Book Review: The Five People You Meet In Heaven

A little worried I was with this novel
That, like its brother, I did surmise,
Would be a blithering, storyless hovel
Of words -- but then, a pleasant surprise...

Book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven, by Mitch Albom

*****(out of five stars)

First I want to apologize that my life is so boring that most of the posts in the last ten I've written are book reviews. But whatever. Don't judge. Most of my little adventures (like strawberry picking and invention of my own iced green tea) didn't seem to warrant whole posts on their own. I may rethink this. Anyways...getting on...

After not really enjoying Tuesdays with Morrie, I was a little worried that this book would have the same sort of lack of rhythm, questionable storyline, and blatant-preachy-in-your-face kind of message. Thankfully I was wrong. If ever I could call a book charming, this would be the one. It's a charming little book, short, to the point, but still reliant on the workings of the author's fiction bone.

It's about Ed who dies in the first chapter of the book trying to rescue a little girl from an amusement park ride gone wrong. What follows are the five conversations with five separate people he meets in the afterlife, who each explain a part of his life to him. The characters and stories are not what you'd expect.

The story in itself was nice, well-paced and, like I said, charming. The character is immediately likeable. The messages/lessons are obvious and present, but not over the top evangelical. It's touching, it's sweet, but not dripping with sugar. It explores the dark points in life, the sense of being lost, of being invisible, but ultimately, it's about being found.

Thanks goes out to Andy who lent me this book...and I hope that everyone gets the chance to read this. It's short, doesn't take much time...and is definitely worth your while.