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

challenging emotional reflective fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

Hoo boy! This is a hard one to rate. It's excellent, an absolute gut punch, but also very difficult to recommend to anyone who strays too far from its target audience, which is basically exvangelical adults who were in jr high or high school (esp who were southern baptist teenaged boys) in the early 2000s. The voice on this evolves so well as the first-person narrator grows from a freshman to an adult, but that also means that if you're not 100% in on the slightly satirical in-group language use, you're going to be very much in cringe mode for at least the first 8 chapters and likely think the author just doesn't write well. But wow, if you're the target audience for this book and make it into the meat of the thing...well, this made me cry and gave my spouse and I tons to talk about.
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