| All We Know of Heaven: A Novel | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 8 reviews)
Sales Rank: 83030
Category: Book
Author: Jacquelyn Mitchard
Publisher: HarperTeen
Studio: HarperTeen
Manufacturer: HarperTeen
Label: HarperTeen
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2
ISBN: 0061345784
EAN: 9780061345784
ASIN: 0061345784
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
Release Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Bridget Flannery and Maureen O'Malley have been BFFs since forever. Then a brief moment of inattention on an icy road leaves one girl dead and the other in a coma, battered beyond recognition. Family and friends mourn one friend's loss and pray for the other's recovery. Then the doctors discover they have made a terrible mistake. The girl who lived is the one who everyone thought had died. Based on a true case of mistaken identity, All We Know of Heaven is a universal story that no one can read unmoved: a drama of ordinary people caught up in an unimaginable tragedy and of the healing power of hope and love.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Couldn't Really Get Into It September 25, 2008
I never could quite get over the fact that this was so obviously based on the real life story. There were just so many resemblances to the true story. I read the true story and I was very impressed with the way the two families displayed such amazing grace and compassion in the face of unimaginable loss. In this book, everyone seems to give in to their darker impulses and it makes for a bit of a melodramatic story. I understand that the mistaken identity scenario is a bit symbolic of the way the survivor is trying to carve out her own identity after a lifetime of being known as her best friend's look-alike friend. The thing is, she carves out this new identity for herself by sleeping with her dead friend's boyfriend. The sexuality in this book really bothered me. Teen sexuality is troublesome in and of itself, and the sexual relationships in this book were particularly troublesome, but it's not just that. If the book had portrayed teen sexuality honestly, that would be one thing. But I was never given anything more than a superficial insight into why the characters would behave this way and what it really meant for them. It all felt too rushed. I didn't really connect with any of the characters. I did like the sections that were from the girl's point of view as she was emerging from her coma. There were some genuinely touching moments. But overall, it left me feeling kinda hollow. There was the mistaken identity plotline which was way too reminiscent of the real story, and as a result, I wasn't able to suspend my disbelief. And then there was the love story that didn't feel like it was as developed as it should have been. Maybe because the characters all felt like shadowy people who were placed in this ready-made plotline with a little love story on the side.
The ending felt too neatly wrapped up. And yet the story's central dilemma doesn't feel like it's actually been resolved, mainly because I didn't know what, exactly, the characters wanted. At the end of the book, it seems that what the girl wants is the boy. You know---girl wants boy, girl gets boy, girl loses boy, girl gets boy again. But this doesn't feel connected to the mistaken identity plotline. So it feels like there's two plotlines in here. One involves the slow healing process and the other is resolved when she gets the boy. Neither plotline reveals anything significant about the human condition, other than the fact that human beings are survivors. But I expected more from this story than an acknowlegment of something I already know. Another message seems to be that miracles can happen. But the book isn't about miracles, or even really about spirituality. And as for the girl finding her identity, I really don't think she did, except through her adolescent boyfriend.
So yeah, this book didn't offer me much. Maybe I didn't get it. But I hope what I've said makes some sense.
I also found the writing to be problematic in places. There were awkward point of view shifts and the occasional shift in time that felt too rushed. And there were all these characters coming and going. Occasionally, a character would show up in a scene out of nowhere and I would wonder who he was. That happened at least once.
This had a lot of potential but it didn't live up to the promise for me. I'll still go on to read other Mitchard books but I was disappointed in this one.
 Impossible to put down July 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bridget Flannery and Maureen O'Malley are neighbors, and have been BFFs since they were tiny. They're also nearly identical, with small frames, blonde hair and big almond-shaped green eyes. Both girls take great pride in being cheerleaders (and hate that cheerleaders seem to get no respect). But charismatic Bridget is really the leader of the two, with Maureen happily following along. The two don't keep secrets from each other --- except for a huge one about Danny, Bridget's boyfriend, that Maureen could never tell anyone, regarding an incident between them that was surely a fluke.
On a December drive, everything changes when Bridget and Maureen's car collides with a truck. The girls are hurt so badly that they are unrecognizable. The emergency medical personnel are able to maintain Bridget long enough to get her to the hospital. They don't hold out much hope for poor, broken Maureen, who is in even worse shape than her friend. However, surgeons work on both patients, with Bridget surviving the surgery in a coma after multiple resuscitations. Sadly, Maureen doesn't live.
Meanwhile, the girl in the coma is trying to form thoughts. She can't think clearly. She believes she's dead, but is puzzled. Isn't heaven supposed to be a beautiful, wonderful place? She hurts everywhere, with pain so bad that she has no words to describe the agony. Bridget's family visits her every day in the Pediatric Care Unit. Her boyfriend, Danny, comes regularly, too. As he sits by her bed, Danny remembers the funeral service for Maureen and is overwhelmed with sorrow. He loves Bridget, but he and Maureen shared a special bond of friendship. And of course there was the one evening they shared --- the one they don't discuss with anyone, ever.
Danny also thinks about how Bridget would hate the way she looks, with her face in stitches, her dirty hair pulled into a ponytail, and parts of her scalp covered in bandages because of the surgery on her head. Bridget's cheek has been rebuilt, and she has many broken bones. The doctors warn her parents that brain damage is inevitable; they aren't sure how much long-term disability she will suffer, but at the least they predict she will have to learn again how to walk and talk and feed herself. The experts also caution them that she may very well not recognize her own family members.
One night, as Danny sits watching over Bridget, something amazing happens. She tries to talk. When Danny encourages her, calling her his pet name "Bridge," she says, "Mo-ruh." Danny is so excited, he shouts. And when Bridget's mother comes running, he tells her that Bridget said "Mother." But in actuality, the girl is telling him that she is not Bridget --- she is Maureen! When the truth comes out, it is, of course, wonderful news for many people yet devastating for others...and attracts a huge media circus.
Maureen's story is based on an actual event involving two young women, a terrible accident and a case of mistaken identity. In the hands of brilliant storyteller Jacquelyn Mitchard, it is a riveting tale of despair and joy, which feels remarkably true to life. In particular, the reactions of the girls' mothers and friends seem pitch-perfect. Readers will root for Maureen as she fights to remake her life in the face of almost insurmountable physical, emotional and social hardships.
--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon
A take off on a real story June 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I rated this book on the low side as I had already read "Mistaken Identity", a story written by the families of two girls who actually experienced this.
So moving... May 21, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read all of J. Mitchard's books (even read and loved Deep End of the Ocean BEFORE Oprah!), and what I love about picking up a new book by her is knowing that it's going to be about characters I truly believe in, 100%. All We Know of Heaven didn't disappoint. Started reading in the car on the way home from the bookstore (I wasn't driving!) and didn't stop until I finished last night. There have been a couple of the situations in real life like the ones in the book, but non-fiction and news programs only give me facts, whereas in fiction I can lose myself in the feelings of each character.
The coma details are both heartbreaking and fascinating, and the girl's friendship rang true throughout.
It's classified as a teen book, but I'm 39 and never felt I was reading a young adult book, it was simply a great read, period. Can't wait for her next.
A moving story for all ages May 8, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I finished ALL WE KNOW OF HEAVEN last night and it's been on my mind all day today. What I find intriguing is that it's been packaged as a YA novel when I think it's a wonderful novel for all ages.
Jacquelyn Mitchard has the innate and rare gift of knowing how to tell a story well. With seamless skill, she introduces readers to two young girls who could easily live in your own neighborhood, then she grabs you by the throat and takes you on an up/down roller coaster ride that will leave you flipping the pages well into the night. I can't see how anyone could read this novel and NOT think about the characters and what they went through for days and months to come.
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