Hell is the Absence of God

4/5
Difficult to rate something that is so subjective to its reader's own religious beliefs. Neil Fisk is a recent widower, whose wife died painfully during an angel visitation before her soul ascended to Heaven. He now seeks Heaven over Hell, which many souls are destined for and seems not dissimilar to the mortal plane. A similar visitation gave legs back to formerly disabled motivational speaker Janice Reilly, and she is followed by Ethan Mead who always believed he would have a higher purpose.

The force of nature like descriptions alongside names of different angel visitations creates a realistic description of such biblical events, albeit in stark contrast to what general audiences may expect. Chiang admirably tries to touch upon the idea of God through constant discussion around finding faith, different motivations for praying and general approaches to living with visitations in Hell is The Absence of God. However, the powerful stream of consciousness conclusion ties this idea together, and was personally as satisfying and disatisfying as one could expect when describing an indescribable phenomena. However, not every reader may feel the same.