The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The more I think about this book, the less confident I am of my rating and its impending review. It is a unique story that explains one person’s (the author’s) idea of heaven through the narration of an old man’s ascent to heaven. But is this story really worth 4 stars?
Considering the length or rather “shortness” of this story, the author was able to create characters that were interesting. The main character was well described and contained some depth as the narrator provided insight into his psychological well being instead of only focusing on his physical actions. The secondary characters, with their limited appearances within the story, were strong enough to leave lasting impressions and aided in moving the plot along.
The plot was a simple, yet intriguing one and was kept alive superbly through the narrative style chosen by the author. The narration was that of a conversational style and kept the topic light, even though discussing points such as death and illness are never taken lightly.
The descriptions of the settings were beautiful and accomplished without over-embellishing for the sake of rambling on.
I assume my lack of enthusiasm/confidence for this story stems from the fact that as an explanation or even just a glimpse into someone’s idea about heaven it was not fully fleshed out. As the reader, I felt something was missing.
Overall, it was a good and easy read and I would recommend it.
