What in God's Name by Simon Rich - Book Review

About the Book:

Welcome to Heaven, Inc., the grossly mismanaged corporation in the sky. For as long as anyone can remember, the founder and CEO (known in some circles as "God") has been phoning it in. Lately, he's been spending most of his time on the golf course. And when he does show up at work, it's not to resolve wars or end famines, but to Google himself and read what humans have been blogging about him.

When God decides to retire (to pursue his lifelong dream of opening an Asian Fusion restaurant), he also decides to destroy Earth. His employees take the news in stride, except for Craig and Eliza, two underpaid angels in the lowly Department of Miracles. Unlike their boss, Craig and Eliza love their jobs - uncapping city fire hydrants on hot days, revealing lost keys in snow banks - and they refuse to accept that earth is going under.

The angels manage to strike a deal with their boss. He'll call off his Armageddon, if they can solve their toughest miracle yet: getting the two most socially awkward humans on the planet to fall in love. With doomsday fast approaching, and the humans ignoring every chance for happiness thrown their way, Craig and Eliza must move heaven and earth to rescue them - and the rest of us, too.

About the Author:

Simon Rich (born 1984) is an American humorist, novelist, and television writer, best known for being the youngest writer ever hired on Saturday Night Live and writing the Thurber Prize-nominated humor collection Ant Farm: And Other Desperate Situations.

My Opinion:

If you are looking for a bit of light reading with some chuckles thrown in this is the book for you. Who knew Heaven was a corporate entity? Who knew God liked to golf? Well, apparently Simon Rich did! He has created a world in which God is just plain tired of being the Lord of the Earth and wants to retire. But to do so he needs to destroy the Earth!

But not all of his Angels are as cynical as the upper heavenly corporate echelons. No! They still see the potential of the human race and and enjoy their work in the Department of Miracles. They convince God to save the Earth if they can answer one last, almost impossible prayer and perform the miracle of getting two inept humans to kiss. Now these humans have been circling each other for YEARS but haven't even gone on a date so the situation looks hopeless but Craig and Eliza the Angels are determined to save the human race.

I really enjoyed this novel. It read really fast - I think I had it done in less than half a day. It was fun, it made me laugh out loud at times (poor hamster) and the angelic interventions were at times heartfelt and downright dangerous.  Mr. Rich has created a funny cast of true characters starting at the top and running all the way down to Raoul the prophet. It's not as simple as it appears and there is a lot of clever going in this book.


You can purchase What in God's Name from Amazon.com

Disclosure:  I received a copy of What in God's Name from Little, Brown and Company gratis. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by my receipt of the free book. I received no monetary compensation for this post.