I recently found myself on a beach during my family’s vacation with plenty of time on my hands and a perfect atmosphere to read a new book. By lucky discovery, I walked into a hotel store one of the first nights that we were away and saw one of my favorite authors on the book display. Despite my original intention of walking away and then buying the book when I returned home—which I knew would cost less—I later returned to the shop and bought Mitch Albom’s "The First Phone Call From Heaven", which was the best decision that I made on that vacation.
My mother’s former English teacher, who gave me his copy of Albom’s "The Five People You Meet In Heaven", introduced me to Albom’s novels. After reading “Five People,” I immediately fell in love with Albom’s style of writing and the various themes that appear and reappear in his stories. I have also read his memoir, "Tuesdays with Morrie", which I finished four years prior to starting "The First Phone Call From Heaven".
“The First Phone Call” is set in Coldwater, Michigan—Albom notes that despite being a real town, the context of the story is entirely fictional—and follows the different point-of-views of residents who claim to be experiencing phone calls from the afterlife. The phone calls that certain people in the small town are receiving appear to be from loved ones that they have lost. Chaos ensues as a result of the unbelievable phenomenon and inevitably skeptics are born. The phone calls become national and international news, and people from all over the country start pouring into Coldwater with the hope that they too will receive phone calls from Heaven. However, not everyone believes in the phone calls. One of the main characters, Sully Harding wants nothing more than to prove to his young boy and himself that the people who claim to be receiving the calls are lying to the public.
My favorite part of “The First Phone Call” is that Albom shows how even those who have had their faith tested, as well as those who have lost their faith, can regain it in the most unexpected and unimaginable way. Albom masterfully displays how blind acceptance is instinctual because most people want to believe that there is something bigger than us so that we do not feel the pressure that our circumstances are entirely dependent on our actions. However, he also shows that blind acceptance can be our downfall. Nonetheless, he strikes the perfect balance between those who accept that there is something after death, as well as those who are convinced that what we have on Earth is all that we will ever experience.
Albom primarily writes about how faith, and all of the uncertainty that it brings, can divide us. In doing so, he also shows how hope that there is something greater afterlife can bring people together during the most unbalanced times. What I also appreciated in his story is that despite focusing on the reactions of the adults and how everything became complex with the media and the town’s political agenda, he also paid special attention to how any media frenzy affects children. Albom is realistic in his portrayal of children having a simpler view of the world and the circumstances that surround us. As Harding tries to piece together what is happening around town, we get the occasional insight into his six-year-old son’s simplistic view of the events. When the boy starts carrying around a fake telephone waiting for his late mother to call, it is heart wrenching. However, even though a child’s hope can be disappointing and potentially a byproduct of cruelty, Albom attests that sometimes it can lend comfort and security to adults.
Regardless of creed, I would highly recommend "The First Phone Call From Heaven" to anyone in need of simple reassurance that life can be much bigger than what we can see with our eyes. If I learned anything from reading Albom’s various stories, it is that even when hope leads to disappointment, it shows people what truly matters the most to them.
