Product Description

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is a wonderfully moving fable that addresses the meaning of life, and life after death, in the poignant way that made TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE such an astonishing book. The novel's protagonist is an elderly amusement park maintenance worker named Eddie who, while operating a ride called the 'Free Fall', dies while trying to save a young girl who gets in the way of a falling cart that hurtles to earth. Eddie goes to heaven, where he meets five people who were unexpectedly instrumental in some way in his life. While each guide takes him through heaven, Eddie learns a little bit more about what his time on earth meant, what he was supposed to have learned, and what his true purpose on earth was. Throughout there are dramatic flashbacks where we see scenes from his troubled childhood, his years in the army in the Philippines jungle, and with his first and only love, his wife Marguerite. THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is the perfect book to follow TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE. Its compellingly affecting themes and lyrical writing will fascinate Mitch Albom's huge readership.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103215 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 228 pages

Review
A first novel by a famous American sports columnist (author of Tuesday with Morrie, a bestselling non-fiction title). This one is a fable which discusses the meaning of life and death. Eddie is a fairground operator, who checks the safety of the various rides. He is 'an old man with a barrel chest and a torso as squat as a soup can', and dies while trying to save a young girl from a falling cart. Eddie goes to heaven - a most unexpected place - and meets five people who were instrumental in some way in his life. He learns not only about his life but also about what his time on earth meant. It is simple, unaffected and written with great feeling.

Publishing News
'Simple, unaffected and written with great feeling'

About the Author
Mitch Albom writes for the Detroit Free Press and has been voted America's No. 1 sports columnist ten times by the Associated Press Sports Editors. A former professional musician, he hosts a daily radio show on WJR in Detroit.

Customer Reviews

What a moving little book.
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.

A wonderful book with an inspirational, comforting message
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.

'The' book to read, heaven itself in literary terms.
I received 'The Five People you meet in Heaven' as a gift on Christmas day. By Boxing day I had finished one of the best reads this year. The story centres around a character called Eddie who has died early on in the story and journeys through the afterlife learning a lesson from each of the five people he meets on the way. The lessons Eddie learns are profound ones for all of us to take on board - revealing and enlightening yet challenging and stirring. Words that make you stop and think and then go back and read again. This book is not just the story of a character from the author's imagination or life, but a story that impacts into the lives of those that read it, so that the readers own story and emotions rise up in the midst of reading about another. One of the reviews on the back of the book states that this book is 'a gift to the soul' and it certainly is. I challenge you to read this and remain unchanged by such an outstanding piece of writing.