Hell Is for Real, Too: A Middle Aged Accountant’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Hell and Back
Skip Shmuley
Penguin Group/adult humor
Release Date: November 29, 2011
The world knows the amazing story of little Colton Burpo, who nearly died during an emergency appendectomy, and then, while in a coma, went to heaven. His father, Todd Burpo, went on to write Heaven Is for Real, which has sold over one million copies—deservedly so. Only a cynic would believe that an evangelical pastor with outstanding medical bills and a child who had heard 52,000 Bible stories might be tempted to do the following: 1) Prompt the boy with leading questions 2) Write a book with a professional author, and 3) Make big bucks from it
But this is Skip Shmuley’s story, not the Burpos’. Skip is a middle-aged husband who faced death during a vasectomy gone terribly wrong. At first, he rose skyward . . .
I expected this book to be offensive. I also expected this book to be funny. I was 50% correct.
Shmuley’s book reminds me of the lonely, bitter guy at the party who has had a little too much to drink, so he is holding court with his inappropriate and self-deprecating stories. No one is really interested, but it is easier to let him drone on than to get him to shut up.
I can admit to emitting a weak chuckle once or twice while reading Hell Is for Real, Too, but I did not find a single “laugh out loud” passage.
My verdict: Skip it! The one redeeming quality of this book is that it is blessedly short, weighing in at only 130 pages.
