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    The Last Day: A Novel
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    The Last Day: A Novel
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    The Last Day: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Last Day: A Novel

    Written by James Landis

    Narrated by Bruce Turk

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    I meet Jesus on the day I get home from the war. I'm on the beach, but I don't know how I got here. My mind is as dark as the night. . . . I spend the whole night on the beach. But when the sun's faint light begins to bend around the Earth, I see him. . . . There, coming toward me, out of the light, is a man. . . . Behind the man a faint curtain of light rises to the sky out of the ocean. He wears the light like a robe, though I see he's dressed like me. Jeans and a T-shirt, no shoes. And that he's older than I am, a lot older, maybe mid-thirties. He walks right toward me. He walks right into my eyes.

    So begins the spellbinding story of Warren Harlan Pease, a young U.S. Army sniper freshly returned from the Iraq War to his native New Hampshire. What follows is a page-turning adventure that is also a powerful meditation on religion and war, love and loss.

    The Last Day answers questions and asks many more. Armed with a sniper's rifle and his deeply held faith, Specialist Pease travels across ideological borders and earns an appreciation for his enemy's culture and for what connects us all as human beings. "War doesn't test your faith in Jesus," Warren comes to realize. "It tests your faith in yourself." Upon returning home, he spends an entire day with Jesus visiting and contemplating his own life with fresh eyes, and a willing heart. He examines his relationship to those he loves, and grapples with the pain he has been carrying inside since the death of his mother when he was just a boy.

    This extraordinary work of compassion and healing grace combines the themes of religion, war and poetry in a way that is wholly original, and unforgettable. It will resonate with skeptics and believers, be shared and discussed between friends and among families.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateSep 1, 2009
    ISBN9780307705419
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Last Day

    3.5/5

    26 ratings11 reviews

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      This book has been (wrongly) compared to Young's "The Shack" in many reviews. If that is what you're expecting, you will not enjoy this book. It is not "The Shack" and does not pretend to be. "The Shack" is politically correct and neatly wrapped up in happy emotions. "The Last Day" is not. "The Last Day" is a glimpse inside of a man's mind when he has experienced love and loss and has attempted to shut out the world. It is not politically correct -- in fact there are many passages that most people would find offensive. It is not wrapped up in a neat little happy ending. This book is a journey all its own. Now, if you can read this novel for what it is, without having to compare it to another novel in which the only thing they have in common is that the protagonist talks to God, it is a good book. Landis has a simple yet beautiful writing style, and the story is easy to read. The main character is one that most readers probably cannot relate to, since most of us will never enter the military. However, he is still a believable character and becomes more and more engaging as the story progresses. His journey with Jesus is very personal -- and that is important for the reader to remember. Not everyone views Jesus in the same way, and many will probably be offended by the way he is represented in this book -- just your average guy that likes walking on the beach and eating cheeseburgers. He also avoids tough theological questions, but never deviates from the journey of faith. Faith, perhaps, is the cornerstone on which this story is built.
    • 2/5
      Didn't make it through this book. It wasn't the concept (I didn't read the Shack, but I don't think either novel has a particularly original idea). Other reviewers have covered my problem with this book, so I will make this short: The book isn't really well-written. With so many other choices out there that are of higher literary merit, a reader would only come to this work for the concept. In that case, a reader is probably seeking illumination for the soul rather than a highly crafted work.
    • 5/5
      Everyone seems to be comparing The Last Day to The Shack, but I find that to be apples and oranges. The Shack is a story of faith. The Last Day is a love story. It is not a study of the nature of God. Jesus is a character in the story, but the story is not about him. It's about Warren Harlan Pease's last day and return home at the end of his tour of duty in Iraq. It's about his love for the people in his life, their relationships and interactions with one another. It's about his personal relationship with Jesus (not Jesus's relationship with the whole world).I found Warren to be a very real character. I like him a lot. Everyone was likeable, probably because we were seeing them through Warren's eyes. They were also very human. They are presented with their frailties along with their good points.The Lat Day is a sad book. It brought tears to my eyes. At the same time, it's a joyful book because it celebrates love and life. It has hope woven throughout with love. This was one of my favorite books of 2009.
    • 2/5
      I need to stop reading promo material. It raises expectations that usually are not met. The promo material for this book makes various claims that could only be true if the person reading the book had never read anything else. The story is a derivative pastiche of The Sixth Sense, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, and the Footprints poem. The only thing that kept me from figuring out the "secret" about our protagonist was the annoying conceit of Jesus running around calling himself Raphael.Creating further problems is the fact that the book doesn't know which audience it is aiming at. On the one hand it seems to want to reach a wide, secular audience by being "realistic" and "gritty." But when it comes to the details that would provide it, the book shies away, replacing curse words with S---- for example. There are a few places where the protagonist (I refuse to use his silly name.) seems to have some thoughtful conversations that might delve into deeper ideas, but they are few and far between and undeveloped.To my mind, this reads like an early draft of something that might be worked into an ok novel, but it needs much more work to rise above its limitations.
    • 4/5
      The Last Day is a memorable novel about life, death, and war. An interesting look at spending the day with Jesus and loved ones. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a story about grace and compassion.
    • 4/5
      This is a rather interesting way for a novel to be constructed. It is written from the point of view of a soldier who was killed in the iraqi War 2003, and has come back to New Hampshire in spirit form to live his last day. He relives his life on earth accopmanied by Jesus who goes under the name of Raphael "Ray" Santi. Warren "War" Pease grew up near the New Hampshire coast in a virtual pastoral setting. The only city he got to know was Baghdad. I am not sure whether to call this a war novel, but the last part of the book, "How I Got Here" is filled with his reminiscence of the Iraq War. As a sniper he felt that his mission was perhaps godly, but he does seem to develop an understanding of the Muslims who inhabit Iraq. Jesus never comments on the war, but rather deals with relationships that must be sewn up before he finishes his last day. Whether the living know what's going on with Warren is not explicated, but this is unimportant, as it is Warren who must be transformed, not his wife or father or others.The second section, called "Jesus in the air', is really beautifully written, as we see a young man grappling through school and teachers of the meaning of life. This all seems to connect with his situation of the in-between.The first section is the more earthly, dealing with the natural world and the coastal region of New Hampshire. It sets the stage for our journey with Warren and his family and friends like Beth and Ryan, who figure significantly in his life (lover and best friend).This book almost begs a comparison with William Young's "The Shack". Although written from the perspective of someone crossing over, "The Last Day" is more grounded in reality and does not have a strong theological point to make.
    • 3/5
      I have very mixed feelings about this book-quite predictable, but if I thought of Jesus as an angel insteadof Jesus, it worked a little better. There are quite a fewbooks in this genre coming out which makes me wonderwhy? I am very picky about the use of grammar, notspelling, because the book hasnt been finally editedyet, but the incorrect use of lie and lay is my pet peeve.He uses it incorrectly. An interesting subject, but would like to see a booklike this using a more universal God to lead the journey.
    • 5/5
      The Last Day: A NovelJames LandisSteerforth Press978-1-58642-165-6304p.Warren Harlan Pease is a sniper specialist in the US Army, who on his first day home meets Jesus on a beach in New Hampshire. Warren calls the beach “a place of memories. When you come here, you take your life with you.” (3) Warren Pease, whose name alone is a metaphor for his struggle for religious understanding. Soldiers call Iraq the Mess, and as he spends hours conversing with Jesus he attempts to make “peace” with the the horrible carnage and decimation of human life he has witnessed. War forces him to question his understanding of God, and other peoples’ cultural and religious beliefs. As a small boy, he learns one day his mother has committed suicide. On the same day he meets the person who become his best buddy, Ryan. His father is a busy veterinarian who has little time for Warren. In high school he meets Bethie Smith, who he finds out is the teacher’s daughter. When Mr. Smith is fired for teaching inappropriate material, Bethie and Warren become his home schooled students. Warren(War) loves Mr. Smith like a father. He introduces War to poetry and he falls in love Emily Dickinson. He also falls in love with Bethie. Contradictions surround his life in the desert. Love and hate, life and death, goodness and evil, friend and enemy invade his thoughts and tests his faith realizing through Jesus it is more about believing in yourself. You never know the enemy, good and evil can be easily misread, suicide bombers change life in a flash, and people who love and hate one another can love God. “The chaplains would have you pray, but thats because they were afraid for you being afraid for yourself. A good soldier walked with God. A frightened soldier asked God to walk with him.”(268) Landis brings you up close to the war zone with his detailed knowledge of weaponry and operations. The story is on the edge drama with some predictability that works anyway. Prepare to weep copious tears of sweeping emotions from sadness to joy. Landis balances the melody of his themes with the harmony of Warren’s conflicts to create a glorious everlasting chanson of belief and wonder.Wisteria Leigh
    • 4/5
      yes, the story is predictable, but when you see the movie TITANIC you know the ship will sink and still you watch it. I read this book so realy fast. It is an easy read, the stroy flows, at the end though I skipped over a few of the war-stroies since I wanted to read more about THE LAST DAY. Warren was an innocent man, simple and he got confronted with things, we only can start to imagine. Not to go crazy is a miracle. I think beause of his simple ( not stupid) character, he had no problem to accept Jesus as his friend for a day. The few hours, Warren spend with his daughter had me in tears. Fallen soldiers are usually just statistics and numbers. Here you have a human being with family connections and it moves you and you realize it is not just the soldier who is sacrifiing his life, but also the lifes of his family member. Still a few days later, the atmosphere of this book lingers in me. I can't wait to give this book to myfirend to read it.
    • 4/5
      James Landis, author of "The Last Day", spins quite a spelling binding read. On one hand, I enjoyed the book so much that I read it twice before reviewing it, but the concept and vein of the book are predictable and expected. Throughout the book, we as readers are pulling for Warren Pease, (or 'War') in his journey home from Iraq; however, we already know how his story ends. "The Last Day," in it's predictability, is a book that remains comfortable and enjoyable, but the defining factor that sets it apart from other "post war" books, is the character development of those surrounding War. I hope others read it, and can judge for themselves, but in my humble opinion, it's a nice addition to any library.-kc-
    • 1/5
      First person narrative is difficult to do well — Conan Doyle tried it once with Sherlock and failed. The problem is that the narrator can come off sounding like he knows everything, and it’s hard to build dramatic tension. Describing Jesus in a story is pretty near impossible. This book attempts to do both of these things. I liked the earthy, human Jesus — but he didn’t really come across as exceptional. The main character, a young soldier named Warren, is mildly surprised by things Jesus says but not exactly astonished like Nathaniel was, or as the disciples were when Jesus calmed the waves. The war part was well-researched, but I felt a bit overwhelmed at times with military acronyms and explanations. The main character has his flaws, but he’s no great sinner and is even a bit of a prude, refusing to watch a belly dancer with his comrades and substituting dashes for minor profanity like “crap.” In fact, Warren is so righteous, at some points I wondered what he needed saving from. Some descriptive scenes and nice touches make me want to read something by this author written in the third person.