Why am I emotionally invested in a cockroach??

Okay, so, a cockroach dies and has a nice chat with Saint Peter at the pearly gates, and tries to get into heaven? I promise I haven't lost my mind. I'm not reviewing a fever dream. That's exactly what happens and it's as ridiculous and glorious as it sounds.

At first it feels silly, but then the rules start piling up and you’re like 🫤??? The requirements for getting into Heaven get more and more ridiculous: You have to be as tall as Saint Peter (but then he lets a short man in??), you need two legs (but then a one-legged man gets a free pass???). It very quickly turns into this sharp, almost petty-feeling critique of social and religious hypocrisy, where the rules clearly don’t apply equally.

Written almost like poems, each chapter takes shots at religion in ways that are clever and kinda savage. You think Saint Peter is going to be this majestic gatekeeper?

Nope. He’s a jabroni. He's bureaucratic and clueless, highlighting all the hypocrisy humans hide behind fancy rituals.

And you start to feel bad for the cockroach. This poor little guy's just trying his best while being held to impossible, inconsistent standards. And he glides through it all with dignity, making you question who really deserves what. For a book that’s basically just dialogue and not even that long, it really sneaks up on you emotionally. I cannot believe I finished this wanting justice for a cockroach.

I'm divided on if the illustrations add anything? They’re fine, I guess (loved the last one!), but the real punch is in the words and the absurd back-and-forth.

The amount of humour and chaos and feelings the author manages to pack into such a tiny book is seriously impressive. It doesn’t give a damn if you’re ready for it. It makes you laugh then you realise under the humour it's actually really deep.

And Saint Peter's still a jabroni.

This is tricky to rate because I've never read something quite like it! It was certainly interesting! I felt bad for the poor cockroach, which is really saying something because I generally hate roaches. The dialogue between the roach and St. Peter was witty and entertaining.

This was a very short but very interesting read. It felt nostalgic, almost like I was reading a folk tale or nursery rhyme that I had heard before but in a slightly different context. I think this book raises some good questions and makes you think about what great, often absurd, lengths are employed in order to exclude a particular group, applicable to a variety of contexts. This is a delightful dialogue between a simple, hungry cockroach and Saint Peter (heaven's doorman).

GoodReads review 02/23/2026