Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

In my mind, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is a fine book. Regard it as a fable of what might happen to some of us after we're dead. People have argued that it's too sentimental -- and riddled with more cliches than what's found in director Frank Capra's filmography. But its structure -- as a book -- is marvelous. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" moves quickly and is never dull. I believe it's the kind of title that will never go out of print. And yet it will forever polarize readers. I think it's too easy for intellectual snobs to scoff at works like "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" -- excluding or denigrating all that's mainstream and "popular," as if the unwashed masses who made this book a success are all wrong -- and they themselves are clear-headed and right. Just ignore them. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is for you if you find thick and weighty titles a little daunting after a while. It's the perfect "break," a refreshing change of pace for a guy like me who's used to reading so many books that feel like work -- filled with depressing themes or mind-numbing sentences -- determined to impress critics or juries who give out prizes. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" cuts through all that and gets straight to the point in fewer pages. It's not designed to please snobby critics who are always suspicious of commercial success. And in my view, it's mean-spirited to read reviewers accusing Mitch Albom of "selling out" -- when it's obvious that he's tapped into something that resonates and brings optimism to many people who might otherwise avoid books. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is a great response to fashionable pessimism among wine-and-cheese intellectuals. This book isn't Hemingway. So what? As I raced through its pages, I began thinking to myself, "gee, the content is good and the writing is solid -- why can't more books be as effortless to read like this?" Reading so many books over so many decades, I was still blind-sided by what is revealed on the last page. (Don't cheat -- it has no text -- but it's a doozy.) Only a person with a heart of stone will feel nothing after he or she sees that last page. However simplistic, I won't fault Albom for knocking out something aimed straight from his heart to mine, even if he doesn't always connect. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" refuses to be dismissed and its fans will always outnumber its critics. And this is a great thing, you know, people arguing the merits of ANY book. In sum, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is on my list of "guilty pleasures." But in truth, I don't feel guilty. And you shouldn't either.