The Life of the World to Come: Hell

By Rocco E. Porreco

Professor Fannella, like Dante, is on a guided tour through the Afterlife. He discovers that he still has human desires and needs shaped by the life he led on earth. His guides, chosen by a Heavenly... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595198643
• ISBN13: 9780595198641
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: iUniverse, Incorporated
• Length: 284 Pages
• Weight: 1.01 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.1" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Look at Hell

As I look back, it was difficult for me to get into at the beginning because it was frightening and, I thought, "Do I reallly want to subject myself to this?" Also, I'm not well-versed in philosophy; so parts of it were confusing. But there were a lot of familiar names and ideas, references to Catholicism which I could relate to, having attended Catholic school for twelve years. So, I thought, I must keep reading. I became more absorbed as I continued; also, I desperately needed to know what would happen to Fannella (the main character) at the end, and I'm a reader that won't allow myself to peek at the end of a book before I get there. As I read, I was struck by the satire and allusions to the world we live in. I was also struck by the notion that the way we live on earth seems to continue into the afterlife. Our choices determine. The neat thing about Fannella is that even as he was guided through hell, he was aware and still trying to make right choices. He was honest about his own virtues and failings as he reacted to the various scenes he was led into. I appreciated the imaginative descriptions, some of which were repulsive. And it gave me a sense of the fact that things are not always what they seem, and we have to be on our guard to distinguish between right and wrong. The part about moral relativism made me wonder about our own culture. On the other hand, I have a problem with seeing things in "all black or white." Life is such a mystery, and we live with the mystery. The conclusion was very satisfying, however, and it reinforced the notion that living with and for those we love is redemptive. All in all, the book really made me think, and I plan to read the next two. I hope to read Dante as well. This book makes me want to read The Divine Comedy, which has sat on my bookshelf for years unattended.

Frightening, joyful, profound and entertaining

Sex, death, terror, joy, conversations, dematerializations, delusions and more, if you like Carlos Castaneda's wrenching and mysterious books, Hell is for you. Where did Porreco come from? The life of the World to Come: Hell is an amazing travelogue novel(?)come from the afterlife, ostensibly claimed to have been found in the papers of a deceased professor of philosophy from some East Coast university that sounds suspiciously like Boston College or Georgetown U. The writer is so comfortable imagining himself beyond the grave that this message from Hell, a little CS Lewis and a lot Carlos Castaneda, will make the reader go with him down and through Hell with fascination and terror - just like he reports - and with more than a couple of laughs and moans thrown in. I felt queasy as the mild mannered protagonist, the recently departed Professor Fiorino starts the book by finding himself in an all to real Hell of very human origin. I mean, what if this guy has been there? Hell, (the book, that is) for this reader, was a place where things aren't what we expect, yet everything we humans experience can be found in the pages of this strange, beautiful work. Beware, riddled throughout this read is a kind of existential spirituality that is strangely beguiling - a tour de force of quiet questions asked in the face of doom - that each of us just might ask ourselves in the same predicament. Not to sound too admiring, but this original page-turner, whatever one's spiritual inclination is, reads with a motion picture plot line written on a doomed roller coaster, but with all your old friends along for the ride. This calmly soulful and bizarre book could be a college student blockbuster, if it ever gets the promotion it deserves -And, if there is any justice outside of Hell, with movie to follow. Loved it.

I can hardly believe it's fiction

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I deeply wept and laughed reading this book. Rocco Porreco's divinely inspired imagination truely gave me a spiritual experience about the life after. I can hardly believe it was fiction. My sincere thanks to Rocco for a heart opening experience.Sincerely,J. Miller

The Life of the World to Come: Hell (part one of a trilogy)

Dr. Rocco Porreco's The Life of the World to Come: Hell tackles the question of every man: what happens when we die? Laying out possibilities of an afterlife in sometimes gruesome, often witty and always vivid detail, Porreco forces the reader to reason through an intense workout of moral self examination. Just when you think an issue is "settled" he comes up with another question to ponder. Porreco's forty years of teaching philosophy no doubt allowed him to write this book in a language that can be grasped by every reader. He cleverly asks and sometimes answers the hard questions that go to the heart of analyzing one's life. His book is a gift that has provided me with a model for introspection and I am looking forward to the other two parts of his trilogy: Prugatory and Paradise.