What In God's Name
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4.5 • 6 Ratings
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- $8.99
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- $8.99
Publisher Description
From the Sunsets Department and Geyser Regulation to the Department of Miracles, Heaven Inc has the earth covered. Unless someone is away from their desk. And these days, the CEO is kind of disillusioned.
God knows he should be keeping an eye on the bad things happening on Earth, but instead he finds himself watching the Church channels on satellite TV. His first priority is the team of angels he's asked to get Lynyrd Skynyrd back together.
Downstairs on the office floor, Eliza has been promoted from the Prayers Department to Miracles, and Craig, the only other workaholic in heaven, has to show her around. Eliza is shocked by the casual attitude of many of the angels in her new department. And she's furious when she discovers that God has never looked at, let alone answered, a single prayer.
So she storms into God's office and asks Him a question that no one has ever dared to ask before. And it might just be the end of the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
New Yorker humorist Rich sets up his second novel (after Elliot Allagash) like one of his "Shouts & Murmurs" pieces. The conceit this time: God truly created man in his own feckless image: "With that whole mankind thing?" the CEO of Heaven Inc. admits, "I bit off way more than I could chew," and decides to destroy the Earth and finally realize his lifelong dream of opening an Asian-American restaurant. Only Craig and Eliza, two angels working in the Department of Miracles, seem to care, so God tells them if they can answer just one prayer in a month, he'll keep the Earth open for business. Unfortunately, the challenge is to unite Sam Katz and Laura Potts, two pining, painfully shy 23-year-olds living blocks apart in Manhattan, acquaintances whose chance encounters, so far, have been "worse than when Lincoln gets shot." Prohibited from doing anything the humans could perceive as supernatural, the angels' meddling is restricted to dream-work, iPhone hacking, traffic signal tampering, weather manipulation and, in overweight Sam's case, a botulism attack. But at month's end, the two like Craig and Eliza in their own budding romance must make their own moves. Humanity depends upon it.
Customer Reviews
Loved this - one of my favourite books this year
This is a very funny, charming and very likeable book. I started it at lunch today, went back to work, came home, and finished it by dinner.
It's sweet, clever and one of those books that really adds a lot of cheer to your day (in a non-cheesy way). Maybe not a surprise given that Simon Rich has written for Pixar and Saturday Night Live. It's going to be one of those books I endlessly recommend to everyone I know.