Synopses & Reviews
GOD IS NOWHERE GOD IS NOW WHERE
GOD IS NOWHERE GOD IS NOW WHERE
Pregnant and secretly married, Cheryl Anway scribbles her last will and testament -- and eerie premonition -- on a school binder shortly before a trio of misfit classmates gun her down in a high school cafeteria. Overrun with paranoia, teenage angst and religious zeal in the ensuing massacre's wake, this sleepy Vancouver neighbourhood declares its saints, brands its demons and finally moves on.
But for a handful of people still reeling from the horrific day, life remains perpetually derailed. Four dramatically different characters tell their stories in their own words: 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, a cruelly religious man no one suspects is still worth loving. Each wrestles with God, self-defeat and a crippling inability to hold on to those they love.
Coupland's most surprising and soulful novel yet, rich with his trademark cultural acuity and dark humor, Hey Nostradamus! ties themes of alienation, violence and misguided faith into a fateful and unforgettable knot from which three people must untangle their lives.
“I believe that what separates humanity from everything else in this world -- spaghetti, binder paper, deep sea creatures, edelweiss and Mount McKinley -- is that humanity alone has the capacity at any given moment to commit all possible sins. Even those of us who try to live a good and true life remain as far away from grace as the Hillside Strangler or any demon who ever tried to poison the village well. What happened that morning only confirms this.” -- Excerpt from Hey Nostradamus!