I have mixed feelings about What Dreams May Come. I don't dislike the book but I don't think it's one I would re-read. There are aspects of the book I like and I think Matheson is an excellent writer. Here's the breakdown:
What I liked:
First person perspective was a necessity for this book, and I think Matheson does a good job with Chris' perspective and describing what is happening in the afterlife.
I love the flashbacks with Chris and Ann and seeing their love and understanding why they're soul mates. Once the book got to where Chris is going to descend into Hell to rescue Anne, this is when I got really interested in the book because I wanted to know if he would succeed.
What I didn't like:
As I discussed in my first post, the first part of the book was really hard for me to read. Being married, it made me think about what it would be like losing Nathan. I think I would've like the book more if it didn't lead off with such a sad beginning. It might have been better if there had been more scenes with Chris, Ann, and the kids before Chris died so that I would have felt more connected with Chris and Ann.
I will be honest, it was hard for me to wrap my mind around this version of Heaven/Hell since it is not what I personally believe. I know this is fiction but I think I lost interest in it. Like I said before, I got interested in the story more when Chris went to save Ann. There are parts of the book where Albert or someone else in Heaven is just feeding Chris information about the afterlife and the more character driven parts were what I liked.
You have a good point about seeing more scenes with Ann and Chris before he died. If we had seen them, perhaps we would have had a stronger understanding of why he had such a hard time passing on. We might have had more emotional attachment to the characters as readers had we had more scenes from them prior to his death.
ReplyDeleteI liked the love story, but yeah I didn't have any real attachment to the characters. I kind of felt like it was just this guy going to save someone. I didn't feel any emotion for them, they needed more of a lead in for me get grabbed and sucked into the story.
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