Heaven Is For Real Review

SUMMARY: 

**SPOILER ALERT**

This story starts off with a family in a rough spot and they are just struggling to make it by but as long as the have the lord on there side they will always make it by. The dad Todd Burpo works many jobs and raises two kids with the help of his wife. Along there journey there son has a amazing experience that the family will never forget. His son Colton visited Heaven and came back to tell his story. At first it took a while for people to believe this story but slowly it gained publicity and was known nation wide within a few short months.
*Read Heaven Is For Real to find out what happens next*

RATING: 
I give this book a 9. I loved this book and every lesson that came along with it. I also love how well it was written it made me feel like I was a part of the story. I would recommend this book to everyone and anyone who would like to read about a mind blowing event. The reason I didn't give this book a 10 was because it didn't challenge me to have to really think and comprehend while I was reading. Other than that I was thrilled with this book.

Review:
" A beautifully written glimpse into heaven that will encourage those who doubt and thrill those who believe" 

~Ron Hall

"Heaven Is For Real is a wonderful book. It reaffirms how important faith is in our lives-for children as well as adults"

~Timothy P. O'Holleran, MD 

   

Why I chose Heaven is for Real

This book so far has inspired me and has allowed me to improve my faith. Before I started to read this book I had already heard so many great things about it such as it would make you view the world differently and give you the ability to believe in miracles again. The way this book is written is just another reason to why it is so good. I am not super far into the book but I am far enough to the point where I know what is happening and what is going to happen.

I am inspired. The way Colton, the main character, deals with all his traumatic experiences at such a young age shows that he has a great sense of life already. Also the dad has to persuade people to believe Colton’s journey. The story the dad is willing to tell about what Colton tells him is unbelievable and that is the main reason why people in the book have trouble believing the story.

My faith has been strengthened. The things that are described in this book are not only mind blowing but if you chose to believe them (which I did) they can be life changing. When Colton leaves the hospital bed he has experienced something like no other. He claims to have encountered God. He also describes some events that he could only know if what he is saying is true. This book so far has allowed me to believe that anything is possible as long as you have God in your life.      

Heaven Is For Real

Author Background: 

The author of, Heaven Is For Real, is Todd Burpo. 

"Todd Burpo is the pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan Church in Imperial, Nebraska where his sermons are broadcast locally every Sunday via the local radio station. He volunteers at Chase County Public Schools as wrestling coach for Junior high school students, as well as serving as a member of the school board. In emergencies Todd can be found working shoulder-to-shoulder with the Imperial Volunteer Fire Department as a fire fighter. He is also the chaplain for the Nebraska State Volunteer Firefighter's Association. To support his family, Todd also operates a company called Overhead Door Specialists. Todd graduated from Oklahoma Wesleyan University in 1991" 

Todd Burpo Article  

Todd Burpo is a very successful man. Along with this he has a very unique family. He later in his life writes a book about his son's trip to heaven (Heaven Is For Real) and in this book it describes his son's experience, the family's experience and the affect that all of this had on the people around them.  

My Thoughts:

Even though I have not read this book yet I have heard great reviews and I am very interested in the topic. I do also have an understanding of what happens in the book because of my research on it. I am very excited to read this and hopefully it is as good as I am expecting. 

  

Review of Lovely Bones

Summary: 
              *SPOILER ALERT* 
   Murdered by her next door neighbor Mr. Walker at the age of 12, Susie Salmon finds herself in a beautiful land, not quite Heaven, where she can observe and comment on the lives of her family and friends. Her body is never discovered and her parents suffer an unimaginable pain. The strain is far too much and her mother leaves. Her father continues to investigate and over many years maintains contact with the police officer in charge of the investigation. Susie also gets to watch Walker and learns of his long list of victims. She also sees him prepare for his next victim, her younger sister Lindsey. To find out what happens next read Lovely Bones. 
Rating:
   I rate this book a 8. This book shows great word placement/ diction and this also helps the reader understand if the chapter is taking place in the in-between or on Earth. I also enjoy the descriptions in the book. The setting of the in-between is a somewhat fantasy place that would take a lot of detail to get the reader to be able to picture this place in their mind but Alice does a great job of filling peoples minds with a sense of joyful bitterness about this place and creates an everlasting image that allows you to visually picture the scene. The only thing I didn't really enjoy about this book was that Alice dragged on some non-important events that could be described in a couple of chapters.  

Review: 
"Mesmerizing" - New York Times Book Review

"Don't start The Lovely Bones unless you can finish it. The book begins with more horror than you could imagine, but closes with more beauty than you could hope for" -Christian Science Monitor

"Savagely beautiful" - San Francisco Chronicle

"Haunting." - Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Lovely Bones: Quotes with Importance

"She was standing in my path that night when my soul shrieked out of Earth. I could not help but graze her. Once released from life, having lost it in such violence, I couldn't calculate my steps... In violence it is the getting away that you concentrate on." (Sebold 41).     This quote describes the moment when Susie is leaving Earth, her soul has left her body. When this happens she sees a girl named Ruth and when she sees this girl she touches her, making Ruth have a dream about what has happened to Susie. The next day she tells her mom what she sees and Ruth describes what seems to be so real. Her mother doesn't think anything of this and told Ruth to leave it alone. I think that Ruth has some importance to Susie that hasn't been told yet.
     This has importance within Susie's death, I was wondering, why Ruth?  Why did Susie's soul encounter this girl before she made her way up into the in-between? I am now starting to think that Ruth might be helpful in the investigations of Susie. I can start to conclude that Ruth met Susie in this way for a very specific reason. I predict that Ruth helps find Susie's murderer and helps the police complete the investigation so that Susie can finally rest in peace.

Lovely Bones : The Investigation

In my book the girl Susie Salmon gets murdered. As they look for Susie they find multiple clues leading them to believe she is dead. I also believe that each of these pieces of evidence is a symbol.
     The first symbol I came across was a piece of evidence, her elbow. The elbow gave her family devastation but hope. The elbow symbolizes the pieces of Susie that will never return, It also makes sense that the elbow would stand for the smallest part of Susie, the elbow shows the amount of HOPE Susie had in her life, she didn't have very much. There are many ways that the author of the story hints this to us. The author states various flashbacks that happens during Susie's life, all of them showing her insecurities and her biggest insecurity was her lack of hope.
     The second symbol I found was also another piece of evidence, her book. As the police go further and further into the investigation they find more and more evidence making it ore apparent that Susie is dead. The book that the police found in the corn field was "To Kill A Mocking Bird" . Not only does the title show symbolism but even why she had the book in the first place. In the story it says that in order to receive this book you must have completed the other books on the class list. Since Susie has possession of this book it shows that she was very smart. Also this smartness lead to curiosity.
     In conclusion the two symbols I chose, if put together are what resulted in Susie's murder. The reason Susie went into the cabin with this man is because she was curious and she didn't follow her mothers instructions and let the man manipulate her into staying with him in the cabin. Also since Susie was not hopeful she didn't try to live even if she could have she just gave up her fight to early.

                                                                       

Setting in LOVELY BONES

The story takes place in two common but uncommon places, the in-between and Earth. Both of theses places have special meanings to them but also are there to give the story two perspectives. When having to very different settings it is usually hard to keep track of where you are in the book and what is happening, but since this books settings are taken place in two majorly different places it is a lot easier to keep track of where you are in the book.

The in-between in this story is pretty surreal. In the picture above it shows Salmon in the in-between before she goes to heaven, the only reason she stays in the in-between is so she can see her family catch her murderer. So far nothing major has happened in the in-between but I predict that she can connect with her family in a way while she is up there and she will help her family solve the murder of Salmon and she can finally rest in peace.

The setting that takes place on Earth holds a lot of major events also. This is where Salmon got murdered and where (prediction) her killer will get caught. The setting of this town that Salmon lives in is very rural but yet suburban community. Her neighbors are close but other neighborhoods are farther away and as you can see in the photo her neighbors also have big back yards, big enough that they can farm in them. Even though the in-between seems like a really cool and well developed setting I still think that the setting that takes place on the Earth in the rural but suburban neighborhood will be my favorite.