The Ten Best Days of My Life

by Adena Halpern

Twenty-nine-year-old Alexandra Dorenfield suddenly finds herself in heaven after an unfortunate encounter with a MINI Cooper. The seventh—and highest—level of heaven to be exact. Her dog, Peaches, is with her; she is reunited with her beloved grandparents; she has the wardrobe of a movie star; and she lives in the house of her dreams next door to a handsome guy. This is heaven!

But there’s a catch. Alex must prove she led a fulfilling existence by writing an essay on the ten best days of her life—or she will be demoted to a lower level of heaven, where the clothes are last year’s styles, the men aren’t quite as handsome, and, worst of all, Peaches and her family won’t be nearby. Witty and inspiring, this divine debut novel dares to ask a material girl—and the rest of us—what makes life precious.

• ISBN10: 0452289408
• ISBN13: 9780452289406
• Publish Date: 27 May 2008
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: Plume
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 272
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780452289406

Reviews

[Leah]

A heavenly novel about what truly matters in life. In this hilarious and heartwarming first novel, twentynine- year-old Alexandra Dorenfield suddenly finds herself in heaven after an unfortunate encounter with a Mini Cooper. The seventh—and highest—level of heaven to be exact. Her dog Peaches is with her; she is reunited with her beloved grandparents; she has the wardrobe of a movie star; and she lives in the house of her dreams next door to a handsome guy. This is heaven! But there’s a catch. Alex must prove she led a fulfilling existence by writing an essay on the ten best days of her life— or she will be demoted to a lower level of heaven, where the clothes are last year’s styles, the men aren’t quite as handsome, and worst of all, Peaches and her family won’t be nearby. Witty and inspiring, this divine debut novel dares to ask a material girl—and the rest of us—what makes life precious.

The plot of The Best Ten Days of My Life is one of the most inspired plots I have ever come across. I’ve read over 400 novels and this would make my top five favourite plots easily because it’s just so unique. I must admit, I wouldn’t like to have to write an essay about the best ten days of my life, because at 20 years of age it wouldn’t be very inspiring, but for Alex to do it at 29, after being killed by a Mini Cooper (of all things!), it was inspiring. I loved delving into Alex’s mind and re-living the days she crowned as the best of her life. They aren’t all life-changing, and they aren’t all perfect but it’s easy to see why they were chosen. If you read this book for any reason, it has to be for the plot.

Because the book is mainly told in flashbacks to Alex’s best days of her life, and because she’s in heaven also where everything is perfect, there aren’t that many characters that we come across and it’s a fairly tight-knit cast. Alex is a wonderful main character, she’s flawed but she’s totally warm and bubbly and loveable. The closeness she has with her family, her parents, grandparents and Uncle, is something not a lot of people have and I loved their little quirks and routines when they were all together. They seemed so so wonderful, despite the ups and downs that occured. I loved Alex’s dog Peaches, and Alex’s best friend Pen and Adam, the man Alex meets in Heaven just seems perfect. I love it when each of the characters make an impact on me and that’s true with this book.

The Ten Best Days of My Life is written very, very well. It’s told entirely from Alex’s point of view and we meet her just after she’s died whilst she waits to go into heaven. We then see what it’s like living in Seventh Heaven, before getting onto her 10 best days of her life. They’re separated into chapters and interspersed between are Alex’s musings on heaven and her life. I loved how the book was presented, with each day having a separate chapter and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride Adena Halpern took us on. It was emotional, but it was good emotional.

I absolutely loved this book. I’m not kidding, I thought it was amazing. The plot was well-executed, the writing was fantastic and I absolutely loved Alex. But what really got me was the message it sent out. Just because you think you haven’t lived a fulfilled life, once you get the chance to actually revisit days in your past you do realise that maybe it wasn’t all a lost cause, and that maybe you can make your mark on the world without actually realising it. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and I didn’t want it to end, ever.