What Dreams May Come

"You are about to learn All About Death. Matheson's ponderous and self important introduction reads: "only one aspect...is fictional: the characters and their relationships. <i>With few exceptions, every other detail is derived exclusively from research.</i> (His italics, not mine.) <br/><br/>In case you're curious as to how Matheson "researched" the afterlife, he provides a 6 page bibliography of sources from theosophy, parapsychology, and spiritualism, but nothing from biology or neuropsychology. Terms like "aura", and "etheric body" get tossed around, but there is no coherent logic or ethical system at work here. Ann, the hero's loving and emotionally fragile wife, is damned to a hell of her own imagination for committing suicide, yet her grieving husband is smugly informed that this is "the law", but NOT a "punishment", (sounds pretty darned punitive to me.) The "Office of Records" can determine how long a person is "supposed" to live, (who decides?), yet apparently this can be short-circuited by accidents or suicide. There can be reincarnation, yet souls may choose to wait until the kid is a few months old before incarnating so as to avoid soul-death if the baby doesn't live. I found this aspect particularly fascinating: if we know how long a person is "supposed" to live, why would anyone pick a baby marked for sudden infant death syndrome? And what's up with all those soulless 2 month olds? That would explain some horrendous babysitting experiences, but still.<br/><br/>Vincent Ward made a reasonably entertaining movie out of this with Robin Williams a few years back, wisely focusing on the love story and the adventurous rescue angle, and leaving out the New Age mumbo jumbo. As a fantasy adventure, it works, barely; as a serious exploration of immortality and the nature of death it's glorified pseudo science."

"I’ve never been what you would call a “religious” person. But I am spiritually connected with the knowledge that there is something after this. And I feel like this book deepened my spirituality SO much that I wish everyone in the whole world would read it. Not that I didn’t enjoy the movie, because I REALLY did…but the stories here are 110% different. You cannot just watch the movie and think you got the gist of the story because it is NOT the same AT ALL. The movie is an epic love story that transcends life and death. The book has elements of a love story in it…but that’s not at all what it is. Richard Matheson did TONS of research about life after death before writing this novel so he could get as close to the truth of what happens to us after we die as he could. And according to him and all of his extensive research, our souls live on after death. And it’s absolutely beautiful. By far, my favorite book I’ve ever read. It’s not painting a picture of god that resembles anything religion tries to hammer into us. But it touches on reincarnation in a way that feels so completely believable. I can’t recommend this enough. It’s a bit of a slow starter…but if you allow yourself to get past the very beginning, it will captivate you and make you question everything you thought you knew. PLEASE read it. You’ll be truly enlightened. I know I was. I read it for the first time when I was 17. In 33 now and it’s still my favorite. "

"i have read this book 3 times and those 3 times i have read it, it was almost impossible to put it down. i am 15 and i felt connected to this book some how. it was incredible. while reading the book it was so easy to picture what the author was saying and describing. one thing i am bummed about is when i watched the movie after i read the book the first time, it was nothing like i imagined. obviously the movie was a lot older but the places in the book didn’t look the way i imagined it. overall both were really good but i strongly recommend reading the book."

"Maybe. 3.5. After watching the movie, I was hoping for a fantastical adventure into the afterlife. A love story that brings Ann and Chris back together as he saved her from the depth of hell. What is was - was a linear account of expectations after death. Sometimes I felt as if I was reading a philosophy book. I don’t understand the characters and there was no connection to them. What happened to the grown kids after losing both parents. I wanted so much to feel Ann’s pain and the point to which she felt suicide was her only solution. I will read this authors other books, but I was disappointed in this one"

"Love the movie but the book was way better!"

"You're welcome."

"So much better than the movie."