Book Review: Abandon All Hope

Abandon All Hope. Scott Spires, Auctus Publishers, 19 September 2021, Paperback and eBook, 214 pages.

Reviewed by Paige Doepke.

I’ll admit, this review took me longer to finish than I expected, but not for lack of interest. In fact, the opposite is true. I would sit down with a plan to quickly read a couple of chapters, but instead found myself immersed in Spires’s writing, not wanting to miss any details. From the very start of Abandon All Hope, author Scott Spires drew me in.

Abandon All Hope is a book that reflects the monotony and challenges of real life. While the novel follows several male characters, I found myself relating to the primary protagonist, Eric, most. If you’re a Chicagoan, you’ll love the details of Eric’s daily life, including his favorite neighborhood stores and his all-too-real commute to work in the suburbs. The familiarity of the location made the story real to me, but it was really the character development that pulled me in.

Spires writes about Eric, and also Evan, in a way that made me feel like I was experiencing the story from inside their heads. Their thoughts, reactions, and almost reactions, are laid out for the reader. These very real and honest depictions of Spires’s central characters humanize them. I found myself angry at those who wronged Evan along his job search journey, as if the wrongdoings had happened to me personally.

I mentioned monotony as one of the main messages or storylines of Abandon All Hope. By that, I mean the day-to-day, Monday through Friday, repetitive grind that feels both stale and comfortable at the same time. These characters are not necessarily unhappy with the way their lives are taking place, but they aren’t necessarily happy either. Beyond that, they are choosing their existence, like so many of us are, because the life that we’re living is comfortable, and change is uncomfortable. The plotline of the story even mirrors this monotony, with no outrageous climax and no shocking conclusion. The story pulls you in and sits with you, alongside your own thoughts and experiences.

As Eric, Evan, and other characters cross paths, we see how, within the same city, different people are experiencing monotony and false comfort in different ways. I’m willing to bet this novel would resonate with readers in many different ways as well, based on which characters are most relatable to them, or which experiences mirror theirs the most. I can already tell this is the sort of story that is going to stick with me for a while, popping into my head as I’m riding the El or clocking into work for the day. I highly recommend it to any reader looking for an extremely well-written and thought-provoking novel.