A review by davidwright
Hell by Robert Olen Butler

3.0

If you look at most of what I enjoy reading, you’ll understand that every now and then I need a dose of comedy, and this ingenious satiric three ring circus fit the bill well. As with Dante’s Inferno, there’s precious little plot: this one’s mostly about the sightseeing, and much of the entertainment of this book actually stems from the seemingly endless variety and ingenuity of such special punishments, which make Dante look like an amateur. William Randolph Hearst blogs without recourse to the CAPS LOCK, while Shakespeare’s hard drive crashes; Martha Stewart demonstrates how to cook one’s own organs; Dick Cheney grouses Beelzabub over their incompetent bosses, and J. Edgar Hoover goes on TV in drag. Yes, you meet people who haven’t died yet here. George W. Bush is here, perplexed and convinced that he’s actually in Heaven. Who else is in Hell? Hell, who isn’t? So many people show up, some who aren’t even quite dead yet above ground, and one of the book’s main pastimes is celebrity spotting. Was that Christopher Hitchens in a clinch with Mother Theresa? Is that Robert Redford? Are those the Bee Gees? Our hero is Hatcher McCord, an anchorman in life and now one in Hell, all devised as a part of his own special punishment. Other aspects of it include bruising his hip every day in the same place on the same table, and sex that ranges from unsatisfying to ghastly with his girlfriend, the occasionally re-capitated Anne Boleyn. Hatcher’s biggest hit is the “Why Do You Think You’re Here?” show, but his secret talent is a mind that Satan can’t quite control, all of which leads him to enlist Judas Iscariot in a escape attempt. But as I said, plot is beside the point. Hey, was that Christopher Hitchens necking with Mother Theresa, as Celine Dion sings that Titanic song over, and over, and over…? One joke, but he does tell it pretty darned well. I'm thinking this title will be pretty much meaningless in about 10 or 15 years, though.