The Five People You Meet in Heaven [Hardcover]

This was such a lovely, hopeful and thought provoking work of fiction. But here's the thing - a bit of me believes/hopes that it's bordering on fact.

Mitch Albom's 'The Five People You Meet In Heaven' tells the tale of Eddie, the fairground maintainance man and his story begins on his 83rd birthday.......his last day on earth.

To help him put his lifetime into perspective he is met in heaven by 5 people from his past, some he knows - some he doesn't, but they all hold information that will help Eddie make sense of his life and understand what led him to arrive in heaven on the day he did.

The message seems to be that whether we are aware of it or not, everything happens for a reason but more importantly, even trivial things can shape a person and that every encounter, occurance or event is tightly woven into the fabric of our lives.

It is a very quick read, at just over 100 pages, but Mr Albom's writing style seems to pack a lot into those 100 pages. It's not 'gripping' or 'fast paced' but it is a page turner. I read it in one sitting as I couldn't wait to find out who Eddie's 5 people were and what his personal heaven would be.

I don't think I've ever sobbed as much over a book as I did at the bittersweet ending of this one. I didn't see the 5th person coming and was literally moved to tears at their fragment of Eddie's life.

It gets 5 out of 5 from me and I'm so glad I've read it.

In many ways, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a simple little book; as is so often the case, the most profound of answers are revealed most clearly in the simplest of explanations. This is not a book about heaven in a religious sense; the truths it establishes are to be found right here in our own lives: every life has a purpose, every person and every action is related, and while you may not be able to discern it now, it all makes sense in the end.

Eddie represents all of us to some degree. Looking back on his life with regret over all the things he should have done or not done, he is almost a ghost of himself. Since the death of his wife, he has basically gone through the motions, working at the same job his father worked before him, dealing with the bad dreams brought on by his wartime experience, watching his body deteriorate to the point that he can barely get around, waiting for nothing, feeling nothing but regret. He always wanted to get away from his father and live an entirely different sort of life, yet he wound up taking over his father's job, living in the same building, failing to achieve any of the hopes and dreams he embraced so tightly as a young man. His wife was his only anchor, and she has been dead a long time now.

When we first meet Eddie, he is about to die. The end is just another beginning, however, and we learn the story of Eddie's life as the novel progresses. Heaven is not what he expected; he finds no peace here at all. Happiness cannot come without understanding, however, and five people are waiting to explain Eddie's life to him. They include people he barely knew or did not know at all, yet he soon learns what a huge influence he had in their earthly lives. Each one imparts to Eddie a lesson he must learn in order to find peace. I won't describe who the five people are or what they tell him; but I will say that the overall message is a really touching and significant one. Understanding is not a pain-free process, but it leads to the complete unburdening of Eddie's soul. The ending was nothing short of beautiful. It would have been easy to sit back and let an overly sappy conclusion ruin the whole story, but Albom does not let that happen.

While this is a great and rewarding read, some readers will never give themselves fully to the story and will thus wonder what the big deal about this book is. For many, though, The Five People You Meet in Heaven will provide an important level of comfort and inspiration for those who see only a past of regrets and no future. We all sometimes wonder why we are here and whether it's even worth going on day after meaningless, monotonous day. This book does not provide the definitive answer to such profound questions, but it does provide an answer - and it is a comforting one.

This is a self development book that makes you think about the effect you have - unknowingly - on other people's lives. `The Five People You Meet In Heaven' was written by Mitch Albom, author of the international bestseller `Tuesdays With Morrie'. Whether you believe in heaven or not, it is interesting to read how the author portrays what happens after death and what his take is on the meaning of life.

On the Surface

Eddie is a `maintenance man' at an amusement park. The book starts with a count-down to Eddie's death, over the course of an hour, and what he did in that time as he went about his job in that park not realising that it would be for the last time.

On dying in an accident at that amusement park, Eddie goes on a journey of self discovery, meeting five important people in heaven. Each of them was in his life for a specific reason - some only momentarily. And every one of the five was affected by Eddie's life in a profound way. Eddie sees them once more in heaven as they each have something to teach him.

In between each chapter or so is a page or two recounting important periods in Eddie's past, e.g., specific birthdays from his childhood to adulthood. From the point of view of this self development book review, it is interesting how the two stories work in conjunction with each other.

The Underlying Message

Many people believe that during the course of their life several people come into it and make a difference to them. This book makes you look at life the other way round. Who are the people that YOU touch without you actually realising? What is the impact that YOU make on others without your knowledge?

Sometimes the effect is instantaneous, dramatic and you know about it straight away. At other times it is so subtle that you may not realise how you changed that person's life till many years later, if at all!

Eddie had always thought that his mundane life and job were not of any use to others. By the time he meets the `fifth person in heaven' he fully realises just how many lives he had touched and helped.

Also, he learns that each person had played a significant role in helping him to live to the exact point that he did. In other words, each person had prevented him from dying at earlier points in his life.

There are phrases and sentences throughout that make you think twice, such as:

* "Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."
* "But the running boy is inside every man, no matter how old he gets."
* "Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers."

The Questions it makes you consider

The book also addresses a question that most people ask at some point: "What happens after death?" The author suggests one answer, which initially comes across as quite light hearted but does make you think more deeply about it all.

When the author talks about death he does it in the way a child would bring it up, i.e., it is just one of those things that happen. And the way the story unfolds, you get an insight into his way of covering the answers to Man's longstanding curiosity about the afterlife, reincarnation, etc.

The story also makes you consider other interesting issues such as:

* Will the very next person you come in contact with change the course of your life forever?
* Have you (unknowingly) totally changed the course of someone's life?

In Summary

As you read this self development book you do feel somewhat in the grip of the story, not wanting to put it down until you figure out who `The Five People You Meet In Heaven' are, and why. Overall, the story gives an interesting slant on the meaning of life and what happens after death. It is worth a read.