Part melodrama and part parable, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park. As the novel opens, readers are told that Eddie, unsuspecting, is only minutes away from death as he goes about his typical business at the park. Albom then traces Eddie's world through his tragic final moments, his funeral, and the ensuing days as friends clean out his apartment and adjust to life without him. In alternating sections, Albom flashes back to Eddie's birthdays, telling his life story as a kind of progress report over candles and cake each year. And in the third and last thread of the novel, Albom follows Eddie into heaven where the maintenance man sequentially encounters five pivotal figures from his life (a la A Christmas Carol). Each person has been waiting for him in heaven, and, as Albom reveals, each life (and death) was woven into Eddie's own in ways he never suspected. Each soul has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. Through them Eddie understands the meaning of his own life even as his arrival brings closure to theirs.
Albom takes a big risk with the novel; such a story can easily veer into the saccharine and preachy, and this one does in moments. But, for the most part, Albom's telling remains poignant and is occasionally profound. Even with its flaws, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a small, pure, and simple book that will find good company on a shelf next to It's A Wonderful Life. --Patrick O'Kelley
This book is another one to add to your collection. It had me from the beginning, starting with the countdown and couldn't put it down from there. I felt every emotion Eddie felt and it makes you think.
Age old question is what happens to us when we pass. Everyone has their own ideas, but I really enjoyed this author's story about Eddie and the five people in heaven for him.
I can't say any more praise that any other reviewer has said. Just get this book, get one for everyone you know. ENJOY!
A book (and now film) which gives one hope at a time when everyone could use hope as a cathartic for our social ills. Mitch Albom is a gifted and sensitive writer. Hopefully, he is close in his interpretation of the afterlife but I would suspect that it is a phenomenon that no one can ever dream of.
The film, with Jon Voight as Eddie is as good as it gets in simplicity and is a story one is not likely to forget.
Prof. TCD
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOK'S I'VE EVER READ.EVEN THOUGH THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION,MITCH ALBOM'S INSIGHT IS REMARKABLE.I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.
