On the day of his 83rd birthday, Eddie, a man who has lead a simple life, is killed when he rushes to save a little girl from a broken fair ground ride.
When he arrives in heaven, he is greeted - one by one - by five people who have changed his life in some way over the years. Some are people he knows, others are strangers who just changed his path. Each has an explanation for him as to why he was put on earth and also a lesson for him so that he can accept his life as a good one. Throughout it all, Eddie wants to find out - did he save the little girl?
I quite recently read "The Shack" by William P. Young and it would be difficult not to compare the themes in this book with it. Both tackle the subject of loss and the idea of heaven and both try to show us how all human life is important even in a small way. Also, both books deal with the theme of an abusive father and I felt a little let down that the author also tried the forgiveness route in this book, although I felt that Eddie's fathers back story was explained well and it was easier to understand his ways than the father in "The Shack."
The difference being with this book over "The Shack" is that I read this without feeling like I was being preached to about religion and forgiveness like I was in "The Shack." Rather than a religious novel, I thought this did a fairly good job of questioning what is waiting for us when we leave this life without making the reader feel like he is being preached to. This version of heaven was inspired by the authors own Uncle, as stated at the beginning of the book, and I felt that it was an interesting way of looking at what happens to us all afterwards.
Eddie's life is a simple enough one, he was a son, a soldier, a husband and a maintenance man amongst other things and throughout the reader is told that he feels his life was of little significance.
We are taken through the pivotal moments in Eddie's life by each person that Eddie meets in Heaven and it is there that I got a sense of who Eddie was. Eddie's life, although unremarkable, was an often-sad one and I did wish that his life had turned out differently. However, I did feel that the author failed to help me get behind his character and I didn't feel as interested in Eddie's life as I should. The most interesting part of this book is finding out who is waiting for Eddie in heaven and what connection they had to him in his life. From the Blue Man through to the little Asian girl, the characters are interesting and all of the stories show in a subtle way that Eddie's life was important. What I didn't like was the "lesson" that Eddie should learn - it all felt a bit too forced and I felt myself rolling my eyes! Having said that the simplistic way it was written was one of the most enjoyable aspects about it; quite often Eddie's "lessons" were summed up by some beautiful quotes, very simple and very true.
Throughout the story, there are several threads as well as several conflicts that Eddie is dealing with. Firstly, he is trying to come to terms with his life as a soldier, which has added to his low self worth, he is also trying to deal with the relationship with his father. On top of all this, the book flashes back to the present where Dom, one of Eddie's co-workers, is dealing with the aftermath of Eddie's life, and we finally get to see what happened to the little girl that Eddie tried to save.
This is an extremely simple book, short at 240 pages and is an easy read. I did enjoy the authors take on heaven and I appreciate that it was inspired by someone he loved; for me, I enjoyed the thought that we would have answers after this life as well as being reunited with the ones we love. However, I couldn't help feeling a bit disappointed that it wasn't as magical as I expected. I think that books of this nature often inspire the reader to expect more out of them, but of course they will never give us the answers we crave so it's understandable that we are never going to be totally happy with the outcome. However, I have read books that have totally captivated me and made me think about them afterwards. Unfortunately, this wasn't one of them.