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challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a really interesting read, and I’m a bit sad it took me so long to finish it, especially considering the length of the book. I won’t deny that it took me a bit to get into the story, but I still really enjoyed it.
I liked seeing Eddy’s character development throughout the book, and the lessons learned there are some we can apply to ourselves.
I’ve read books similar to this one before, and I’d say it’s as good as the ones I’ve read before.
I will try to read the follow-up to this story when I have the time. If you’re in the mood, this could be a book that works for you!
I liked seeing Eddy’s character development throughout the book, and the lessons learned there are some we can apply to ourselves.
I’ve read books similar to this one before, and I’d say it’s as good as the ones I’ve read before.
I will try to read the follow-up to this story when I have the time. If you’re in the mood, this could be a book that works for you!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Infertility, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Medical content, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
a self-help book disguised as a novel.
while i enjoyed the narrative and its characters, they ultimately exist to serve the fourth-wall breaking delivery of such trite maxims as ‘sacrifice is good’ and ‘forgiveness is good’, conveyed with all the subtlety of a dead filipino child.
and the messages are good, mostly. i don’t really disagree with any (except the strain of cosmic determinism ‘everything happens for a reason’ type beat that runs through the novel), but they’re not exactly fresh or interesting. i wish they were delivered with the same finesse as the framing narrative was. mitch takes you right out of eddie’s genuinely really lovely story to stare right into the camera for a few sentences. it’s a bit jarring.
i did really enjoy the writing. eddie’s life feels so vivid, and mitch really deftly packs in all these little details that makes you feel like you know eddie personally. and he achieves this in so few pages — economical, succinct, etc. and for all my criticisms, i was never bored. sometimes disappointed! but never bored. i wanted to know who tf all these people were just as much as eddie did. i also loved the setting, on the pier amusement park. it was vivid and comforting.
onto some specifics — i’ll start with the women. generally, i felt like the women of the novel were written with far less complexity and care than the men. ruby is the first we get much insight into, as the first woman we meet in heaven, and she is utterly irrelevant. her chapters are ACTUALLY about the redemption of eddie’s abusive father. her link to eddie’s family is tenuous at best, and she mainly exists as a reveal no one was asking for (not once did i wonder who the pier was named for). her bit of lore could have been interesting, but it petered out to nothing as her role in those chapters was superceded by the father almost immediately.
the role of the other two women, marguerite and eddie’s mother, amounted to little more than dead wife found footage. kind, motherly, demure, perfect. i’ll cut marguerite some slack, because we are seeing her through eddie’s eyes. but damn, she just was not super compelling. the one time she displayed a human flaw, when she yelled at eddie when he was gambling, was immediately overridden when she felt bad about it and drove over to him to try and apologise. there was nothing very unique about her, other than — oh no! — she’s infertile. but also nice! don’t forget about that!
the sexual assault episode was….. weird. the book spends a ton of time trying to justify mickey’s actions — he was having a bad day guys!! he was drunk guys!! he felt really bad about it afterwards i promise 😔😔 — but we get absolutely no perspective on how eddie’s mother felt about it. she is afforded very little empathy, and we barely hear about her after the episode concludes, other than that she (SO kindly) forgave mickey. the attempted rapist is a more developed character than the protagonist’s whole mum. i don’t even mind THAT MUCH the attempt to infuse some nuance into the father’s and mickey’s relationship, but all attempts of such nuance was lost with the complete disregard of the victim in the situation. and you can feel the gears turning in mitch’s brain — mickey had to commit a crime bad enough for the dad to consider letting him drown, but also able to be easily forgiven by the narrative. so he landed on a brief sexual assault in the form of an aggressive kiss. i wish it had been treated more sensitively.
the fifth person in heaven felt like an afterthought. it was short and underdeveloped. the way tala spoke felt a bit racist. does heaven not have auto language translations or something? eddie accidentally killing a whole child feels like something that needs half the book to address appropriately, but we got ten pages. it was lacklustre, and a disappointing end to a generally well-written work
i also wasn’t huge on all the explicit god stuff but i owe that to my atheism. upon reflection, though, i do think the whole ‘heaven’ thing was a detriment to the novel. everyone was calm and at peace with whatever eddie or whoever did to them, because it’s heaven and it’s all sunshine and rainbows up here. i would have liked to see some anger, or some sadness or ANYTHING. something that would force eddie to look at things in a new way. instead god gentle parented him into paradise, and i think that’s the less interesting option.
on the whole, the reading experience was more enjoyable than the thinking experience. it’s a simple story, and not trying to be more than it is. but i would’ve liked it more if it was more than it is.
while i enjoyed the narrative and its characters, they ultimately exist to serve the fourth-wall breaking delivery of such trite maxims as ‘sacrifice is good’ and ‘forgiveness is good’, conveyed with all the subtlety of a dead filipino child.
and the messages are good, mostly. i don’t really disagree with any (except the strain of cosmic determinism ‘everything happens for a reason’ type beat that runs through the novel), but they’re not exactly fresh or interesting. i wish they were delivered with the same finesse as the framing narrative was. mitch takes you right out of eddie’s genuinely really lovely story to stare right into the camera for a few sentences. it’s a bit jarring.
i did really enjoy the writing. eddie’s life feels so vivid, and mitch really deftly packs in all these little details that makes you feel like you know eddie personally. and he achieves this in so few pages — economical, succinct, etc. and for all my criticisms, i was never bored. sometimes disappointed! but never bored. i wanted to know who tf all these people were just as much as eddie did. i also loved the setting, on the pier amusement park. it was vivid and comforting.
onto some specifics — i’ll start with the women. generally, i felt like the women of the novel were written with far less complexity and care than the men. ruby is the first we get much insight into, as the first woman we meet in heaven, and she is utterly irrelevant. her chapters are ACTUALLY about the redemption of eddie’s abusive father. her link to eddie’s family is tenuous at best, and she mainly exists as a reveal no one was asking for (not once did i wonder who the pier was named for). her bit of lore could have been interesting, but it petered out to nothing as her role in those chapters was superceded by the father almost immediately.
the role of the other two women, marguerite and eddie’s mother, amounted to little more than dead wife found footage. kind, motherly, demure, perfect. i’ll cut marguerite some slack, because we are seeing her through eddie’s eyes. but damn, she just was not super compelling. the one time she displayed a human flaw, when she yelled at eddie when he was gambling, was immediately overridden when she felt bad about it and drove over to him to try and apologise. there was nothing very unique about her, other than — oh no! — she’s infertile. but also nice! don’t forget about that!
the sexual assault episode was….. weird. the book spends a ton of time trying to justify mickey’s actions — he was having a bad day guys!! he was drunk guys!! he felt really bad about it afterwards i promise 😔😔 — but we get absolutely no perspective on how eddie’s mother felt about it. she is afforded very little empathy, and we barely hear about her after the episode concludes, other than that she (SO kindly) forgave mickey. the attempted rapist is a more developed character than the protagonist’s whole mum. i don’t even mind THAT MUCH the attempt to infuse some nuance into the father’s and mickey’s relationship, but all attempts of such nuance was lost with the complete disregard of the victim in the situation. and you can feel the gears turning in mitch’s brain — mickey had to commit a crime bad enough for the dad to consider letting him drown, but also able to be easily forgiven by the narrative. so he landed on a brief sexual assault in the form of an aggressive kiss. i wish it had been treated more sensitively.
the fifth person in heaven felt like an afterthought. it was short and underdeveloped. the way tala spoke felt a bit racist. does heaven not have auto language translations or something? eddie accidentally killing a whole child feels like something that needs half the book to address appropriately, but we got ten pages. it was lacklustre, and a disappointing end to a generally well-written work
i also wasn’t huge on all the explicit god stuff but i owe that to my atheism. upon reflection, though, i do think the whole ‘heaven’ thing was a detriment to the novel. everyone was calm and at peace with whatever eddie or whoever did to them, because it’s heaven and it’s all sunshine and rainbows up here. i would have liked to see some anger, or some sadness or ANYTHING. something that would force eddie to look at things in a new way. instead god gentle parented him into paradise, and i think that’s the less interesting option.
on the whole, the reading experience was more enjoyable than the thinking experience. it’s a simple story, and not trying to be more than it is. but i would’ve liked it more if it was more than it is.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Moderate: Child abuse
Minor: Child death, Sexual assault
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It was an okay read. I felt like Eddie’s meetings with the five people were too short, and didn’t really help him until the last one. If you need a palate cleanser type of book this is an option.
There are some opinions on father-son relations that I do not agree with. I find it kind of crazy that Eddie could forgive his father for years of abuse because the right thing to do is to let your anger go. As said in another review, there’s outdated beliefs on family and loyalty.
There are some opinions on father-son relations that I do not agree with. I find it kind of crazy that Eddie could forgive his father for years of abuse because the right thing to do is to let your anger go. As said in another review, there’s outdated beliefs on family and loyalty.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child abuse, War
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, War
Moderate: Cancer, Child abuse, Death of parent
Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Sexual assault
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, War
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
What a heartfelt book! This book follows Mitch as he dies from a freak accident at the amusement park where he works, when he tries to save a girl from a malfunction. He is sent to this pernicious dimension as he is required to meet five people who impacted his life in some way. Mitch gets to exchange some heart-to-hearts, gain closure, and get explanations from the people he meets. I liked this story. Mitch was just a normal guy who faced a handful of hardships but still worked to be a kind individual toward others. The character's story and how they connected to his life were very sweet. I teared up a little when he met his wife. Overall, would recommend!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, War
dark
emotional
inspiring
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Almost cried on the train home, would recommend to those that are struggling with finding worth in life, can help with reflection in your life
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, War
Minor: Addiction, Physical abuse
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I read this book for my English class and it has an interesting concept. I liked the book it wasn’t anything groundbreaking but it was a nice change of pace from what I usually read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Violence, War
Minor: Sexual assault, Suicide attempt
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Medical content, Gaslighting
Minor: Body horror, Body shaming, Infertility, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment