The Delusions by Jenni Fagan review an afterlife of queues and bureaucracy

"The universe is a big place, perhaps the biggest. The afterthought leaks back into the original statement, underpinning and undermining everything. Infinity and eternity are both unavoidably present in The Delusions, which takes place in a vast anteroom to the afterlife, the largest soul terminus in existence. It's the metaphysical equivalent of a big-box store, where they help you sort your false perceptions of yourself from what you actually were."

"Though to be honest, no one in Processing is certain what that next thing is. The queues have always been long, volatile of temper and, like life, full of the angry, the entitled and the afraid. But lately things are getting worse. It's possible the wider universe has grown sick of the human race, and the Earth is being wound down."

"Fagan's targets are exactly what we'd hope: greed, politics, celebrity. Smartphone culture. Fantasy culture. The billionaires, the media, the conversation. Always and especially, anyone who thinks that by giving themselves up to the digital simulacrum they can evade not just inevitable death but actual life."

The Delusions is a satirical novel set in a vast metaphysical processing center that sorts souls before their final destination. This afterlife terminus functions like a bureaucratic institution where individuals confront their false self-perceptions through a Questionnaire before being either Processed or Dissolved. The system is collapsing under an unprecedented influx of dead people, suggesting Earth may be winding down. The Leaderboard malfunctions, cats mysteriously appear everywhere, and reality becomes increasingly unreliable. Fagan satirizes contemporary society's obsessions with greed, politics, celebrity, smartphone culture, and digital escapism. The novel critiques those seeking to evade death and authentic life through digital simulation, exposing how delusional systems must be violently expelled.

Read at www.theguardian.com