A review by aaaleksic
Hell is the Absence of God by James Trimarco, Ted Chiang

adventurous lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I had this saved in my ‘to read’ list for a while and finally got around to reading it on my tablet. Plus I may have needed something shorter to fulfill my goal of reading a book per week. I think I added this book when I was still interested in stories where an author took their own interpretation of biblical characters and made a story from it. Unfortunately I can’t say I’m that enamored by those types of stories anymore, if I read something biblically based now it’s more esoteric in nature than this story was. This book is pretty on the nose with a lot of its metaphors (the people who see Heaven's light literally become blind and endlessly devoted to God - the fact that Heavens light is a real narrative device is not exactly subtle either), so sometimes it was irritating to read. That being said, it’s still an interesting narrative to transverse. 

In the book, everyone knows God exists and that Heaven and Hell are real places you go to when you die. However, you still have people who struggle with faith since they cannot muster a complete love for God that others can. It doesn’t seem to villainize demons the way other biblical based narratives do either, which is interesting, instead the demons (or fallen angels as they’re called) simply don’t love God and are perfectly content existing without God’s love for eternity. The narrative follows three main characters, Neil, Janice and Ethan, each dealing with their own dilemma in being fully devoted to God. The most interesting character here is Neil, since he desperately wants to get into Heaven but can’t seem to muster any love for God, instead trying to force it through other means. The characters dilemmas all bring up different theological questions that spring up in debates about religion and God- is God a moral authority? What if we misinterpret a miracle as a test or vice versa? Is it possible to love something which has also caused immense suffering, even if it brought us great joy? Is Hell any worse than the mortal plane? All questions which many theologians have battled with throughout the ages, so I was interested to see how the author would wrap this story up. 

The ending leaves a lot to be desired. In the end, Neil sees Heavens light and dies, only to be sent to Hell afterwards. This isn’t something I had issue with, considering the entire narrative was leading up to this moment. I think I was more disappointed that the ultimate answer to these questions was just ‘God’s beauty and his creation’. Obviously I’m not one to deny how beautiful this world is, but there are also aspects to it which aren’t seen as beautiful by most people, and even if it could be argued that God sees everything as beautiful and imbued that sense of beauty in Neil, ultimately in this narrative God doesn’t see everything as beautiful. God sends people to Hell pretty easily, arguably more often than He sends people to Heaven, where they live in absence of Him and God doesn’t seem to bemoan their lack of presence. It essentially ropes back around to nihilism, yes people have a specified purpose now but they were ultimately insignificant and never mattered to God in the first place. I guess it could also be argued that since people are blessed with free will they choose that path, and the author relies heavily on this sentiment. The only problem is that in the context of this narrative, Neil didn’t choose that path, it’s emphasized time and time again that he tried all he could to love God, but was unable to do so, leading him to take drastic measures. The light chasers are portrayed as no better than people with suicidal ideation (yeah it’s that kind of narrative…) but in another light, they are literally dying for Gods love. Doesn’t that show more of a devotion to God than simply preaching his message does? The issue isn’t that Neil went to Hell, the issue is he tried not to go and went anyway. Which would make sense if this was a God based on Justice and he committed an ultimate sin, it would also make sense if this God simply wanted more devoted followers to appreciate His creation and Neil spat in the face of that, but he didn’t do either of those things, so the narrative just falls flat.