The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom

The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom


The phones began ringing on a Friday in Coldwater, Michigan. Tess got a call from her mother, who had early onset Alzheimer’s disease and died four years earlier. Katherine talked to her sister, Diane, who had died from an aneurysm two years ago. Jack, the chief of police, had lost his son, Robbie, in Afghanistan and was able to talk to him for the first time in years that Friday. Weeks later Katherine would tell the church congregation that she had been talking to her sister. Word spread fast through the small town and soon everyone was expecting a phone call from deceased loved ones. Jules, was included in that number. Jules was hoping to hear from his mother, Giselle, who had died months earlier while her husband, Sully, was in prison. The phone calls came the day Sully was released and he refused to believe they were true. There were skeptics like Sully throughout the town and the country as media coverage increased regarding these calls from beyond. People flocked to the town as the phone calls continued to come, most filled with hope that they too would be chosen. Many just wondered if phone calls from heaven could possibly be real. 
How would you react to a phone call from heaven? Would you be a skeptic or elated? Would you share the news to with the world or keep it to yourself? The First Phone Call from Heaven deals with all the emotions that come with recovering from the death of those around us. Through the many different characters we see the levels of confusion, fear, happiness, anger and, most of all, hope. Each character has a different experience in relation to these phone calls, how they deal with what they are told and how they reject or accept the occurrences. Katherine was moved to share. Tess was moved to help. One person chose to run. There was no correct way to respond to something this unfathomable. The depth of the emotions and how everyone chooses to react during the four months this novel took place is an examination of faith or the lack thereof.

I have been a huge fan of Mitch Albom for years. He is great at examining questions of faith and exploring different aspects of Christianity. The First Phone Call from Heaven is no exception. It was well written, wonderfully imagined, and thought provoking. Everyone questions what happens after death and in this novel that idea is explored in a very simple and straight forward way. Albom makes it clear that faith depends on the individual. How you choose to celebrate or accept that faith is up to you. No one can change your beliefs but you and understanding that will shape your faith. I enjoyed this novel and give it 4 out of 5 stars. I definitely recommend Albom as an author and this was a great novel by him. 

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