Proof of Heaven by Mary Curran Hackett with a Back Cover Review

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Proof of Heaven William Morrow Paperbacks (November 1, 2011) by Mary Curran Hackett

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mary Curran Hackett is the mother of two children, Brigid Claire and Colm Francis, and is married to Greg Hackett. She received an MA in English Literature from the University of Nebraska and a BA from the University Honors Program at Catholic University in Washington, DC. Born and raised in Danbury, CT, she has traveled extensively and lived in various places throughout the U.S., but her favorite place in the world is home with her kids, husband, and her stacks of books. Like her character Colm Magee, Mary suffers various heart and brain ailments, but thanks in part to her brother, a physician, as well as her own doctors, she now has a pacemaker and a heart that beats on its own at least most of the time. This is her first novel.

ABOUT THE BOOK

A mother’s faith, a child’s courage, a doctor’s dedication—a moving and thought-provoking tale of hope, love, and family.

He might be young, but Colm already recognizes the truth: that he’s sick and not getting better. His mother, Cathleen, fiercely believes her faith will protect her ailing son, but Colm is not so sure. With a wisdom far beyond his years, Colm has come to terms with his probable fate, but he does have one special wish. He wants to meet his father who abandoned his beloved mother before Colm was born.

But the quest to find the dying boy’s missing parent soon becomes a powerful journey of emotional discovery—a test of belief and an anxious search for proof of heaven.

A magnificent debut novel, Mary Curran Hackett’s Proof of Heaven is a beautiful and unforgettable exploration of the power of love and the monumental questions of life, death, and the afterlife.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Proof of Heaven, go HERE. 

Back Cover Review:

Overall, this book disappointed me which is unfortunate because (for the most part) the writing and plot were very good. One chronic problem that made reading it frustrating was that the Point of View changed paragraph by paragraph throughout the whole book, and sometimes more often than that.

Also,  the book contained a lot of profanity. If in the end I felt that this would be a story that would draw an unbeliever to God as an outreach tool that might have helped to justify it...maybe. Also, it started out with just the brother, who didn't want anything to do with God, swearing, but later on some of the other characters joined in. Cathleen struggled to hold on to her own faith and perhaps this was to emphasize her crisis of belief? But it didn't seem necessary.

The ending too confused me - I think it was supposed to be the "proof of Heaven" for all of the characters - but I just didn't understand what exactly happened.

So all that to say, I thought the author was a good writer but I'm sorry to say that I did not enjoy this book.

The views expressed in this review are obviously my own.