Mild Spoilers

This was a very interesting read. At the risk of being rude to the author, it benefits from relying on a fantastic premise set out by Jorge Luis Borges - hell is the Library of Babel where all you have to do to get out is find your own life story in the library.

The fascinating premise of an infinite library is handled relatively well. I think the weaknesses stem from how the author handles his characters. The short length of the story I feel was helpful to the acclaim the book received; it ended before the cracks really began to show.

What I found most fascinating is how quickly the supposedly devout mormon gave up on his religion's teachings. I would have thought he'd have lasted longer - is he not able to rationalise this place as "one of God's tests"? It seems bizarre to me how willing he was to abandon it all. It also interests me that the author is also mormon - would you not want to advocate for your faith more? It's refreshing that he doesn't, but I think it raises more questions than it answers and it's not convincing enough as a "character study" - more of a flimsy pretence to say "Hey, we're dead, let's fuck so the reader can get invested in a romance."

Also the main antagonist is called "Dire Dan"... Difficult to get too invested into the philsophical musings of "Human beings truly are the real hell" when the main guy sounds like a pub regular you'd meet in the East End of London.

Still, it's short. It's interesting. It's thought provoking - just not all thoughts I think the author was going for.