What do readers think of Proof of Heaven by Mary Curran Hackett? Write your own review.

I wasn't sure I liked this book in the beginning because of the amount of religion information shared. It seemed as though the author was preaching. In the middle I began to care about all the characters after they returned from Italy. Then I was lost again at the end. I titled this review "What Happened" cause the ending was so abrupt and weird that I really couldn't tell.

I personally did not like the book. It reminded me of The Shack. The first chapter was great, but after that the characters weren't developed, and the plot was predictable. I felt it was written on a Young Adult level. However, there are lots of discussable issues - Do miracles happen? Does heaven exist? Is religion necessary? I think book clubs would have lots to talk about.

Proof of Heaven is a story about a single mother whose strong Catholic faith pushes her to search for a solution or miracle to save her terminally ill son. Colm, "pronounced Col-um", is the wonderful little boy who knows he may die soon and desperately wants to meet his absent father. Through their quests, along with the support of his uncle and doctor, they come to know love, peace and acceptance.
While I had some problems with this book; i.e, Colm's wisdom and maturity at such a young age, and his mother's sometimes obstinacy, this was a lovely, sad but uplifting story.

While the premise of this book had promise, the family drama of a young, sick boy and his emotionally shattered mother, it just never resonated with me. The characters just struck me as one dimensional. The author clearly had affection for her characters but was not able to develop them to the point where they were more than predictable and, at times, actually annoying to me. I read to the end but already knew how it would end long before I got there. I would like to say it is at least a good easy, summer read but I am sorry to say I was relieved to finally arrive at the last page.

I really didn't like this book. It was overly sentimental and didn't follow the cardinal rule of good writing, show.... don't tell. By laboriously explaining every thought and motivation of each character, it made the book dull and doesn't involve the reader in the process of discovery. The dialogue often felt stilted and very unrealistic. I would have given it one star, but the afterward showed how close the book was to the author's own life and that was the most interesting part of the book.

I found this book disturbing on many levels. I did not believe that a young child would have that much insight into God and heaven and wanted to shake the mother and say wake up, your son is DYING. I found it creepy that the author named the main character after her son which she says is her favorite boy's name. The relationships were predictable and I found the use of the Catholic Church to justify the mother's unwavering belief in miracles overused. The author's comments at the end of the book were interesting and helped explain why she wrote this book. I would not recommend it to my book groups.