Book review: The Five People You Meet in Heaven

                                                                         

Rating: 7 out of 10

Pros: Quick read and hard to put down.  Stories can be touching.  Interesting concept of blending fact and fiction.

Cons: Felt like one of those books that is supposed to be about society, but in reality is more about the individual.  Also logic doesn't work: I can't figure out how each person would have five people waiting for them in Heaven, but only be waiting for one person.  I know this is picky but I still can't get over this.  Blending fact and fiction often creates blurred lines and I would have liked to have had a better understanding of which was which.

Recently I read Mitch Albom's "The Five People You Meet in Heaven".  The book is an interesting (and sometimes confusing) blend of fact and fiction.  We are told it is the story of Mitch's uncle who died in a horrible accident while working maintenance at an Amusement Park.  At the time of the accident we also find there was a young girl involved-whom his uncle may or may not have saved.  From there the book goes semi-fictional talking about the five people he meets in heaven, who in turn teach him lessons and tell him things he didn't know while he was alive.  Meanwhile he tries to find out if he saved the little girl.  Without giving away plot or endings I found myself losing sympathy for the main character which I don't think was supposed to happen.  I found some interesting lessons in the book, but none that I found to be life changing, let alone world changing                  
                             
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