Chris_P's Reviews > What Dreams May Come

First things first. In spite of being brought up in a Christian Orthodox environment, I don't consider myself a Christian. I guess you can call me an open-minded atheist. As for the afterlife, I think that all existing scenarios were created by the various religions either to concrete their earthly establishments, or to ease people's fear of dying, with the former being the most probable hypothesis. Personally, while recognizing that one can only speculate about this matter, I'm of the opinion that death is the end. I doubt the existence of what religious people call a soul. However, like I said, I keep an open mind with this sort of things and acknowledge that noone can be sure about them.

Now, in the introduction of What Dreams May Come, Matheson states that the only fictional elements about it are the characters. When I read this statement, I already knew that this book is about a man who dies and tries to reunite with his wife, as well as that it provides a detailed depiction of afterlife. So, it's easy to imagine that my rationalistic defenses were immediately activated. Matheson then clarifies that his sources were tons of books concerning near-death experiences and theories about the afterlife, so I naturally made the rationalization that these are such subjective factors, they can hardly be called non-fiction. That allowed me to enjoy this brilliant book as it is. A magnificent love story.

After having read four of his books (including this one), I have come to love Matheson's way of telling his stories. There's something unique and addictive about it. In What Dreams May Come, he weaves a tale which includes everlasting love along with psychological terrors including life and death. As for the latter, he paints a picture where afterlife is what we make it. The Ultimate Judgement is performed by the person alone and whether they end up in Heaven or Hell and what kind it will be, is decided by themselves after they have seen their lives pass before their eyes and made an account of what kind of life they led. So those who feel guilty about what they've done in life, they end up experiencing their personal Hell which is in fact a projection of their inner psyche. The rest enter Summerland, which is a non-Christian version of Heaven.

****MINOR SPOILER**** I was particularly amazed by the part where the protagonist meets his wife in her personal Hell after having committed suicide and finds her stuck in a twisted version of their home, tormented by her guilts and refusing to believe that he is her husband and that she doesn't have to stay there if only she wills it enough.****END OF SPOILER****

I don't know about afterlife, but this is certainly something very true in real life. I mean, for people to punish themselves making their close environment a projection of their dark psychology, keeping themselves stuck in all that's bad and wrong in order to avoid the truth which is that they can change everything. And of course this has serious repercussions to everyone who cares for them and love them. So powerful this part!

All that aside, the bottom line is that this is a love story about a man who will do everything in order to be with his wife. In life as well as in death. I read in another review about the final "thank-you" speech being sexist and offensive and I can't help but feel sorry about everyone who read it and felt this way. Most probably, these people never felt real love, shut inside their pittiful, insecure, rotting shells they call their bodies. Blind to everything but a few words, it's no wonder they can only feel offended instead of having the self-respect to be touched by such powerful notions. Sorry about that, I just had to get it out of my system.

I've said before that it takes some balls to write good romance. The kind of balls that is not an exclusive priviledge of men. Great book, recommended to anyone willing to know/remember what romance really is.