What is your life worth? Not just the material things, and how much money you have in the bank, but your life itself? How much would you pay for happiness and contentment? How much should you be refunded for anxiety and pain?
In the novel,
The Invoice, by Jonas Karlsson, our main character (who remains nameless) receives an invoice that is worth roughly $670,000 (according to the online conversion calculator I used, as the amount in the book is in Swedish currency 5,700,000 kronor.)
Having never spent that much money in his life, thinking he has mistakenly gotten someone elses bill for something, he tosses it aside and forgets about it. Until he receives another one. With interest.
After some attempts he gets through to a customer service agent and finds out that the time has come for everyone to pay for their life experiences, because they can't keep paying for everyones experiences for nothing can they?
(It was never made clear why people have to pay for their life experiences or how the state was footing the bill for peoples happiness to begin with.)
Our MC starts calling his customer service rep at all hours, trying to figure out why he owes so much. He feels he has lived a very normal, very boring, very inexpensive life.
Of course he starts to realize how happy he really is in his life, and how all the little things (like his job at a video store, or his MC Escher poster) really do lead to great happiness.
He also realizes he can never pay his debt off, and wonders what is going to happen to him.
This is NOT an action filled novel. Pretty much nothing happens in this novel aside from him going to work or talking on the phone.
It is supposed to make you think about your own life. To make you look at the little things, like the sunset, the flowers, the feel of sun on your shoulders, and realize that every little experience is worth more than you think.
The Invoice will be available on amazon in Kindle, Hardcover, and audio starting on July 12, 2016.
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I received a copy of this novel free from Blogging for Books, but all thoughts and opinions on it are my own.