After the Rapture

After the Rapture

2023

Ratings1

Average rating5

15

I'm so thankful I found this book at my local Powell's a few months ago. I wasn't expecting to be hooked into it right from page one, and certainly wasn't expecting to love it so much that I instantly re-read it. While reading this I took many notes and the best I could come up with in a way to describe it is: A mixture of the humor found in ‘I Think You Should Leave' skits with the brutal honesty of the world from ‘Adam Ruins Everything', but make it funnier, smarter, and a shit ton of Barbie. There were some parts that were so funny that I was clutching my stomach from laughing so much. It wasn't all funny of course, the moments of realizing the truth within these moments, and I think our author Stohlman was masterful in the way she blended in the surrealism and absurdity of what our world has turned into yet... hasn't turned into at all. I've never read anything like this, the closest I can think of is [b:Gutshot 22237153 Gutshot Amelia Gray https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405015536l/22237153.SX50.jpg 41610669] ( a short story collection that I love but leans towards more of horror and strange). We get snippets of our nameless narrators life - talking about ‘Before the Rapture' and ‘After the Rapture' of our world collapsing and crumbling in. A dystopian in absurdity but yet, you can't help but see just how much of it could happen and how the world would handle a Rapture. Between our nameless narrator - we get infomercials, news articles and broadcasts / and Barbie FAQs. Some of my favorite parts were the “Barbie Blank” infomercials, where we hear of a new released Barbie and how she's handling the Rapture, and the “Karaoke Gang” news articles. The orgy being secretly a time-share selling meeting had me laughing so hard till tears. It's all brilliant. I love this very, very much.

January 12, 2024