Rating: 
Summary: yuck
Review: The "lessons" that are taught are completely uninspiring, and the view of Heaven presented in the story is actually kind of annoying.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: This book was so disappointing it left me in a bad mood the rest of the day. It begins by making you believe that Eddie at 83 years old never married Margarite. All he had of her was just the photo of her waving goodbye. Later on in the book you find out that he did marry her and had a loving marriage to her.
It just doesn't measure up to "Tuesday's With Morrie".
Rating: 
Summary: Meaningful Fiction
Review: This book has so much in common with MY FRACTURED LIFE (Rikki Lee Travolta). It deals with death, tragedy, and searching for meaning in the lives that have been lived and how a man can have affected others without even knowing it. My Fractured Life is one of my favorite books and I bought THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN (Mitch Albom) based upon reviews that said they were similar. Glad I bought it. If you like one you're guaranteed to like the other.
Rating:
Summary: Just what I needed . .
Review: I bought this book this weekend on a whim. Even though I normally research my purchases ahead of time I occasionally like to go on instinct. I have never read "Tuesdays with Morrie" so I have to say I wasn't influenced at all by any preconceived ideas of what the writing would be like. I loved it. I found it hard to put down and I am still thinking about it - mulling it over - several days later. I have a list of people I've encouraged to read it, and it is such a quick read that if it's not their cup of tea then no harm is done. I think I found the idea of your life finally being fit like a puzzle piece into the grander sceme of LIFE so comforting. If you believe in God, or a higher spirit of some kind, you inevitably have to let go of past pain - times when you prayed for an intervention or guidance and felt that your prayers went unheeded. In this version of Heaven you are invited to see how the pieces fit - how things do balance out. I approached my mundane Mommy chores with a renewed sense of purpose this week - so I didn't become a Professor or an Engineer - the older I become the more I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be. I suggest you read the book with an open mind and see what you think! Anyway I'll be mulling over my Five People for some time to come . . .
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Excellent ... a must read.Also recommend Corporation YOU: A Business Plan for the Soul."
Rating:
Summary: Morrie Schwartz would have a hard time doing better!
Review: Tuesdays with Morrie would be a hard book to follow. Mr. Albom has met the challenge. Remembering Morrie's words, "Death ends a life, not a relationship." has brought a a poignant suggestion, via Mr. Albom, about the connection between heaven and earth. I loved the book, yet, had to pace myself in reading it. Much to think about, including who would my five people be? An emotional, thought-provoking, literate, and novel. Keep talkin', Mitch. I'll listen.
Rating:
Summary: are you kidding?
Review: Yes, this book brought me to tears....tears of pain. It is simply among the worst, most cliched, most sophomoric pieces of writing I've ever read. Albom is terrific on The Sports Reporters but he should leave fiction to the professionals. I suffered through the entire thing, hoping, waiting in vain, for some spark, some sign that this book deserves a spot on the bestseller list. Instead, it simply proved the theory that one bestseller is all you need to insure a spot on that list forever, regardless of the crap you publish. It's so bad, it will make you angry.
Rating: 
Summary: Life affirming?
Review: When I read a book, I like to get the "warm and fuzzies" and receive a "life affirming" message. I'm also a big fan of "feel-good" books and movies, as a genre. This book is almost universally described as "life affirming". It makes heaven seem like a wonderful place, since you meet people from your past, and learn heart-warming spiritual lessons from them in ways that you never would have expected. However, there is confusion in a couple of areas that need clarification. How can a "life affirming" book be promoting the idea of death (ie, going to heaven)? The author cannot have it both ways here, unless they subscribe to the strange idea that death is in some way life affirming. Also, what's the point of learning important spiritual lessons about life and about yourself when it is, by definition, too late? (ie, you're dead). This could be an OK book, but if the author were to clear up these points of confusion we'd all be better off.
Rating:
Summary: Short, sweet novel that just missed being great
Review: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom is one of
my all-time favorite books . . . so when I heard that he had
a new book out, THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN,
I rushed to reserve it at the library. It took me several months to get a copy of this short, sweet
novel that just missed being great . . . however, it was most
definitely readable . . . the premise, to quote from the book jacket,
intrigued me: "All endings are beginnings. We just don't know
it at the time." I grew to care for the main character, Eddie--a grizzled war
veteran . . . he seems to be trapped into a meaningless life
of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park; i.e., until his
83rd birthday . . . it was on that day that he died in a tragic
accident, trying to save the life of a little girl from a falling cart. He awakens in the afterlife, surprised to find that it is a place
where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who
were in it . . . these people may have been loved ones or distant
strangers, yet each of them changed your path forever. To quote the author, that is the secret of heaven: that each
affects the other and the other affects the next, and the world
is full of stories, but the stories are all one. There were several other memorable passages; among them:
He learned a few words in a few foreign languages. He learned to spit
a great distance. He learned the nervous cheer of a soldier's first
survived combat, when the men slap each other and smile as if it's
over--We can go home now!--and he learned the sinking depression
of a soldier's second combat, when he realizes the fighting does not
stop at one battle, there is more and more after that. Ruby stepped toward him. "Edward," she said softly. It was the first
time she had called him by name. "Learn this from me. Holding anger
is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon
that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade.
And the harm we do, we do to ourselves. . . . That's because no one is
born with anger. And when we die, the soul is freed of it. But now, here,
in order you move in, you must understand why you felt what you did,
and why you no longer need to feel it." People say they "find" love, as if it were an object hidden by a rock.
But love takes many forms, and it is never the some for any man
and woman. What people find then is a certain love. And Eddie found
a certain love with Marguerite, a grateful love, a deep but quiet love,
one that he knew, above all else, was irreplaceable. Once she'd gone,
he'd let the days go stale. He put his heart to sleep.
Rating:
Summary: Five People You Meet In Heaven
Review: The book is good but the interview with the author at the end really takes away from the story. If you read or listen to the book, stop when you get to the interview.
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