96 ratings (3.54 avg)
25 reviews

Michelle

Add friend

Michelle’s Bookshelves

to-read‎ (64)
currently-reading‎ (2)

read‎ (101)
did-not-finish‎ (0)

2026‎ (21)
dnf‎ (2)

not-gonna-finish‎ (2)
want-to-reread‎ (1)

Stats | More…

Michelle is Currently Reading

Michelle rated a book really liked it

A Short Stay in Hell

by Steven L. Peck (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Michelle said: " Very quick read with an interesting premise: the protagonist dies a Mormon and discovers himself in Hell. Surprise! The one true religion was Zoroastrianism all along. His version of hell is inspired by the Library of Babel, where he is tasked with l Very quick read with an interesting premise: the protagonist dies a Mormon and discovers himself in Hell. Surprise! The one true religion was Zoroastrianism all along. His version of hell is inspired by the Library of Babel, where he is tasked with looking through every possible combination of characters arrange in a 410 page book for a book that perfectly describes his life.

I found myself comparing this to Albert Camus's Myth of Sisyphus in that I read both as absurdist texts but I think the premise is actually fairly different. In this hell, you aren't alone. You are restored to your youthful self with no health complications, and you aren't tortured physically by Hell itself. The torture is not even technically forever (if you were to believe the premise) as the # of books is technically finite. The torture is purely psychological. At one point in the timeline, the hell-dwellers form some version of an orderly society with a University and an annual award ceremony for the most coherent book found. At another point, a cult takes hold centered around the idea that the way to salvation is not finding your book, but punishing others.

It's interesting that given the conditions in this hell feels like an "improvement" over the situation with Sisyphus, Albert Camus comes out with "we should imagine Sisyphus happy", while ASSIH is more “There is a despair that goes deeper than existence; it runs to the marrow of consciousness, to the seat of the soul. Could I keep living like this forever? How could I continue existing in this Hell? And yet there was no choice. Existence goes on and on here. Finite does not mean much if you can’t tell any practical difference between it and infinite.” Even though the protagonist is surrounded by people in his exact same situation that he can talk to and confide in, he ruminates over the meaning of relationships if they go on meaningless for an eternity. "How do you stay with someone when there are no dreams to build? No purpose to accomplish? No meaning? No meaning —that was the monster that drove us away from one another in the end. Always.”

Time itself and its infinitude is the antagonist.

Random other stuff
- interesting that the author is a Mormon but explores this uncertainty around religious purpose
- Deriving value from scarcity/sacrifice. If you don't have to give up anything (time, energy, etc) to achieve something, feels a bit meaningless ...more "

Jul 05, 2026 03:18PM · see review