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Summary: Zen and the Art of Amusement Ride Maintenance
Review: The five people you meet in heaven are the five who will confirm your fears and validate your being.Eddie, head of maintenance at Ruby Pier, a bit of a coward, a bit of a hero, is drawn to the heaven of five others who teach him his place in the universe. His life and death are not quite as unremarkable as he surmised. Eddie, who fixed rides at an aging amusement park, sees his life as wasted opportunity. Eddie, who loved and lost, and grew bitter with age, has to learn about life from the eyes of others. This is a profoundly wise and sweet fable. The message is at least as old as John Donne who proclaimed that "any man's death diminishes me, for I am involved in mankind." But unlike Donne's Meditation XVII Albom's short novel flickers in lifelike motion like a silent movie across a silver screen. In Eddie's life, we can see Anyman and in Anyman's we can see ourselves.
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Summary: Simple messages to think about...
Review: I didn't/wouldn't take this book literal enough to think it's painting a picture of what heaven is, or is supposed to be. The whole heaven spin is just a mechanism for making the point. That's why there's never any consideration about "Eddie" returning to life or fixing it. It's simply a matter of understanding it. It very simply made me think of how complicated life is. Next time you see that old veteran geezer marching in the parade or getting drunk in a corner....just think of what kind of story is behind each one.
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Summary: Captivating
Review: This is the first Albom novel that I have ever picked up -- I guess I was simply intrigued by the title. This book is, in simpliest terms, excellent. The colorful descriptions actually painted vivid pictures for me. The narrative was comfortable and easy, like reading a letter from a lost relative...filling me in on the years that we missed. This book so struck me that I read it cover to cover in a few hours, something I rarely am able to accomplish. Highly recommended.
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Summary: Not anything like Tuesdays with Morie
Review: I think Mitch had a great deal of pressure on him after writing "Tuesdays with Morie". He had quite an act to follow and was not successful at it. I got the impression that he was trying to write "It's a wonderful Life" with different characters. I cannot believe people are saying that it was a tear jerker. I thought the ending was very hokey and I left with the feeling that his life was the way he pictured it, worthless. I kept thinking there would be some great revelation. There was none. The whole book was a disappointment. The best thing about it was it was over quickly!
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Summary: You must be kidding
Review: Author Mitch Albom must have phoned this one in. So disappointing. The concept is excellent and I expected great reflection and life lessons. Instead I got sap, sap and more sap. Read Tuesdays with Morrie and hope for better in Albom's next book.
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Summary: Disappointed
Review: With the media hype surrounding this book and its placement on bestseller lists I expected a powerful read. This is not what I got. The book is contrived at best and sappy at its worst. Although the premise itself is genius I found that the story did not live up to its potential. There were moments while reading that I expected the next page to be more engaging but this never happened. Poor Eddie spent his first moments in heaven full of angst and confusion trying to determine why certain people greeted him. The fifth person to greet Eddie was probably a tear jerking event for some readers, but I felt cheated. The ending was lame. I agree with several other reviewers that the best thing about this book was its quick readability. For those that have not read "Tuesdays with Morrie", do not let this book be a guide for you. Tuesdays is a great book!
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Summary: snapshot of Heaven
Review: I was unsure if I would enjoy reading someone else's point of view on such a personal subject, but I was delightfully amazed and enlightened. Mitch Albom painted a tasteful picture of Heaven, and the possibilities were realistic. He offered hope and a positive outlook on the subject of death. He also spun a nice tale of whom you meet and why. His point of view was refreshing. I was caught up in this "easy to read, and finish quickly" book. I have chosen to give this book to a few friends who are not intimidated by the thought of Heaven, and religion. I think it makes for a lovely gift.
Rating:
Summary: Poor
Review: I would like to reiterate that the book's title and plot are very good at pulling the reader in, but not only are the events in the book predictable but very poorly written, the character development is very damp. One passage in particular displays his writing style which seemed to me like he was listing off details over and over instead of getting a taste for all sides of "Eddie" "He used a cane to get around. his face was broad and craggy from the sun, with salty whiskers and a lower jaw that protruded slightly, making him look prouder than he felt. He kept a cigarette behind his left ear and a ring of keys hooked to his belt. He wore rubber-soled shoes. He wore an old linen cap. His pale brown uniform suggested a workingman, and a workingman he was." There you can see he is constantly saying he kept a, His face was, he wore, he wore, he was a....Its very constipated writing. In the first chapter alone I was very tempted to just skip a bunch of pages while the author kept saying 30 minutes until his death, 25 minutes...I got it, he's going to die. Albom tried to write his book out of time sequence which usually works well for Donnie Darko and all of Quentin Tarantino's films. But this is boring! Eddie is a typical old guy who works maintennance at a park who is bothered by supposedly typical teenagers who seem more to me like Nelson's friends from the Simpsons. Though I have more cons than pros for this book, the overall spiritual message of the book is very useful I'll admit, but if you're out to sell a novel, there's ways you have to write it to pull in an audience.
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Summary: Annoyingly boring
Review: I can honestly say that I have never been more disappointed in a book. I only continued reading this "book" because I figured on the next page something profoundly wonderful had to happen. Much to my suprise, I ran out of pages....am I missing part of the book? I wish.
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Summary: Who are your 5 people?
Review: We never know who's life we will impact. Will it be positive or negative? How will we know? When, if ever will we know? Mitch does a fabulous job of showing us how our actions and decisions just might possibly affect others in ways we may never know. Just to be safe, be kind to others.
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