If you knew the world was going to end, but you had the power to stop it, would you?
A Man Said to the Universe
A man said to the universe:
“Sir, I exist!”
“However,” replied the universe,
“The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation.”
~ Stephen Crane
Does an ant's life matter to you when you step on it?
Does your life matter to the universe when it steps on you?
Henry certainly doesn't think so. He doesn't think anyone's life matters. And he sees no reason to push the button that would save the world from destruction. Our lives are as meaningless as ants' lives, and everyone would be better off not having to put up with the misery that is existence.
Because Henry is most definitely surrounded by misery. A dad who abandoned his family, a mom who has given up, a grandma whose mind is going, a loser older brother who torments him, a first love who committed suicide, a current secret fling who mercilessly mocks him in public, no friends, and a school that makes him the butt of every joke because he keeps getting abducted by aliens.
It's the aliens, by the way, who have shown him the world will soon be destroyed and who have given him the choice to save it.
Henry is crippled by grief and guilt about his true love's death. Everyone--including his human nature--tells him life is worth living. Experience tells him it's not. This book chronicles a period of those experiences and Henry's struggle to decide if he, or anyone else, has any reason to struggle on.
Whether we are ants or not
Whether an ant's life matters or not.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook production of the book, I'm sure I would have quite a few quotes to share here had I read the book, as it offers many elegant--and often harsh--commentaries on life. (Here's one I don't have to hunt to find, the book's first paragraph: Life is bulls***.) Henry embodies those deep insights. His story, while his own, is one that everyone knows. And it's one worth experiencing.
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A little appendix for anyone who has read Grasshopper Jungle. One of Henry's imagined scenarios for the end of the world is a hilarious tribute to that book:
. . . The potential new antibiotic is found in the chemical secretions of cockroaches. While attempting to isolate enough of the compounds in the cockroaches, an international consortium of scientists develops revolutionary technologies to increase the size of the cockroaches through genetic manipulation. These novel insects, named Blatella asmithicus after the geneticist responsible for creating them, Dr. Andrew Smith, measure nearly a meter in length, and have astounding resiliency and immunity to all known toxins. Capable, even of withstanding significant exposure to radiation. They are more commonly referred to a CroMS: cockroaches of might size.
The first new successful antibiotic in a decade is tested on 8 January 2016. Within days, the mortality rate from bacterial infections decreases to levels never before achieved.
United by their cause, a new age of peace and prosperity envelops the world. It is the golden age of humanity.
On 29 January 2016 a pair of CroMS escape from a laboratory in Austin, Texas. They begin to breed. As a result of their increased size, CroMS possess a ravenous appetite and devour everything in their path.
Austin is overrun in three days. Texas in two weeks. The United States in less than a year.
When CroMS are the only living creatures remaining on the planet, they consume each other.