Clever, insightful and wildly entertaining. … That’s how I would describe “Hell is a World Without You” by longtime sportswriter and podcaster Jason Kirk.
I have a soft spot for other unknown authors, of course. Because, after all, it is a long road when you don’t have one of the publishing giants backing you with their mega-marketing machines.
Admittedly, a lot of works published by smaller publishing houses aren’t good, especially the vanity presses. There is a reason they haven’t been “discovered,” of course.
But that’s not the case with Kirk’s somewhat autobiographical work of fiction that is based on his childhood growing up in the evangelical Southern Baptist tradition.
His book simply is a great read and deserves a broader audience.
In fact, I enjoyed the book so much that I was surprised after 300 pages how fast of a read it was, which I chalk up to the great storytelling and the unique use of AOL Instant Messaging dialogue exchanges to help move the plot along. (Oh, yeah, the book is set in the early 2000s when instant messaging was exploding. I’m too old to have partaken in that craze, but Kirk does a wonderful job of bringing those of us unfamiliar with that technology into the novel anyway.)
“Hell is a World Without You” is centered on Isaac, a “13.9-year-old” when we first meet him, and who is about to enter his freshman year of high school. Isaac lives with his widowed mother, and the family is completed with his brother Eli who is now a divorced young man who re-committed himself to the Southern Baptist evangelical faith after college. He doesn’t live at home, but is a major character nonetheless.
Over the course of those 300 pages, Isaac will eventually graduate high school, but before he does we will get a front row seat to the rollercoaster ride that are the teenage years, with the bonus plot twist being that he lives out his teens in the context of the conservative evangelical church culture.
Setting aside the fact that the book dives deeply into the world of evangelicalism, especially during an age when the rise of the mega-church was in full swing, Isaac is much like any other teenage boy coming of age. He struggles with his sexuality and the purity culture of the evangelical church, has crushes on girls that aren’t returned, experiences broken hearts, and has to deal with social challenges of high school.
Given all of that, I think almost anyone can find themselves having walked in young Isaac’s shoes at one point.
But the most fascinating aspects of the book come in the expose-like revelations of what it’s like to be a youngster in the evangelical church. In this case, while the writer Kirk grew up Southern Baptist, he purposefully doesn’t name the denominations involved in his novel, which I suspect is an attempt to make the depiction more universal of evangelicalism in general.
Full transparency: While being a Lutheran pastor, I actually don’t have much exposure to that many other Christian denominations. I grew up in a little-known church called the Church of Christ, and later, after several decades out of the church, returned to it as a Lutheran, and found my home almost immediately. Not saying that I don’t flirt with the ideals of other denominations that I find valuable, but structurally I find that the ELCA is a good fit for me.
So, long story short, Kirk’s book was like a sociology course on evangelicalism for me. Kind of an anthropological look into a brand of Christianity that is very dominant in the U.S. right now. You may have heard this past week that the Southern Baptist church made national headlines because of votes to not allow women in leadership positions in the church and also to oppose in vitro fertilization. (Ironically, though, I actually finished this book weeks ago before this made news, and just now find the time to write about it! Talk about serendipity!)
While this brand of evangelicalism that made the news, and that Kirk writes about, is an easy target for outsiders, I have to say that Kirk handled his critique of his childhood church with aplomb. Yes, he reveals the seemingly misogynistic views and patriarchal dominance for what they are, and he even describes in detail some of the shocking lengths to which church leaders will test their faithful followers, which to be honest borders on abuse to me. But Kirk also lovingly depicts the bonds that evangelical teenagers make because of their particular situation.
This is a warning: Depending upon your religious bent, you may have trouble reading “Hell is a World Without You.” I know that I struggled to read it at times. And to corroborate, this is the warning that is published at the front of the book before you begin reading: “This novel references elements of religious trauma, including existential dread, familial shame, intrusive thoughts, pervasive guilt, purity culture, self-harm ideation, systemic bigotry, toxic positivity, and unresolved grief. Also included are things many church people secretly enjoy, such as cuss words, alcohol, and canoodling.”
Interestingly, just in that short warning, you get a very good feel for Kirk’s book: It’s bluntly honest about what takes place in evangelicalism, but he also manages to do so in a very cheeky way that makes the book humane, kind and empathetic, while also denouncing much of what he disagrees with in the evangelical church.
I could see where some would consider the book a defamation of the evangelical church, but I see the book more as a love letter to the broader church. In interviews about his book, Kirk admits that after college he did leave the church, but now later in his 30s, he’s back in the church, calling himself a “lazy pantheist.”
Bottomline: I am very fond of this book. I even will read it again, and there are very few books outside of classic American literature that I ever read a second time.
There are multiple reasons I liked the book so much, but first is that Kirk is a gifted writer. His dialogue-writing skills are snappy and on point. And he captured the strange challenge of adolescence in today’s America in such a loving and endearing way, that this could be the classic coming of age novel, if you know, we were all brought up evangelicals.
Finally, I appreciated the lesson in evangelicalism from someone who seems to have left that church for justifiable reasons, but also who doesn’t hate that church. And that seems to be the fairest critique of them all, doesn’t it? … A critique from someone who intimately knows evangelicalism and has left, but doesn’t judge those who remain in the church.
I could write more about “Hell is a World Without You,” but it all would lead to this very point: Buy the book, and read it. Support another independent author; get a wildly entertaining novel and a 101-level academic course about what evangelicalism is in exchange.
That seems a fair value! … Enjoy!
Comments