by far superimposed by the intrigue for this original approach.
I would love to read more of this exceptional author, unfortunately his other books seem not to have been translated into a language I can read.
April 16, 2013
Most stories, even when very interesting or emotional or intellectually challenging, are often just variations on a theme. Only once in a while, there comes a book that isn't like anything you've seen before. The World of the End is one of those originals.
February 22, 2015
I don't know how it's possible for a work to be both cynical and twee at the same time, but here we are. The story has an interesting premise and, at first, an ambiance of surreal mystery that put me in mind of Murakami. The prose is medium-pretentious but has a hypnotic quality that made it easy to just go along for the ride. But the actual answers to all the questions raised end up unsatisfying - variously: unoriginal, contrived, too long in coming, or totally irrelevant to the overall thrust of the story. Protagonist Ben is impressively self-absorbed, never seems to get a clue, and never faces much in the way of consequences for it; he's just a boring and mildly irritating person to be around and there isn't much point to it. Throw in some weird sexual politics (a shocking number of female characters are consumed with mindless lust for Ben; gay men in the afterlife have their own suburb revolving exclusively around promiscuity, giant sculptures of dicks, and stupid puns on the word "gay;" an obvious rapist with an obviously false sob story about his past which Ben eats up and never questions, going so far as to insist the guy really loves his victim) and you get... Well, this. Swing and a miss.
February 20, 2021
Quirky and original. Has the feel of Magnolia if it was partially set in the afterlife.
November 16, 2013
This book was one of the most amazing books I've read, period. I don't know why it's deemed 'sci-fi' exactly except that maybe it's not easy to put into a category and that can be a catch all type of category especially for a book set in the afterlife. I see so much in this story. I had to slow my reading down to take it all in. So many metaphors about the human condition are apparent in the Other World. Especially the last chapters where we find out what happened to Marian. I won't reveal what I think is being conveyed because it may ruin the story for others. The only disappointment I have is that his other books are not in English yet. I don't know a lot about Judaism but I can see some philosophical ideas running strong in the book. I found it to be very emotionally engaging and beautifully, almost poetically, written in many parts.
July 3, 2013
There is a GIVEAWAY for this book open to U.S. residents until July 26. Click the link to see how to enter.
The World of the End was a novel I started reading not knowing what to expect, and once I was about thirty percent in, I realized I couldn’t put it down. It’s intricate, deep, thoughtful, emotional and topped off with some wonderful writing. No wonder it has won two well-deserved awards. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before. That’s, perhaps, the best thing I can say about it. It is truly unique and is so powerfully thought provoking that is has stuck with me well after I finished it.
Read my full review (and giveaway details) here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/07/...
The World of the End was a novel I started reading not knowing what to expect, and once I was about thirty percent in, I realized I couldn’t put it down. It’s intricate, deep, thoughtful, emotional and topped off with some wonderful writing. No wonder it has won two well-deserved awards. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever read before. That’s, perhaps, the best thing I can say about it. It is truly unique and is so powerfully thought provoking that is has stuck with me well after I finished it.
Read my full review (and giveaway details) here:
http://www.bookwormblues.net/2013/07/...
October 11, 2024
אם אתם אוהבים בניית עולם עשירה, קווי עלילה מצטלבים וריבוי נקודות מבט, הברקות מילוליות ורעיונות מקוריים, לצד הומור מורבידי והרבה תרבות פופ, זה הספר בשבילכם.
מצד שני - אל תחפשו יותר מדי עומק בדמויות (די מתבקש עם ריבוי הדמויות שמופיעות כאן). נכון, יש כאן המצאות מקוריות כמו הרכב השמיימי, אבל קשה לצפות מאיתנו להתרגש בפעם העשירית שהוא מתואר בהתלהבות. לפעמים אפשר לוותר קצת על המיוחדות (מקווה שיש מילה כזו) לטובת קצת רגש.
די מרשים לספר ראשון של סופר. אחפש ספרים אחרים שלו.
מצד שני - אל תחפשו יותר מדי עומק בדמויות (די מתבקש עם ריבוי הדמויות שמופיעות כאן). נכון, יש כאן המצאות מקוריות כמו הרכב השמיימי, אבל קשה לצפות מאיתנו להתרגש בפעם העשירית שהוא מתואר בהתלהבות. לפעמים אפשר לוותר קצת על המיוחדות (מקווה שיש מילה כזו) לטובת קצת רגש.
די מרשים לספר ראשון של סופר. אחפש ספרים אחרים שלו.
December 3, 2020
I've read this book in its original language (Hebrew) and gave it 4/5 just for being so depressing.
I had no previous knowledge of this writer but the book is well written and very engaging.
All in all, this book is depressing! Even though it's main theme as i perceived it is "letting go".
Leaving out the suicidal storyline, i couldn't stop thinking about the TV-show "The good place" which is another version of a non-religious (though it somewhat is) world-after, and that helped me visualize the ends world a lot. The author touched all the cool points i guess in the afterlife, a celebrity, going back in time, meeting loved ones and forgotten ones. A cool street mapping throughout time system, restore labs and
Ok.. Jumping out of a high building and floating is also cool.
The story itself is a failed love story with a couple of twist and a nice conjunction of several characters and another weird side story that also connects at some irrelevant points with the main story.
This book was recommended to me and I'll admit this is not something i would pick myself for reading, but overall i had a good reading and it was OK!
I had no previous knowledge of this writer but the book is well written and very engaging.
All in all, this book is depressing! Even though it's main theme as i perceived it is "letting go".
Leaving out the suicidal storyline, i couldn't stop thinking about the TV-show "The good place" which is another version of a non-religious (though it somewhat is) world-after, and that helped me visualize the ends world a lot. The author touched all the cool points i guess in the afterlife, a celebrity, going back in time, meeting loved ones and forgotten ones. A cool street mapping throughout time system, restore labs and
Ok.. Jumping out of a high building and floating is also cool.
The story itself is a failed love story with a couple of twist and a nice conjunction of several characters and another weird side story that also connects at some irrelevant points with the main story.
This book was recommended to me and I'll admit this is not something i would pick myself for reading, but overall i had a good reading and it was OK!
April 16, 2018
4.5/5
An interesting book set in the afterlife. I particularly loved the little twists and turns splattered throughout the book.
If not for a slightly anticlimactic() and draggy ending , this would have been added to my 5 star collection.
A fun ride, despite being one of the weirdest books I've read.
An interesting book set in the afterlife. I particularly loved the little twists and turns splattered throughout the book.
If not for a slightly anticlimactic() and draggy ending , this would have been added to my 5 star collection.
A fun ride, despite being one of the weirdest books I've read.
January 23, 2019
Complex, strange, ultimately rewarding
Want to read
July 14, 2018Thanks Connor for the book recommendation.
August 15, 2017
Well... I didn't love it. Ever since this book has come out, I've been hearing how it is "fun", "funny", "original", "inventive", and how anyone who didn't like it was a boring academic. Well, I'd rather be called a boring academic every day of my life and not read this book again. I didn't find it funny, or fun, or original, and if occasionally it was inventive, its inventions needed pages-long explanations that made me want to scream okay-okay-okay enough with this already. It is written in a style that is way too flowery for my taste, with each and every character speaking in the same long and winding sentences that keep making one more simile, and one more, and one more adjective, and one more, before finally ending with yet another last effort that adds nothing to the thing being said (I tried to demonstrate here but I don't think I did justice to the style of this book). I may not be a very good judge of human nature, but not one of the characters, relationships, emotions or actions in this book made any sense to me. It was a continuous WAIT WHAT? experience. Towards the end there was one interesting I-see-what-you-did-there moment that was somewhat redeeming but overall, no.
April 14, 2013
4.5 Stars
Review will be posted on the RT Site and Magazine in June/July
Brief thoughts...
At first I thought it was trying to be too clever, but then I enjoyed it immensely. It's a book that will make you think and isn't for light reading, however there's humor and quirks throughout the novel to prevent it from being too too serious. All in all it was great and I could see why it would win the Geffen Award and Kugel Award.
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/magazine...
Review will be posted on the RT Site and Magazine in June/July
Brief thoughts...
At first I thought it was trying to be too clever, but then I enjoyed it immensely. It's a book that will make you think and isn't for light reading, however there's humor and quirks throughout the novel to prevent it from being too too serious. All in all it was great and I could see why it would win the Geffen Award and Kugel Award.
http://www.rtbookreviews.com/magazine...
July 24, 2013
4 star read, 5 star epilogue.
Such an unusual story. A love story set in the fantastical Other World. A story about loss and connectivity, where everything you do affects someone else.
Absolutely loved it and highly recommend.
Such an unusual story. A love story set in the fantastical Other World. A story about loss and connectivity, where everything you do affects someone else.
Absolutely loved it and highly recommend.
October 11, 2024
ספר מעולה!
הרעיונות לגבי החיים שלאחר המוות מרתקים; בניית עולם מעניינת ומקורית.
כתיבה יפיפיה.
החלק האחרון בספר הופך להיות *מאוד* פילוסופי ודורש להשקיע מחשבה.
בסופו של דבר נהניתי מאוד מקריאת הספר.
[הקראה קולית ב"עברית" טובה גם כן].
הרעיונות לגבי החיים שלאחר המוות מרתקים; בניית עולם מעניינת ומקורית.
כתיבה יפיפיה.
החלק האחרון בספר הופך להיות *מאוד* פילוסופי ודורש להשקיע מחשבה.
בסופו של דבר נהניתי מאוד מקריאת הספר.
[הקראה קולית ב"עברית" טובה גם כן].
July 28, 2014
Absolutely loved this in every way. Kellie should recommend all my books.
May 21, 2025
Nobody truly knows what awaits us in the Great Beyond–could be Heaven, could be Hell, could be nothing. In the World of the End, the author paints a picture that is utterly bonkers, with personalized weather control devices, a Blockbuster with videos of your life, home addresses based on date of death, MARILYN MONROE… but who knows? Maybe that’s how it really is. That’s why I find this idea of imagining the afterlife so intriguing and fun.
The writing style is very good, and elements of the plot are exciting, but I didn’t care for the overall structure. Plot points are introduced sideways, so you don’t see them coming. I generally like this approach but in moderation. In this case, every chapter reads as an independent short story until revealing the connecting thread only in the end. At some point, tying together a collection of short stories in order to follow the plot becomes mentally taxing.
I understand this was the first novel by this author, and it very much reads like he didn’t have an editor. It felt very stream-of-consciousness, adding side journeys as they came and putting the pieces together as an afterthought. Once the final secret behind the mystery was revealed, I found it underwhelming. After climbing 350 pages up a mountain, I expect a good view!
A must-read? No, absolutely not. But it is better than your typical vacation book, and if you are thirsty for something imaginative, this book might just fill your cup.
The writing style is very good, and elements of the plot are exciting, but I didn’t care for the overall structure. Plot points are introduced sideways, so you don’t see them coming. I generally like this approach but in moderation. In this case, every chapter reads as an independent short story until revealing the connecting thread only in the end. At some point, tying together a collection of short stories in order to follow the plot becomes mentally taxing.
I understand this was the first novel by this author, and it very much reads like he didn’t have an editor. It felt very stream-of-consciousness, adding side journeys as they came and putting the pieces together as an afterthought. Once the final secret behind the mystery was revealed, I found it underwhelming. After climbing 350 pages up a mountain, I expect a good view!
A must-read? No, absolutely not. But it is better than your typical vacation book, and if you are thirsty for something imaginative, this book might just fill your cup.
January 18, 2018
I picked up this book to stretch my reading prowess, both by moving away from traditional fantasy and English writers as the book was originally written in Hebrew. There is still a sci-fi and fantasy feel to the novel; it is after all dealing with the world that comes after death but it is by far a literary read rather than a true fantasy much like how Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein is sometimes described as the first science fiction novel but is very much a traditional romantic novel.
Ofir Touche Galfa introduces us to The Other World early in the novel after our main protagonist, Ben Mendelssohn, commits suicide fifteen months after his wife dies in a tragic accident. There's a element a psychological thriller and a varied cast of side characters (including a chapter from the POV of a photograph) who's connection to Ben may not be clear until the end of the novel.
It's a novel that will give you pause for thought; a thought about life and death, love and marriage, mortality and immortality. Gafla touched on these fascinating themes in a unique way and you will come out questioning your own thoughts on these themes, which is truly the aim of any author of literary works.
Ofir Touche Galfa introduces us to The Other World early in the novel after our main protagonist, Ben Mendelssohn, commits suicide fifteen months after his wife dies in a tragic accident. There's a element a psychological thriller and a varied cast of side characters (including a chapter from the POV of a photograph) who's connection to Ben may not be clear until the end of the novel.
It's a novel that will give you pause for thought; a thought about life and death, love and marriage, mortality and immortality. Gafla touched on these fascinating themes in a unique way and you will come out questioning your own thoughts on these themes, which is truly the aim of any author of literary works.
November 29, 2023
I had not heard of this book before, so when I read the premise and reviews, it really sounded fun and interesting. Unfortunately, it turned out being something I just wasn't enjoying. I rarely stop books in the middle as they always have some redeeming factor, but there is too much out there on my list to read and never enough time. I put it down. Written very well, so the writing was not an issue. It just didn't captivate my interest. Clearly, others have loved it, so don't take my word for it!
January 19, 2025
OMG! This is the book I've always wanted.
Have you ever felt like a book was written just for you? That all your thoughts and feelings about life and death were laid bare there on the page that another person wrote? That's what I feel when I read this book. I don't know if this book is for everyone. It's strange, it's kind of meandering, full of side stories that seem like they are doing nowhere but then twist back in, like life. But I love it. It's wonderful. Thank you for writing this Ofir Touché Gafla. You've given me joy.
Have you ever felt like a book was written just for you? That all your thoughts and feelings about life and death were laid bare there on the page that another person wrote? That's what I feel when I read this book. I don't know if this book is for everyone. It's strange, it's kind of meandering, full of side stories that seem like they are doing nowhere but then twist back in, like life. But I love it. It's wonderful. Thank you for writing this Ofir Touché Gafla. You've given me joy.
April 4, 2022
At first, I wasn’t expecting much but as I got further in, it was a hard book to put down. It’s the story of a man who kills himself so he can find his wife in the afterlife, which proves more difficult than it should be. There are also side plots interwoven throughout in a way that reminded me of The Blind Assassin approach.
I have to say though, it’s not an afterlife I would particularly enjoy :)
I have to say though, it’s not an afterlife I would particularly enjoy :)
January 6, 2023
An adventure in the unknown realm of the after life.
The world built is complex and intriguing, full of winks, references, and logical explanation.
The characters are very special yet relatable, the storytelling is very smooth and excitingly brings you through the journey of a newly dead through a new unexplored afterlife world searching for his love, whilst exploring the basic human existential questions of life, death, love, individuality, meaning of life, and so on.
The world built is complex and intriguing, full of winks, references, and logical explanation.
The characters are very special yet relatable, the storytelling is very smooth and excitingly brings you through the journey of a newly dead through a new unexplored afterlife world searching for his love, whilst exploring the basic human existential questions of life, death, love, individuality, meaning of life, and so on.
October 13, 2018
Some interesting world building but the charcters were uninteresting and the story was needlessly complicated. He tries to tease you with characters being shocked by learning some secret--that you won't hear about until two chapters from now--only to find out the secret is just half of what you figured out six chapters ago.
December 2, 2024
This was totally weird, bordering on insane. It was still engaging and interesting with a lot of ways it could’ve gone. Although for a main character whose thing is writing endings for stories of others, this one could have used a stronger ending. Maybe should’ve asked mc to write it… 3.5/5 gonna round it up for originality.
March 19, 2025
הכתיבה המגוונת בילבלה אותי. אכן הייתה פה נוכחות גדולה של פרולוגיות מרשימה.
לקר��ת הסוף, התחלתי להתאהב בספר. בגאוניות שלו, במקוריות.
הדיבור על קבלת אובדן, חיפוש אחרי העבר והעתיד. גורם לקורא להתעסק במחשבות שבחיי היום יום שלנו אנחנו לא מגיעים אליהן.
שמחה שקראתי, מקווה לשכוח את כולו ולקרוא שוב מחדש בעתיד.
לקר��ת הסוף, התחלתי להתאהב בספר. בגאוניות שלו, במקוריות.
הדיבור על קבלת אובדן, חיפוש אחרי העבר והעתיד. גורם לקורא להתעסק במחשבות שבחיי היום יום שלנו אנחנו לא מגיעים אליהן.
שמחה שקראתי, מקווה לשכוח את כולו ולקרוא שוב מחדש בעתיד.
July 5, 2017
What a perfect, amazing book. I loved every minute of it. So refreshing, so touching, so original, funny, interesting, all the superlatives. I loved the writing style, the stories, the ideas, the characters, the imagination. I highly recommend it to everybody!
February 5, 2018
A man's wife dies and he decides to kill himself to join her in the afterlife. This sounds like an interesting premise, but I felt like the author also wanted to write a mystery and kept too much information from the reader to make this book enjoyable.
April 7, 2020
Me encantó. Fui transportada a otro mundo mientras leía esta historia.
También perdí a un ser querido y me sentí identificada con Ben. El mensaje final era justo y necesario para mí. Siento que lo leí en el momento indicado.
También perdí a un ser querido y me sentí identificada con Ben. El mensaje final era justo y necesario para mí. Siento que lo leí en el momento indicado.
June 19, 2021
Wow, what a crazy book! Interesting premise and imaginative world building. Fantastic read for the clearly drawn and varied characters and the way so many complicated threads of storylines are interconnected and woven together in strange ways.
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