Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Honestly this book has me really torn.
Because on one hand, I like the premise. I liked the messages at times even. I like the writing style, the brisk tempo, and the composition.
But damn, it made me so deeply annoyed and even angry at times. The obviously Christian tone I could ignore, even tho I find it very annoying when authors pretend to play the all religions card and then they obviously operate in the Christian mindset. The SA excuse was... it was. It sure was.
What really did it for me was the ending. The final person. The metaphor of washing your hands of your sins. It was rushed, it was obviously done just for the emotional effect. This part could have been longer, it could have been a proper dialogue, but no, we get a quick scene where you're supposed to feel sorry for the army man because he's actually the victim here! And the thing is, he really is! This was caused by the American imperialist tendencies and yet this is not brought up or mentioned or anything. Instead we get a little kid being the bigger person.
Look. I am all for reading outside your comfort zone and this was definitely it. I think I can say I enjoy even authors whose morals and opinions don't allign with my own. It always sparks good conversations and some good old thinking about your own values as a person, being confronted with someone else's.
This just wasn't it. I couldn't take much more than a couple of nice one liners from this because the prerequisites for his arguments are just. illogical. to me. already flawed. and given the overal tone of the book I just felt patronised anyway. it truly resembles a Sunday dinner with posh distant relatives in a way

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bonguschingus's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Devoured this book. Even took it to the gym to read on the treadmill. Such a heartwarming book that helps put life into perspective. Not strongly religious either and I loved the concept of heaven and the whole book. Enjoyed our grumpy main characters' points of view. Overall an original concept full of subtle wisdom and the perfect start-of-year read!

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delinxw's review

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dark emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Meh. Was hard for me to get through. Don’t think I’ll read part 2. In the beginning the story was fine and I do understand what the story is trying to convey, but I didn’t really like the characters, stories or writing style. The book makes some weird points about life, but also some beautiful ones, I just don’t think the good outweighed the bad (for me).

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clemrain's review against another edition

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reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

The Five People You Meet in Heaven was not for me.

Found it hard to sympathize with Eddie. I normally like characters that can be hard to root for, but Eddie didn’t fit the bill. The more people he met in heaven to explain his life, the more irritated I got with Eddie. His life goes against many of my own morals and maybe that’s why. I tried to keep an open mind and meet the books end to understand the character better but it didn’t happen.

The way this book makes you see the “good side” of abusive and shitty people is absolutely gross. What was especially out of touch was Ruby telling Eddie to forgive his father when she is a total stranger to him and his situation . His father was abusive and self righteous. This is one of the morals that contradict mine. Forgiveness isn’t necessary to move on.

Also Eddie’s mom was in the middle of being sexually assaulted and somehow his father ended up being the victim but also a good guy because he forgave the person who was doing it??

Like yeah I get message. People are complicated. However. there is absolutely a better way of showing that than what the author went with.

The writing was simple. Nothing spectacular about it. It is interesting to read a piece of fiction by someone who primarily works in non-fiction. It really reads in the writing style. I do think this story could’ve been shorter and I’m glad it wasn’t longer.

Ending

was predictable and exactly what I thought it’d be. Does that make it bad? No. But it’s adds to the lack of memorability of this book.

I really wanted to like this book and I had expectations going into it. Maybe that contributed to my disappointment in it.

Side note: I also did not appreciate how the little child was described at the end of the book and it turned my mood sour for it.

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lo0o0o0tte's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad 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? It's complicated

5.0

cried throughout the whole book. a must read. (even if ur not into sad books me neither but this is like good-sad)

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india_pullinger's review against another edition

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challenging emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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apevi's review

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emotional reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I didn’t find the philosophical insight mind blowing but it was a nice read, the concept of heaven was interesting. Pales in comparison to ‘Tuesday’s With Morrie’.

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