The Five People You Meet in Heaven
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Recommended By
Avid, David Wolkin, Jason Kurtz, Erin, LSU Double C, Tolk, Heather, and dchrisl.
Planning on Reading
ravi jana and Rebecca Adler.
Book Details
Written by Mitch Albom.
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($19.95)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
Plot Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?" Personal Details Collection Status In Collection Index 10 Read It Yes Links Amazon US Product Details LoC Classification PS3601.L335F59 2003 Dewey 813/.6User Reviews (3) Login or create an account to write a review.
Tolk thinks this book is Excellent.
... Everyone has an idea of heaven, as do most religions, and they should be respected. The version represented here is only a gues, a wish, in some ways, that my uncle, and others like him - people who felt unimportant here on earth - realize, finally, how much they mattered and how they were loved.
Eddie, a lonely war veteran, dies on this eighty-third birthday in a tragic accident at the amusement park where he has been working all his life. He dies while trying to save the life of a little girl and as he dies he feels two little hands in his. When he wakes he feels different, is in a different place but still does not know whether he could save the little girl. He then meets five people who explain his life to him, explain why things went a certain way and slowly he realizes many things that have been hidden from his understanding all these years. And slowly things start making sense, things come together, everything falls into place, while he is still waiting to get to that peaceful place he has heaven imagined to be. Where we would meet the people who left before him, who he'd missed for so long...
Many times we are not aware of how our actions influence other people's lifes. Only if they do tell us we will realize. But that hardly ever happens because we also don't tell people how they have influcened us. Sometimes because we might not realize, somtimes because we think it would not matter to them anyway. That is why we need to wait so long until someone explains things to us and things become clear. It is a truely moving book but one that is delightful and inspiring, one that does not let you get depressed about the past, because in the instant everything becomes clear, the worries of the past disappear. The enlightenment is more important then the suffering.
Mitch Albom has been voted America's No. 1 sports columnist ten times by the Associated Press Sports Editors. He hosts a daily radio show on WJR in Detroit and appears on ESPN regularly. Albom, a former professional musician, lives in Michigan.
Avid thinks this book is Excellent.
An interesting theory about life in the here-after, presented in the form of an uplifting novel. A fun fast read, it serves as a reminder of our mortality and how we are all connected.
Austin C. thinks this book is Good.
THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is a beautiful story. Eddie is human and likable for his foibles, fears and faults. The writing is often lyrical and fable-like. And though the book is fiction, behind it lies Albom's lifelong love of his uncle, which lends a tenderness and intimacy to the tale on par with TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE. You'll want to share this with your friends, family, acquaintances, and even those nameless people you pass on the street who may have played a larger role in your life than you ever could have imagined.