WHAT IN GOD'S NAME
by Simon Rich
The angels of Heaven, Inc. must save Earth.
God's had enough. He thinks Earth is "just as frustrating as a Rubik’s cube,” and so he’s decided to destroy humankind and open an Asian fusion restaurant. God even sent out a staff memo, and he's personally told Raoul, a homeless guy in Detroit, his current prophet. God needs Earth only as a source of Xenon gas, and things like a book by “some fancy pants Oxford professor trying to get attention” represent the sort of ingratitude that have God ready to pull the plug. But two angels in the Miracles Department, Craig and Eliza, are upset, especially since a random existentialist comment from Eliza spurred God’s apocalyptic decision. But deals can be made at Heaven, Inc. Craig agrees to invest in God’s restaurant and then, on his good side, persuades God to make a bet. Mankind will be preserved if Craig and Eliza can perform one impossible miracle: make two socially challenged people fall in love. The author has the difficult task of sustaining the superb comic premise throughout a book-length work, which he accomplishes by having his outlandishly capricious God appear at regular intervals.
Deliciously funny.