Armageddon House is a fast-paced, evocatively written, psychological weird fiction novella about four people living, seemingly willingly, in a bomb shelter or an underground bunker in an unknown location somewhere in the world.
Griffin just drops you into the protagonist mind, and doesn’t really explain what’s going on in the world that drove them to the bomb shelter/bunker initially, or why they chose to go, or why were they the ones to go and not other people, or—
There’s just a lot of questions not easily answered, or answered at all. Which might be intentional.
It’s one of the books that really goes over your head if you’re not paying attention to the subtle cues and descriptions. It’s like he’s writing a story behind the story. It reminds me of House of Leaves in a way, but not as complex and puzzling, and it definitely deserves a re-read for me to fully grasp the entirety of the story.
But, the story that you do understand is one about life, the routine of day-to-day actions, of what it all means, if anything at all, and what will happen once it’s over; about friendships and relationships, past, present, and future; about yourself changing through the years, no longer being the person you were in the past and no longer being the person you’re now in the future, and your own ticks, your own idiosyncrasies… It’s amazing that Griffin could touch on so many things in such a small book.
Overall, I enjoyed it a lot, despite the ever present feeling of missing something throughout my read. I recommend picking this up if you’re a fan of Griffin’s previous work, or you’re just a fan of weird fiction.
Micah Castle 