This book is one of the more modern ones on the list (published in 2003) and I remember, when it came out, picking it up in bookshops lots of times but never quite being interested enough to read it.
It is an interesting, light read. I like the central concept – that heaven starts as a place where your life is explained to you by five people who had an influence in changing your life, although this may be unknown to you. It avoids borrowing too heavily from Dickens’ ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, in that Eddie is in conversation with the five people, being told a story, but is not taken back to observe particular events. The narrative device adds interest to what is essentially a slim story of a disappointed life.
However, I don’t know whether I was in the right frame of mind when I read it, or whether I’ve become hardened and cynical as, I have to say, rather than being emotionally stirred by Eddie’s reconciliation to his father’s treatment of him and reunion with his wife, I found it all a little simplistic. I am fortunate enough to have not been treated badly by a parent (or anyone else to a significant extent), but felt that Eddie’s acceptance of the reason for his father’s treatment, just on the basis of understanding why (rather than receiving an apology etc) would frustrate readers who have themselves been treated badly...I read into it an implication that anything can be forgiven as long as it’s understood which doesn’t always ring true. Perhaps this is where the supernatural element of being in heaven comes into it but still...not convinced.
It is nicely written, paints a vivid picture, and is very readable – so I would recommend it – but it didn’t convince me. Perhaps because the idea of an afterlife that just consists of spending time explaining life on earth just isn’t enough!
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