Following Heaven is For Real, I thought this would be a good choice for my next read, especially since it is such a short novel. The aforementioned is a non-fiction (read my last post to see my true feelings on the non-fiction status) and this a work of fiction, but both books surround the idea of what Heaven is.
In this book, the narrator is an old man who dies and meets five different people from his past who help him better understand his life and the lessons he has to learn from his entire life. It was an incredible story and I did not want to put it down at all (but being a mommy prevented me from reading it straight through). The people he encounters aren't who you would expect, some being people who seemed insignificant in his life or whom he never met at all, but they are so perfect and the story makes Heaven feel real.
What I enjoyed most about this book is how much it made me reflect on my own life. If this were truly how things work when you die, who would my five people be? What people in my life did I meet that would have a lesson to teach me? Is there any person I inadvertently caused the death of? Would I meet someone whose choices in life were the reason I had a job or a place to live? Would I meet someone who would explain the actions of another who hurt me? In the book, you learn that the narrator would also have to at some point meet a newly deceased person as one of the five people they meet. It's a cycle. That of course made me wonder about myself and who I might greet and explain heaven to. Would it be a past love or an old coworker? For me the goal of this book was not to tell the story of a man who died, but to make readers ponder about what heaven really was like. It's to make readers reflect on who they are and what things they would be proud or ashamed of when they see what is on the other side of life.
Another thing that I really enjoyed about this book was the lack of religion. I feel that anyone could pick this up, no matter their religious affiliation and get something out of it. As opposed to Heaven is For Real which presented heaven as only a Christian place, this book gave heaven to all people.
The writing style was different, but worked very well. The book started with the character's death. Then, there would be a series of chapters that went though the five people he met in heaven as well as back stories from his life. The author did a great job of keeping the flow even though the tense of the story went back and forth from chapter to chapter.
My final opinion- get your hands on a copy!
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Book Review: Heaven Is For Real
I was given a copy of this book to read by my "mother-in-law" when she visited for Thanksgiving. I feel it is a harder book to review simply because of the nature of it.
The book itself is an easy read. The chapters are relatively short and switch between being independent and building up from the previous chapter. There is nothing fancy about the vocabulary, making it very easy for anyone from a child to an adult to comprehend. The subject matter is far from thought-provoking in an educational perspective, but stimulating on a theological plane.
The book revolves around Colton Burpo and a medical emergency that could have resulted in his death but rather resulted in him having a miraculous recovery after traveling to heaven. Colton's father is a pastor and gets very excited to learn about what his son has seen and heard in heaven.
While reading the book I found myself constantly questioning the authenticity of the author's claims. I do believe that Colton experienced something special, that God gave him a gift of life and a glimpse of what we encounter when we die. My issue with the book is that I almost feel it is more the story of the dad being a pastor than of what his son experienced. The pastor seems to forget that the Bible was written 400 years after the death of Christ and that there are things that historians has proven wrong. Every single thing that Colton experiences, his father relates to at least one passage in the Bible. When Colton tried to explain the stake marks that Jesus received from being crucified, Todd forgot that they would actually be in his wrist and not his hands (as is almost always portrayed incorrectly by artists). Todd says that since he is not Catholic there was no way Colton was exposed to any depiction of Jesus being crucified and therefore he had to have really met Jesus in heaven. For me, I think that Colton saw something but that he saw his parents react to him telling them what he saw and he may have created false memories of heaven to please his parents, especially his father. We are all sponges as children and even if Todd does not believe his son was listening, it is impossible for a child to not pick up on all the bible stories his dad reads him every night or the prayers they pray together at meals or before bed or the sermons he preaches every Sunday at church. While there are things, like knowing his great grandfather's young face, that are unexplainable and must be the work of God, there are too many holes in other parts of the story to believe it all to be true. So, in the end, my opinion of the book is that Todd wrote more than what Colton experienced because Todd is a pastor from a small town who has extensive money troubles that his congregation took care of and he needed a reason to stay relevant and keep his job.
I also want to add, that I saw the movie prior to reading the book and the two really are so different. Since it seems the Burpos were involved in the making of the movie, I wonder how much of the book is real and how much of the movie is real. In the book, Todd seems so excited and calm about his son's experiences, in the movie he obsesses and almost loses his job over it. In the book, it seems that people rejoice over hearing Colton's stories, but in the movie people are weary about their pastor preaching that his son went to heaven and came back to tell people what it was like. Todd's character is much more likable in the book, but in the movie he is comes off much less "preachy" because he himself struggles with understanding what his son is telling him.
At the end of the day, I would rate both the book and the movie as passable. What I mean by that is if you are looking for something incredible to read, something you just can't put down, this is NOT the book for you. If you would like something to just pass the time and mildly entertain you, then this is a good choice. If this book did nothing else for me, it made me want to dig up an old book I read in middle school about people who had experiences with angels and another book about the miracles of saints and their animation after death. So, for bringing me back to a point where I want to delve more into books related to my catholic faith and superstitions, I have to commend this book.
The book itself is an easy read. The chapters are relatively short and switch between being independent and building up from the previous chapter. There is nothing fancy about the vocabulary, making it very easy for anyone from a child to an adult to comprehend. The subject matter is far from thought-provoking in an educational perspective, but stimulating on a theological plane.
The book revolves around Colton Burpo and a medical emergency that could have resulted in his death but rather resulted in him having a miraculous recovery after traveling to heaven. Colton's father is a pastor and gets very excited to learn about what his son has seen and heard in heaven.
While reading the book I found myself constantly questioning the authenticity of the author's claims. I do believe that Colton experienced something special, that God gave him a gift of life and a glimpse of what we encounter when we die. My issue with the book is that I almost feel it is more the story of the dad being a pastor than of what his son experienced. The pastor seems to forget that the Bible was written 400 years after the death of Christ and that there are things that historians has proven wrong. Every single thing that Colton experiences, his father relates to at least one passage in the Bible. When Colton tried to explain the stake marks that Jesus received from being crucified, Todd forgot that they would actually be in his wrist and not his hands (as is almost always portrayed incorrectly by artists). Todd says that since he is not Catholic there was no way Colton was exposed to any depiction of Jesus being crucified and therefore he had to have really met Jesus in heaven. For me, I think that Colton saw something but that he saw his parents react to him telling them what he saw and he may have created false memories of heaven to please his parents, especially his father. We are all sponges as children and even if Todd does not believe his son was listening, it is impossible for a child to not pick up on all the bible stories his dad reads him every night or the prayers they pray together at meals or before bed or the sermons he preaches every Sunday at church. While there are things, like knowing his great grandfather's young face, that are unexplainable and must be the work of God, there are too many holes in other parts of the story to believe it all to be true. So, in the end, my opinion of the book is that Todd wrote more than what Colton experienced because Todd is a pastor from a small town who has extensive money troubles that his congregation took care of and he needed a reason to stay relevant and keep his job.
I also want to add, that I saw the movie prior to reading the book and the two really are so different. Since it seems the Burpos were involved in the making of the movie, I wonder how much of the book is real and how much of the movie is real. In the book, Todd seems so excited and calm about his son's experiences, in the movie he obsesses and almost loses his job over it. In the book, it seems that people rejoice over hearing Colton's stories, but in the movie people are weary about their pastor preaching that his son went to heaven and came back to tell people what it was like. Todd's character is much more likable in the book, but in the movie he is comes off much less "preachy" because he himself struggles with understanding what his son is telling him.
At the end of the day, I would rate both the book and the movie as passable. What I mean by that is if you are looking for something incredible to read, something you just can't put down, this is NOT the book for you. If you would like something to just pass the time and mildly entertain you, then this is a good choice. If this book did nothing else for me, it made me want to dig up an old book I read in middle school about people who had experiences with angels and another book about the miracles of saints and their animation after death. So, for bringing me back to a point where I want to delve more into books related to my catholic faith and superstitions, I have to commend this book.
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