Review by yulisaperez - The Five People You Meet in Heaven

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

yulisaperez 's review for:

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

2.0

emotional fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Although this book was well-written and had a lot of potential I think it fell flat for me. I'm not religious nor do I overthink about what does and doesn't happen after we die, but I love listening to different perspectives so that was the part I found most interesting about this book. That being said, I find the concept of

forgiving someone who has wronged you

to be the only "right" way to move on from something to be a terrible lesson learned. Not only that, but I found that justifying

sexual assault with "he was drunk and lonely"

to be egregious. I think that had there been some significant pushback on that perspective from literally anyone in this book, I would feel differently but it literally just feels like blatant justification of a crime and dismissal of a victim. All of that said, there were some characters that made a lasting impact on our main character who, although grumpy in his late years, clearly cared about people all throughout his life. I think he made these beautiful grand gestures and certain parts of this book were absolutely incredible - I just I wish he had a better story and that his traumas were justified not just dismissed under the guise of "forgiveness heals all."

I genuinely have such complex emotions because I really cared for so many of these characters, including our MC, but the parts I mentioned threw me off REALLY threw me off. I think it's worth the read because it's short, captures hardships many veterans face, and has a sweet message at times. Just remember to think for yourself & evaluate the ways YOU view right from wrong without outside influence.

Content Warnings