 "Short, warm, feel-good parable about love and life" | 2009-10-26 |
| - Reviewed By abhinavagarwal |
A heart-warming tale of the love, its power to heal, to reach out across worlds, and the interconnectedness of life. Its brevity is a positive, though at the expense of lightly sketched characters.
Eddie is old, 83 (or 84?) years old, and about to die while trying to save a little girl in an accident at the amusement park where he works. After his death, he goes to heaven - a very deliberately non-denominational heaven, where he meets five people, each of whom were touched by him or whom he touched during their lives, and who explain that to him. One story in the book traces Eddie's life from a youngster to his days as a soldier in the War, another about his actual experiences in Heaven and the tales of the people he meets there, and a third one that is brief and that sort of describes life down below without Eddie.
The underlying theme is one of the power of love, its ability to reach out across even worlds, and the redeeming power that it has. Some sections will tug at the heartstrings, for sure. Eddie's relationship with his father, complex and multi-layered, is one of the highlights of the book. Eddie's father himself is described sympathetically, and finally as a father - perhaps in terms that appeal to the sons (or daughters) in most of us.
Similar stories have been done for many years, the most notable in my opinion being Charles Dickens' "The Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose (The Annotated Books)" and the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition)".
The book is short and you can read it in one sitting. That is a strength of the book because it does not snuff out the message underneath layers of possibly overdone prose. On the other hand, this brevity comes at the expense of characters that do not feel as strongly etched as they could have been, and plots that do feel they could have been better explored and sketched. A longer book may have done better justice to the plot, but that is by no means certain. This short book works.
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 "Don't believe the hype.. OK at best...." | 2009-10-09 |
| - Reviewed By User: AEBFR2YPC1KO3 |
Well, I finally got around to reading this and was not all that surprised that it did not at all live up to the hype. Giving it 5 stars is a joke. 4 stars maybe, if it somehow spoke to you at a time when you needed it. 3 and under is more appropriate in my opinion.
It was not a horrible book. Not everyone may like Albom's style, but if you can get past that (or rather, if you like his style), it's ok for recreational literature. The reading is easy, and thankfully it goes quick. But rather than find it inspirational or uplifting, I found it rather dry and depressing.
And despite attempts to defend it, it very much IS like A Christmas Carol, It's a Wonderful Life.... but then what is really original these days? Most things have been done.
Many times when I don't like a best-selling book, I assume it was me who just didn't get it this time around. But based on the reviews I am reading here, I can see that's not entirely the case. Review after review I keep reading that it's "about the after life and what happens after you die" or some such similar nonsense. It absolutely is NOT about that. It's really about how one life, though it may seem pointless and plain, touches other lives in a way that may not be immediately obvious.
The "heaven" aspect just serves as a creative back drop, which I did feel was somewhat creative. But it had nothing to do with trying to make a religious statement or anything close to that.
I really get the impression that many (I am sure not ALL) of the people who gave this book such high marks are probably not avid readers or have not been exposed to much to the extent that they would see this as being really good or really original. Unfortunately, it's neither. It's got a couple of sappy parts and a lot cliches, that makes for an OK story, but not one that deserves the praise it got. |
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 "Great book on CDs - Arrived as promised" | 2009-10-01 |
| - Reviewed By User: AK16ZYTBZ0YYF |
| Transaction couldn't have been better. The product is as described. Would do business with seller again. Thanks so much... |
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| "Gives you lots to think about." | 2009-09-27 |
| - Reviewed By User: A10DG2B29KRI0C |
| I read this over 5 nights, wanting to pause after the story of each person that he 'met' in heaven. For me, each story was thought provoking, and it brings into focus that everyone has their own perspective of the same event. It's stories like this that makes my world less black and white, more grey. Highly recommend. |
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 "More Like One of Those Inspirational E-mails Your Mom Forwards To You" | 2009-09-07 |
| - Reviewed By rabear45 |
Five People You Meet In Heaven is a tale of life and death; and about the five people the main character meets in Heaven.
The writing is horrible. The format is strange. The writer often has the skill of a high school teenager writing a paper for his English class.
I have to give credit to his vivid imagination, but in the end, you don't really care about what you just read. The title is a bit misleading. It's not five people you meet in Heaven, it should have been "Five People Eddie Meets In Heaven" since apparently, each person has their own unique five that they meet.
Anyway, the tone and the skill of this book is on level with those nice inspirational emails your mom forwards you. Except, those are short, sweet, and to the point, while this book useless and self-indulgent. |
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| "It is a good tale." | 2009-08-25 |
| - Reviewed By User: AKCW8Y4UBI0AG |
| I read this book on the recommendation from a friend, and I am glad I did. I enjoyed the story. It makes you think about how/why "random" people can influence your life (and you can influence theirs). Interesting story! |
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