Book Review: Must Reads For Youth

The Egg by Andy Weir (13+)

What does it mean to reach true consciousness? It’s a big question, I know, but what if I told you it involved egg incubation?

Grapple with this concept in Weir’s famous short story, The Egg, where a 48-year-old man (“you”) and God (“I”) meet in a space of nothingness once the man dies in a car accident. Their exchange in the afterlife gives an imaginative vision of an age-old question: what happens after we die? Disoriented, a man awakens in a “void”, with only brief recollections of a fast-approaching truck and memories of his family – his only company being a “vague authority figure”, which was “more of a grammar schoolteacher than the almighty” (so much so that they could not be defined by the social construct of gender). This indefinite figure introduces themself as God, clarifying that “all religions are right in their own way”.

Their ensuing conversation allows God to explain to the man how he will be reincarnated: just as he has been countless times before, and will continue to do so until he has lived every single human life ever lived.

An unexpected concept to say the least! Before reading The Egg, I understood reincarnation as chronologically one after the other, where every soul is reincarnated and will never interact with “themselves” (meaning their own soul). By contrast, we are constantly interacting with other incarnations of the same soul, as we lived or will live that life at some point. This is possible because our understanding of time only exists in our universe, which is why his next life will be as a Chinese peasant girl in 540AD. Of course, this means that we are all of one soul, whether we know it or not.

The man has some startling realisations on this idea: he has lived as both Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth… Hitler as well as the millions he killed… Jesus plus all of his followers. This builds into one of the most powerful moments of the short story; the easy truth is that “every time you victimised someone… you were victimising yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

Read that again. I don’t usually incorporate quotes into my reviews but I found this dialogue so insightful that the concept is best captured by the original wording rather than my own interpretation. To put it simply, we are all of one spirit, so all harm we inflict upon others is also inflicted upon ourselves – an excellent reason (if you need one) to be fair and kind to everyone.

Having said that, you may be wondering about why God makes one soul live every life. Why is it only this soul and God alone in this universe? The answer exposes more of Weir’s understanding of life’s meaning and how the life cycle of the universe operates (thus, why the universe is simply an egg), leading to the man – and by extension, us all – reaching true consciousness. If you’re curious, I recommend reading this wise three-page short story; when introducing kids younger than 16 to this existential abstract, I’d recommend they watch a popular animation of The Egg.

For more of Andy Weir’s thought-provoking and witty content, I’d recommend reading his other short stories with unexpected endings (for a real surprise, read Annie’s Day). Notably, I enjoyed Access, Antihypoxiant and Bored World (definitely would reread this one!), and The Midtown Butcher.

• So glad to be back from hiatus! I’ve had to take a quick break from writing reviews to get used to my first year at the University of Warwick in the UK. On a final note, I’d also like to hear your thoughts on my column; for any comments on The Egg or simply to give me a book recommendation of whatever you’re reading at the moment (I appreciate all messages from members of our community!). Contact me at bookspacebda@gmail.com to tell me all about it. For frequent updates on what I’m currently reading, follow @bookspacebda on Instagram!