A Short Stay in Hell

I didn't think a book of this slimness, of this brevity, could be so densely mind-bending, depressing, and depraved of resolution. But I suppose that was the ultimate sentiment this book was trying to achieve, and I believe it succeeded. While not seemingly a biased indoctrination, Peck still manages to write in not only a thought-provoking philosophical style (makes sense since he's a philosophy scholar) but in a paranoiac (though not fear-mongering) and terrifyingly human way. The story seems to walk a fine line between being rather humorously dark and almost intentionally presumptuous or convictive in its approach to religion. But I realize he's not being intentionally manipulative in order to indoctrinate, but rather is very much intentionally tapping into (and creatively confronting) an almost universal fear humans have about what we believe is true and, perhaps more importantly, why it's important for humans to question everything—even what we think we're certain of.