Author Robert Lampros offered his novel, Last Year’s Resolution, to interested readers through Goodreads. I was pleased to get a complimentary copy, paperback and not an e-book, from him and am glad to review it.
Lamrpos asks the question, What would happen to a normal, happy, successful person when the Apocalypse happens?” By the way, this is the real Apocalypse as foretold in Revelations, not the usual end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it that is a staple in science fiction and fantasy. Lampros does not go down the rabbit hole of the rapture, which some Protestants expect as the first step when believers are swept up to heaven before the world falls apart for several year under Satan’s rule. Instead Lampros postulates that most people survive, go on living their lives as much like usual; through the plagues, earthquakes, even the Beast.
Edmund Stovender is the lead character, a successful young author. He has faith but isn’t immersed in it, God is part of his life but not a big part. He meets Marie when she asks him for an interview and something about her questions and her voice intrigues him. They fall in love. Their lives together begin only after the first step of the Apocalypse, a testament to faith and love. They marry and have a child, move to a small town in Iowa.
Edmund’s agent, Salem, is the typical unsure adult who doesn’t think about God and rarely prays but he find himself reaching for half-remembered prayers when the sky bursts into flames. Like many he survives the initial onslaught and continues through his normal career, albeit with a fresher appreciation of Scripture and God.
I liked the book’s focus on normal life and how one can testify best by the small things, by living one’s life as a faithful Christian while working, falling in love, raising a family, making a living, being in the world but not of the world. Edmund and Salem were believable, interesting people. Marie was a little less complete. None of the characters were cardboard cutouts.
There were a few places in Last Year’s Resolution where Lampros intimated things weren’t all that rosy around Edmund. The American Association of Ethical Arts, Sciences and Practices shuts down Edmund’s last play and tries to jail him for the crime of Artistic Endangerment. The AAEASP feels his very successful play “threatens the safety and well-being …(or) affronts the consciences and moral integrity of the populace.” I would have liked to know more about this group and its influence on American law and how we got to censorship. Was the AAEASP in the pocket of the Beast?
Likewise the President acknowledges that events are following those in Revelations. We don’t see any mention of him being impeached or threatened which one would expect if it is a crime to offer an inspiring play in a public theater.
Overall the book was solid. It is short, not much more than an hour’s read, but I expect the ideas and themes to linger much longer.
4 Stars
Thank you for the awesome review, Kathy! By the way I will send a free paperback of the novel to the first five people who email me at rlampros27@yahoo.com. (only if you live in the U.S.) Thanks for reading.