One of the great things about checking out audiobooks from the public library is that I can take a chance on something I normally wouldn’t buy, and I end up loving it. And then, of course, there are the times I take a chance on something I wouldn’t normally like and end up really hating it as predicted. See if you can guess which is the case here by the end of this post.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven is about Eddie, an amusement park maintenance guy who dies and goes to heaven. Spoiler alert, I guess, though you could probably figure that out from the title. From there he meets five people whose lives touched his and learns why he was such a unique and special little snowflake while on Earth. The book’s main shortcoming is that I only get to enjoy seeing something kill Eddie on one occasion. And that was over within the first few pages.
Seriously, this thing is so ham-fisted in its moralizing, so infused with cliches, so sentimental, and so naked in its attempts to manipulate emotions that I only finished it because it was blessedly short. The worst part about this last point is that the audiobook brings up violins –VIOLINS!– in the background at the most supposedly sentimental parts. Which is to say, constantly.
Oh, and Albom apparently never heard of the “show, don’t tell” rule when it comes to establishing character and showing reactions. I guess everyone in Heaven describes their mental processes in flagrant detail. There’s also the issue of proclamations that sound wise at first, but crumble under any amount of thought. For example, there’s a line to the effect of “Sometimes, when you sacrifice something you don’t lose it. You just give it to someone else.” Now, I haven’t a dictionary in front of me to help me through this moral morass, but I fail to see the difference off the top of my head.
At any rate, I certainly wouldn’t recommend this. If you really want to read a good book about the afterlife, pick up Dante’s The Divine Comedy, read the first few pages, then throw it down in frustration and decide that there’s no good middle ground.
Did you read Tuesdays with Morrie? I haven’t, but I think it’s by the same author (the cover art is the same). That book came out when I worked at a bookstore, and it was at the top of the bestseller list. From what I heard it was pretty schmaltzy too.
No, I didn’t read that one. I think I’m going to avoid anything else by this guy. Enough schmaltz.
That book is excellent. I enjoyed it a lot. I have to say I prefered his other book “Tuesdays with Morrie”, which I read just after that one.
Andy
I think this is a great book, I read it a few weeks ago and then I read others book like this and belief me when I say that I know think diferently about my life.