The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Rating:
Summary: Mixed feelings: more sappy than enlightening
Review: The premise is that most of our pain and suffering is due to lack of knowledge, and that knowledge will be given us upon our death. In heaven we will learn one life lesson from each of five people.

I found the story quite enjoyable. The characters held my interest, though to my taste they could've been more rounded out.

However, two things didn't sit right with me.

First, to a substantial degree, the story seems intended to ease our fears about death; to comfort us and give a happy version about what happens when we die.

Second, the lessons themselves are mostly disappointing. One lesson is outstanding! If only more people could truly understand this and make an effort to incorporate it into our lives. The other four, while there may be some truth in them, are little more than comforting beliefs.

Bottom line: If you can buy into the premise, this book may lift your spirits a bit, and there ain't nothin' wrong with that. But if you're looking for more substance, at best this book could be a starting point to get you thinking about your life.

In the end, it doesn't quite live up to its promise.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing Book
Review: A thought provoking book. It's a very different view of heaven than is given to us by most religious teachings which is why it is causing resentment amongst some people. Keeping the actual concept of heaven intact the book beautifully describes who you would encounter in heaven and how they would proceed to explain to you how your life was changed on earth by the actions you or sometimes they took. I felt this was refreshingly different from the good/evil view of heaven and hell we are accustomed to hearing i.e paradise to people who are good and hell with the Devil and the burning fires to those who are bad. Here the soul of the protagonist is taken through five "pockets of heaven" as the author describes it and he is given explanations to both his good actions as well as bad in his time on Earth. Surprisingly the book also shows him redeeming himself for some bad he did on Earth although unknowingly. All in all the book reinforces what we often hear from people or try to convince ourselves with when we cannot find explanations to why certain events are taking place in our lives, which is "Whatever happens is for the best". Some people figure this out(most of the times to keep themselves from rebelling against their circumstances) in their time on Earth and some people as the book shows come to know of the reasons in the afterlife. Read the book with an open mind and you won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: How could people be raving about this book?
Review: this was a boring, cliched, predictable, Not Well Written bundle of aphorisms.
Not spiritual in the least. Thin.

Rating:
Summary: Political Correctness at its Best
Review: It is hardly surprising that this book is so widely read and that it has received such unanimous critical acclaim. Albom may not have written it with the intention of topping the bestseller lists, but he undoubtedly targeted an incredibly broad audience. As a moralist, he presented an interpretation of heaven designed to please people of all religions and cultures. Nothing in the book suggests partiality for Christianity or any other major religion, and there is little reason for anybody to object to what Eddie perceives as heaven. Albom has produced a work of unparalled political correctness. His book raises no controversy; it does not reinforce the ideals of traditional theology, and it presents few new ideas about the nature of the afterlife. Albom merely wrote what Americans want to read, and he made little effort to construct a creative, memorable work. His book is immensely popular, but it lacks originality and literary value. Albom would be a much more effective writer if he worried less about offending his readers. The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a book designed to make Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and everyone else happy. Next time, the author should write according to his own beliefs rather than cater to those of his audience.

Rating:
Summary: I found it depressing
Review: I enjoy reading inspirational stories occasionally because they usually leave me feeling uplifted and hopeful. This book is well written but reading it left me feeling depressed. Eddie is an amusement park maintenance man who is killed one Sunday afternoon in an accident at the park where he works. He then awakens to find himself in some sort of heaven where, one by one, he is encountered by five people whose lives intersected with his at some point in time. Three of the individuals are people Eddie never actually knew and sadly, he discovers that he was inadvertently responsible for the deaths of two of them.

Eddie did not have a charmed life by any stretch of the imagination. He grew up with an abusive father, he was taken captive and then crippled during WWII, he gave up dreams of becoming an engineer in order to help his widowed mother then worked years in a low-paying job, he and his wife were never able to have children and lived their entire married life in a small apartment, then his wife died at an early age and he was left alone - depressed, lonely and in pain.

Unlike some other tales where people are shown how their lives affected others ( It's a Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol) "Five People" doesn't really leave you feeling inspired or better about your life. The people Eddie encounters in heaven often do not make him feel better about his life, they make him feel worse! In the end Eddie does understand that there was indeed a "meaning" to his life but even that struck me as being sad and pathetic. I hope that Mitch Albom's version of heaven is true only in his imagination.

Rating:
Summary: As Peggy Lee sang...
Review: ..."Is that all there is?" Very disappointing; I am amazed at all the worship this book has inspired. Overly saccharine story and unsatsifying ending. I did like the scenes where the main character is reunited with his deceased wife, but that's not enough to recommend the book.

Rating:
Summary: Very Spiritual and Uplifting Book
Review: In my opinion, this is a feel-good book. It's a fast read and leaves you with a peaceful feeling. I'm the kind of person who often wonders what life is all about and can worry whether or not my time on Earth is going to make a difference. Sometimes it seems that good people die young for no apparent reason and that life is not always fair.
It helps to put these questionable things into perspective and helps you to stop the worrying and the wondering and to "Let Go and Let God". All of our answers will be given to us when we die and, therefore, we should not dwell on it during our lifetime. When one of our loved ones dies unexpectedly or too young for our personal comfort it helps us to realize that it's not necessarily a bad thing. Although we may feel earthly pain, frustration and maybe even anger, the death should be viewed as just one piece of a giant puzzle that is being put together in a preplanned manner. We have no control over certain things and in order to enjoy our lives to the fullest extent possible we need to accept it and wait for our answers which will be given to us in due time.
If we waste time dwelling on the "why's" and the "why nots" we will be disappointed in the end when we finally realize that it all makes sense and we should have just gone with the flow the whole time. Although some days it may feel that my job or my simple life are not that important in the grand scheme of things, this book opened my eyes and told me that I do make a difference and that all things are entwined and meant to be.

Rating:
Summary: Good parts and bad parts
Review: I found this book to have both good parts and bad parts. I thought the story line was interesting but, Heaven seemed a little like hell in this book. The things that he had to go through with his five people were not peaceful at all. A friend of mine gave it to me, hoping that it would give me the same warm feeling as it did her. I am glad she gave it to me, but it shows that people can have two different opinions about things. This book depressed me.

Rating:
Summary: Is that all there is?
Review: I am really disappointed because my friends really talked this book up. I keep waiting for this to get better, but it isn't. I have 100 pages to go, but am not impressed - it is just so Bridges and Cheese. I am glad I didn't buy it. There is such a plethora of good and sustaining literature out there, I just don't understand how books like this get on the best seller list other than it is short and I guess the majority of people don't get introspective about their lives so therefore need books like this and the Cheese book to show them what is right in front of their faces. It bothers me when I have wasted my valuable reading time on a book like this.

One point for the dedication. The best part of the book is the dedication to his uncle. My suggestion is to pick up the book in the store, and read the dedication standing there, and look at the picture in the back, but don't buy the book.

Rating:
Summary: Like a chocolate souffle
Review: Well, if you just want to entertain yourself for a couple of hours, this will do it. Nothing profound here. A lot like "Who Moved My Cheese" or "The Present."