Posted on  27/06/2020 20:21:28

My rating: 5 chilling stars

What now?

On this day, the question is particularly hard. Perhaps excruciating is a better word. There won’t be other days for doing other things. This, as they say, is it. Whatever you do, you had better choose wisely, and you had better do it right. Or wrong. It really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of thing.

Because the end of the world is coming and you have only a few hours left to live.



What now?
Who do you spend your last hours with and how?
And what if you knew in advance you have only a few weeks left to live? What then? Will you spend every day as if it's your last? Will you enjoy the remaining time along with those you love? Or will you try to live out all the forbidden things you may have never even considered until now?

What will humans in general do faced with their impending doom? Will they give in to panic and hysteria? Will suicides abound or perhaps vices flourish?

These are the questions Eric Shapiro's novella deals with. And the answers are neither pleasant, nor easy to digest. Because this author lays it all out, with no filter and no cuddling. All the dark and dirty things humans may do in such a case.
Following the story of Sean, who has just graduated college opts to hit the road and reunite with a lost love in his final moments on Earth, we get to see the whole low to which a society can sink when faced with certain doom.
A mad society that is rapidly shredding the trappings of civilization. And we get to witness the worst parts of it, as ugly as it gets.

And this is exactly why It's Only Temporary is not a tale for everyone. It's dark and unpleasant and depicts all sorts of bad within humans as a race.
It does show love too, and even redemption, but in the end, the bad outweighs the good. And it feels damn real.

What we might have done if only we had had more time. It’s like a funeral with beating hearts in the coffins.

Compelling and thought provoking, this is one read that will make you pause and think.
About the... What now?

What would you do?

Check out this book and more of Eric Shapiro here