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What in God's Name: A Novel
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What in God's Name: A Novel
Unavailable
What in God's Name: A Novel
Audiobook4 hours

What in God's Name: A Novel

Published by Hachette Audio

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

Welcome to Heaven, Inc., the grossly mismanaged corporation in the sky. For as long as anyone can remember, the founder and CEO (known in some circles as "God") has been phoning it in. Lately, he's been spending most of his time on the golf course. And when he does show up at work, it's not to resolve wars or end famines, but to Google himself and read what humans have been blogging about him.

When God decides to retire (to pursue his lifelong dream of opening an Asian Fusion restaurant), he also decides to destroy Earth. His employees take the news in stride, except for Craig and Eliza, two underpaid angels in the lowly Department of Miracles. Unlike their boss, Craig and Eliza love their jobs - uncapping city fire hydrants on hot days, revealing lost keys in snow banks - and they refuse to accept that earth is going under.

The angels manage to strike a deal with their boss. He'll call off his Armageddon, if they can solve their toughest miracle yet: getting the two most socially awkward humans on the planet to fall in love. With doomsday fast approaching, and the humans ignoring every chance for happiness thrown their way, Craig and Eliza must move heaven and earth to rescue them - and the rest of us, too.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateAug 7, 2012
ISBN9781611132274
Unavailable
What in God's Name: A Novel

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Reviews for What in God's Name

Rating: 3.6014492811594203 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

69 ratings8 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Great humor story about God, angels, and the quest to save the Earth. Definitely recommend.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Heaven is a business, and two angels in the Miracles Department have to get two humans to fall in love in order to prevent the end of the world by a disinterested God. I've never read this book before, but I'm pretty sure I've read this story at least a few times. One thing that makes it different is that the humans in question are so thoroughly unattractive, awkward, and antisocial that the angels have to resort to extreme measures just to get them to leave their respective apartments. There are some clever bits but all in all it felt like a retread of other fantasy novels I've read over the years. On the bright side, the plot moves rapidly, and while you know the outcome from the very start, it's reasonably fun getting there.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    The acknowledgements were more amusing than the book itself.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really liked the idea of this book - Heaven is a corporation run by God. The angels work for Heaven, Inc. performing miracles, answering prayers, and all the other things that we think of angels doing. It was a new look at Heaven, almost made the concept of Heaven seem more "real" because it was something I could relate to. I could see an office building with cubicles, water cooler, lunch room, board room, conference tables, etc. When I think of Heaven normally there's not really any concrete imagery that comes to mind. So the idea that Heaven is similar to something I could relate to made it easier for me to read.The imagery associated with God was a bit off-putting at the beginning, but as the story progressed and his character changed a bit I began to come around. God started off as a frustrated CEO who needs a change in his life. He's tired of the corporate life and wants to open a restaurant. It really humanizes God and again, it makes the concept of God something tangible that I can associate with. It took a little open-mindedness to think of God in terms of the tangible life the book portrays, but I did get used to it. Although even at the end of the book it was a bit shocking still when God cusses. That I just couldn't get used to. It just wasn't something I would ever expect - I curse like a sailor most of the time, but I just can't imagine that God does also.The story doesn't really focus on God though. The story is a love story at heart. Craig and Eliza have to work to make Laura and Sam fall in love to save humanity. The two humans are seemingly beyond all hope. But Sam and Eliza use some pretty creative miracles to help move the process along. I liked the dynamic of the two angel's love story going on with the human's love story. It was kind of neat to see the parallels in the two paths. I also liked the miracles they used to help the humans fall in love - not that I ever though food poisoning could be a miracle, but it did have the intended effect.The story is quite humorous. The author does a great job of mixing humorous writing with humorous situations. But I think the true beauty of the story is that even with everything that is going on the writing is simple. Not simple in that it's dumbed down or anything. It's simple in that the author doesn't over explain things, doesn't complicate the story with useless details, and doesn't go into detail about the parts of the story that don't impact the outcome. Even the miracles that are used by the angels are just series of simple events. I thought that was kind of a neat aspect to the story - miracles don't have to be big and flashy even the little moments in life can be miracles. So other than God and his potty mouth I really enjoyed this book.A copy of this book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I really enjoyed this book. An interesting way of looking at the gods. I escpecially like the way that humans get into heaven., by getting a rock to skip 7 times.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Cute but really just a long short story with a cute idea about God just being a CEO and the angels managing to bring about small miracles on Earth. Just Ok. 8/8
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    If you are looking for a bit of light reading with some chuckles thrown in this is the book for you. Who knew Heaven was a corporate entity? Who knew God liked to golf? Well, apparently Simon Rich did! He has created a world in which God is just plain tired of being the Lord of the Earth and wants to retire. But to do so he needs to destroy the Earth!But not all of his Angels are as cynical as the upper heavenly corporate echelons. No! They still see the potential of the human race and and enjoy their work in the Department of Miracles. They convince God to save the Earth if they can answer one last, almost impossible prayer and perform the miracle of getting two inept humans to kiss. Now these humans have been circling each other for YEARS but haven't even gone on a date so the situation looks hopeless but Craig and Eliza the Angels are determined to save the human race.I really enjoyed this novel. It read really fast - I think I had it done in less than half a day. It was fun, it made me laugh out loud at times (poor hamster) and the angelic interventions were at times heartfelt and downright dangerous. Mr. Rich has created a funny cast of true characters starting at the top and running all the way down to Raoul the prophet. It's not as simple as it appears and there is a lot of clever going in this book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    It wasn't as funny as I thought it would be, but passable. Simon Rich managed to pull off most of the jokes and created a almost believable idea of Heaven. It's an easy book to read and I don't think it will offend anyone no matter what religion you do, or so not, embrace. I understand this is a mini-series on TV so will be checking to see if it's on DVD. Seeing it played out might be funnier than reading it.