Synopsis: Pregnant and secretly married, Cheryl Anway scribbles what becomes her last will and testament on a school binder shortly before a rampaging trio of misfit classmates gun her down in a high school cafeteria. Ovverun with paranoia, teen angst, and religious zeal in the massacre’s wake, this sleepy suburbean neighborhood declares its saints, brands its demons, and moves on. But for a handful of people still reeling from that horrific day, life remains permanently derailed. Four dramatically different characters tell their stories: Cheryl, who calmly narrates her own death; Jason, the boy no one knew was her husband, still marooned ten years later by his loss; Heather, the woman trying to love the shattered Jason, and Jason’s father, Reg, whose rigid religosity has separated him from nearly everyone he loves. Hey Nostradamus! is an unforgettable portrait of people wrestling with siprituality and with sorrow and its acceptance.
This is a first; I have never plugged a book before I finished it. But really, it’s such a strange coincidence I checked this book out of the library last week, before the whole Virginia Tech tragedy. And when I was reading the book this morning, something caught my eye that I really gotta quote:
“Dear Lord, if You organized a massacre just to make people have doubts, then maybe You ought to consider other ways of doing things. A high school massacre? Kids with pimento load sandwiches and cans of Orange Crush? I don’t think You would orchestrate something like this. A massacre in a high school cafeteria can only indicate Your absence – that for some reason, in some manner, You chose to absent Yourself from the room. Forsake it atually.” — pp. 24-25
Well. I used to be this staunch, I-give-my-life-up-to-Your-hands sort of Christian. The sort who believed in The Great Plan. But the amount of faith aside, or whether we’re Born Agains or not, I’m sure all of us have doubts. Well unless one is so damn sure The Great Plan exists, and believes wholeheartedly that we are only pawns in the Great Game Plan. I mean, sometimes I just can’t spend/waste my entire human life preparing for an afterlife I am not even sure exists?
How am I supposed to pray for the VT victims when at the same time I must accept the fact they are just a small part of this big Project? Isn’t it some sort of mockery, to throw it back in their faces, “oh, The Big One says you have to go. So get on with your transcendence.” Or then again, maybe they do believe in the Great Plan. That they were CHOSEN to be the victims, and not because God accidentally allowed something like that to happen to them. Somehow, the former seems like a better option in any scenario.
Anyway, this is a good book, and not just because of its relevance to the VT tragedy. More because I kinda like looking at the same event through the eyes and voice of different people. So I quite like this book, now that I’m halfway through it. And please don’t comment about my anti-religion ranting above. And if I caused any of you to feel uneasy, or insecure, I apologize, not for my unholiness, but for my straightforwardness.
Hey Nostradamus
Synopsis: Pregnant and secretly married, Cheryl Anway scribbles what becomes her last will and testament on a school binder shortly before a rampaging trio of misfit classmates gun her down in a high school cafeteria. Ovverun with paranoia, teen angst, and religious zeal in the massacre’s wake, this sleepy suburbean neighborhood declares its saints, brands its demons, and moves on. But for a handful of people still reeling from that horrific day, life remains permanently derailed. Four dramatically different characters tell their stories: Cheryl, who calmly narrates her own death; Jason, the boy no one knew was her husband, still marooned ten years later by his loss; Heather, the woman trying to love the shattered Jason, and Jason’s father, Reg, whose rigid religosity has separated him from nearly everyone he loves. Hey Nostradamus! is an unforgettable portrait of people wrestling with siprituality and with sorrow and its acceptance.
This is a first; I have never plugged a book before I finished it. But really, it’s such a strange coincidence I checked this book out of the library last week, before the whole Virginia Tech tragedy. And when I was reading the book this morning, something caught my eye that I really gotta quote:
Well. I used to be this staunch, I-give-my-life-up-to-Your-hands sort of Christian. The sort who believed in The Great Plan. But the amount of faith aside, or whether we’re Born Agains or not, I’m sure all of us have doubts. Well unless one is so damn sure The Great Plan exists, and believes wholeheartedly that we are only pawns in the Great Game Plan. I mean, sometimes I just can’t spend/waste my entire human life preparing for an afterlife I am not even sure exists?
How am I supposed to pray for the VT victims when at the same time I must accept the fact they are just a small part of this big Project? Isn’t it some sort of mockery, to throw it back in their faces, “oh, The Big One says you have to go. So get on with your transcendence.” Or then again, maybe they do believe in the Great Plan. That they were CHOSEN to be the victims, and not because God accidentally allowed something like that to happen to them. Somehow, the former seems like a better option in any scenario.
Anyway, this is a good book, and not just because of its relevance to the VT tragedy. More because I kinda like looking at the same event through the eyes and voice of different people. So I quite like this book, now that I’m halfway through it. And please don’t comment about my anti-religion ranting above. And if I caused any of you to feel uneasy, or insecure, I apologize, not for my unholiness, but for my straightforwardness.