A review by jacobclark
Hell Is a World Without You by Jason Kirk

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Stellar portrait of a youth group era a decade before I was a part of one. The prose is shockingly good even being chock-full of countless Christian subculture references. It runs the gamut of emotions and hits so many interesting beats that if you heard them would seem cliched — but if you read them, they feel so fleshed out and real. Every motivation of every character of every walk of life is fully realized: every character is three-dimensional. I don’t know how many people I know working in a church that would appreciate this book, but there are dozens of us and we should all read this one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Body shaming, Homophobia, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Car accident, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Drug use, Miscarriage, Islamophobia, Abortion, Outing, Alcohol, and War

Broadly speaking, because of the subject matter and setting in an American evangelical church youth group culture in the early 2000s none of the content is very shocking on its face. If you’ve been through that setting and have past trauma this could be either a liberating or suffocating read depending on your healing process. The worst part comes toward the end of the novel with a section where a youth pastor replicates the often-told story of people with guns coming into a church to scare kids into not denying their faith.

This youth pastor uses his younger brother as an example and threatens reuniting him with their dad in hell. The gun goes off after a scuffle and doesn’t kill the younger brother but does hospitalize him with non-threatening injuries.

The main character’s father’s death in a car accident is referred to a lot as a pivotal moment in his life and it is often discussed as to whether or not it was a suicide or under the influence.