Bridgman reviewed What in God's name by Simon Rich
Review of "What in God's name" on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I despise this kind of book. You know: God is just some harried guy running a company called Heaven and Angels are workers in cubicals toiling away, hoping for promotions and something good for lunch in the company cafeteria. A tired premise of little interest to anyone, especially to a nonbeliever like me.
But I loved What in God's Name and was sorry to see its 227 pages flit by in just three days (I never finish books in three days). I laughed out loud at least every three pages thanks to Simon Rich's gift for comedy. Still in his twenties when he wrote this, Rich, who writes for the New Yorker, Saturday Night Live, Pixar and other movie studios, has a gift that puts him at the top of any list of current comedy writers.
Talking about comedy ruins it so here's the first paragraph. If you don't like …
I despise this kind of book. You know: God is just some harried guy running a company called Heaven and Angels are workers in cubicals toiling away, hoping for promotions and something good for lunch in the company cafeteria. A tired premise of little interest to anyone, especially to a nonbeliever like me.
But I loved What in God's Name and was sorry to see its 227 pages flit by in just three days (I never finish books in three days). I laughed out loud at least every three pages thanks to Simon Rich's gift for comedy. Still in his twenties when he wrote this, Rich, who writes for the New Yorker, Saturday Night Live, Pixar and other movie studios, has a gift that puts him at the top of any list of current comedy writers.
Talking about comedy ruins it so here's the first paragraph. If you don't like it, skip the book. If you do, get it:
The CEO leaned back in his swivel chair and flicked on his flat-screen TV. There was some kind of war going on in Venezuela. He forced himself to watch for a few minutes—it was the type of thing that people would expect him to know about. Last week at a meeting, some woman had asked him if he'd "heard about Ghana." He'd grinned and given her a thumbs-up because he knew Ghana had just qualified for the World Cup. But it turned out she'd been talking about a genocide.
