Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

32 reviews

ninah17's review against another edition

emotional inspiring 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Child death, Death, Infertility, Terminal illness, Blood, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and War

saoreads's review

emotional inspiring reflective 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

4.5

"the world is full of stories but the stories are all one"—The straightforward way of narrating the story to introduce a lesson on why we live and what we live for, as if tracing the dots, you realize it all happened for a reason when you look back. The different angles; sacrifice, forgiveness, then unveiling it to find a purpose; that your life wasn't a waste, you made a difference. It was striking to put it with the backward format of the novel, which began from the ending. It makes you think about life in general, because all of your suppression, hatred, denial, and emotions reveal how you have been living your life.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

chandranolynne's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Emotional abuse, Car accident, Death of parent, and War

clemrain's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Confinement, Gun violence, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Blood, Car accident, and Sexual harassment

savannahtrice's review against another edition

emotional hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

the writing is so incredible, i can't begin to count how many quotes i underlined.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Sexual violence

Minor: Infertility

india_pullinger's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual harassment

noesols's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring sad tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

jesspolly1's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

I really enjoyed this book. More than I thought I would. I was quickly drawn into the story and easily could have read it in one sitting. It’s such and emotive story with just the right amount joy, sadness and longing. Highly recommended!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault

minapaige's review against another edition

emotional inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Violence, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, and Infertility

below_average_baker's review

sad fast-paced

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

3.0

I really liked the concept of this book but the execution felt rushed and disappointing. The "morals" felt like inspirational quotes you see on facebook rather than something actually deep and meaningful. The main thing that I hated was

excusing his father's lifelong abuse and making Eddie forgive him because the dad didn't quite kill the guy who sexually assaulted his wife

. That seems very poorly thought out without considering the nuance and complicated emotions that would actually be involved in the situation.

If you like the idea of this story, I would recommend "The Midnight Library" by Matt Haig instead, or even "On the Other Side" by Carrie Hope Fletcher. Personally, I enjoyed them far more.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Terminal illness

Minor: Alcoholism, Infertility, Vomit, and Alcohol