Have you heard about Chinese religious practice, they burn fake money (hell money), paper houses, clothes for their deceased ancestors? I asked my neighbour when he was doing that and his answer was,”so that my deceased father will get money and clothes in heaven,” to which I replied,”heaven is not called heaven for nothing. It’s a place where all needs are fulfilled!” thinking that I, as a thirteen year old, had suddenly become wiser.

This story is about Raymond Lie, who had lost 53 million dollars of his gangster client mr. Wu in the stock market and is desperate to pay off his debt. When he’s in a garden, he met a man who burnt hell money, paper houses and cars. Raymond got an idea. He then invented a story to tell potential customers that he has had an accident and nearly dead experience, that he’s privileged to see what the afterlife’s like. He said that in the afterlife, a one room apartment is to be purchased by being a member of Bank of Eternity. His business went skyrocket and he flew to India and modified the myth story to fit their religious practice.

By this, the story switched to Shanjit Sharma, living in Mumbai and got diagnosed terminally ill. After a motor accident, his friend Ali helped him stay at his apartment. There, Shanjit saw an advertisement folder of Bank of Eternity and wanted to be a member, but didn’t have enough fund. Ali’s boss agreed to help Shanjit pay to become a member of Bank of Eternity, but not without a condition.

The story switched again to Theo, an Amsterdammer who complained that the Afterlife money didn’t exist only to end up fighting a lone battle.

The story is engaging. It combined fiction and non-fiction altogether. It’s been a pleasure read! Thanks NetGalley and Central Avenue for providing me a copy in exchange for a review