Time to start posting for this month.
Remember, the Marya Marking Matrix is not mandatory!!
Plot: I thought the basic plot was fine, but kept getting the feeling that he wanted to write a bigger book. The further he got into the plot the more it seemed he was getting rushed. The last couple of 'lessons' could have been expanded and my, didn't those birthdays fly by at the end?
Setting: A large part of my pluky youth in the sixties was spent working evenings and weekends at Fun City, so I have first hand experience of that setting, which he captured quire well. Heaven, I have yet to know.
Characters: While the premise of the book is based on the five people Eddie meets, the uniformity of the 'voice' meant that there was little differentiation between them. I could have done with better focus on each of the characters. Sometimes the attempts to dig deeper (ie the explanation for Eddie's Dad's behaviour) came too late and didn't really get very far below the surface.
Theme: I've come across this idea before, but quite like the concept of the ability / responsibility of closure after death. Not sure that I look forward to an eternity of waiting around to be one of someone else's five though.
Language: The language was simple and straightforward, which suited Eddie and carried the story along. However, the lack of differentiation in the voice meant that all of the characters sounded the same, which tended to flatten the narrative.
Narrative Style: Ultimately I think that Albom became hampered rather than helped by the form he chose. The birthday interventions began to irritate me because it was not clear what the significance of each birthday was, particularly during the rush towards the end, and that tended to distract me from the 'people' and 'lesson' sections.
Having said all of that, I'd like to thank Foxy for suggesting this one. It's not the type of book I would normally pick up and I really enjoyed it.



