Customer Reviews

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

5 star:		(507)
4 star:		(150)
3 star:		(84)
2 star:		(62)
1 star:		(111)

 

 

(...)Hmm. It is not as cheesy I thought it could be, and not as life changing as many make it out to be. There are a few ideas that are beautiful and could have been exploited, as well as quotation material that could have been brought farther with a bit more imagination. I'm not saying Mitch is not imaginative, he is just not as imaginative as he could be, which leads to a bit of boredom for a reader like me who' is looking for challenges.
All the way through I kept waiting for that wonderful momentum, the paroxysm where you discover that everything was actually a lot more intricate than it initially had appeared to be, whilst all is being revealed to you, leaving your heart content or there to debate the choice of the author. Not the case. The climax comes early, as I believe that the people that Eddie meets at the beginning are far more interesting and wise than the ones met at the end.
The voice of Eddie is extremely annoying (Thank you Mitch for having other characters speak, nice breaks they were). It took stubbornness on my part to get through to the end. Mitch explains the voice as being similar to his uncle's voice, as he wanted to bestow credit to his uncle; he apparently tried very hard to reproduce his uncle''s unique husky strong speech.(...)
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Heaven is a very personal place. The visions of heaven from various religious traditions tap into hopes (and fears) of people past and present, but ultimately, just as the world is different for each of us, so too must heaven be. Throughout this difference, however, is a question that is perhaps one of the more universal longings in the history of humanity - the quest to find the meaning of life, and the meaning of our lives in particular. It is this longing that Mitch Albom, best known prior to this book for his wonderful writing in `Tuesdays with Morrie'.

The tale begins at the end, not the beginning. Of course, in life, every ending is a beginning of some sort. The end here is the end of Eddie's life - Eddie, a veteran who has gone through times of trouble and tragedy as well as times of joy and optimism, didn't have the life he wanted. Like most people, what Eddie wanted shifted over time, and even when he got what he wanted, it was somehow lacking, or disappointing; on the other hand, there were unexpected things.

Eddie got married, but as with most marriages, it didn't always live up to the dream of the initial love. However, his wife Marguerite remained the love of Eddie's life, and she was one of the five people he met in heaven. This was his closest relationship, but not the only important relationship in his life.

Perhaps drawing on the idea of six degrees of separation, there are people connected to Eddie who are companion guides in heaven that Eddie didn't even realise he was connected to. There is the Blue Man, the side-show freak at the amusement park where Eddie worked; there was the captain from his military days; there was Ruby, for whom Ruby Pier, the amusement park's location, was named; and then there is final person, one that Eddie only knew as a shadow on earth, but who has the biggest impact, and is the one whose hands offer a very touching form of salvation.

Each person has insights and lessons to share with Eddie. Sometimes they reinterpret the events of Eddie's life; sometimes they simply share their sides of the story, that give a fullness to the narrative of life. This is no easy glossing over of reality - none of the characters attempt to explain how, at the heart of it, life really is fair. Indeed, the Blue Man explains in no uncertain terms that life is not fair, stating that if it were, `no good person would ever die young.'

There are issues of redemption and issues of forgiveness here, both of which are not easy to come by, nor always easy to accept. Eddie's life, like most of our lives, needs forgiveness, both in his own sense of life and action, and forgiveness for his own actions. He learns to forgive others as he learns that he himself can be forgiven. It is a powerful realisation.

Albom draws the story together in an interesting fashion. The scenes in heaven are interwoven with scenes from earth, with analysis from the people and historical narrative and internal dialogue of Eddie's life. There are also pieces that show the life around Eddie, and how sometimes it works and doesn't work. In the end, life goes on for those Eddie left behind; despite the fact that he had no relatives and no monuments or legacies to leave behind (his few remaining friends worried about who was to pay for the funeral), in fact his actions at amusement park served purposes far beyond what Eddie could have dreamed. Despite the feeling that he had lived his life in go-nowhere, do-nothing job, he has in fact fulfilled a great purpose, explained by a little girl - `Children. You keep them safe.' His last act on earth was to save a little girl from an amusement park ride accident, but in fact, he had been doing that all along.

Albom writes in parable form at times, and in sermon form at times, and in storytelling form at times. These weave together in a wonderful combination.

`On earth...when you fell asleep, you sometimes dreamed your heaven and those dreams helped to form it. But there was no reason for such dreams now.'

Eddie's existence goes on, as does the rest of the life of the world, in ways that we do not have the ability to follow. In our dreams, we can envision much; in Albom's writing is the stuff of dreams.

Our book club recently picked three winners----something that NEVER happens. And needless to say, while we loved the other two---KITE RUNNER and McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD, we thought THE FIVE PEOPLE was the best, easiest to read, and most inspirational. Mitch Albom hit the nail on the head with his first book, and he's done just as well with the second one. This is a heartwarming story and there's something for everyone in this charming tale.

Also highly recommended: Kite Runner and Bark of the Dogwood

If you are looking for a sweet and enchanting experience, look no further than THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN. My appetite was prompted by the television movie and I am so happy I read the book, because although the movie is faithful to the story, there is a wisdom and beauty in the pages of Mitch Albom's writing that is inherent to the book. Finding the books that can touch the soul can take so much time and effort, but it is so terribly rewarding when we find those magic gold nuggets. Your FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN, your MY FRACTURED LIFE, your TIME TRAVELER'S WIFE, your LIFE OF PI, your LOVELY BONES, your GOOD EARTH - these are the gems that inspire our souls to dance. These are the sweet rewards.

I loved this book! I enjoyed "Tuesdays With Morrie" but this is in another realm of excellence. I'd be tempted to slate "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" right up there with "The DaVinci Code", "My Fractured Life", and "The Time Traveler's Wife" as one of my favorites.

People have taken to comparing new books to past success. "My Fractured Life" (Rikki Lee Travolta) is this decade's "Catcher in the Rye" (JD Salinger) they say. "Secret Life of Bees" (Sue Monk Kidd) is this decade's "Color Purple" (Alice Walker), it can also be said. What of "The Five People We Meet in Heaven" (Mitch Albom)? What great literary wonder should be consider this to be the reincarnation of? In the game of comparisons, I think we have to give serious thought to the notion that "The Five People We Meet in Heaven" is our decade's "A Christmas Carol" (Charles Dickens) because it is a view of life after it is essentially over, a validation of what cannot be undone, and yet with an uplifting end. Whether you agree with the specific title of my comparison or not, I am confident you'll find "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" to be with "My Fractured Life" and "Secret Life of Bees" as one of our decade's classics.

Mitch Albom is a different kind of writer. His work doesn't hit you over the head. It's not like Rikki Lee Travolta's "My Fractured Life" or Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" where you get that tingling sensation that you are reading something great that you can't live without. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is a book that dawns on you. You read and you read and you read and somewhere along the line it just finally all becomes clear. At first you wonder, is it good or not? You never decide that you like it, you just finally do. From there that like grows on you. Eventually you just can't live without it.

I found that this book was very entertaining. It took me only two nights to read! During the reading of this book, a close friend of mine died-at a relatively young age. He touched so many lives in a positive way. After reading this book, I found myself pondering the afterlife and having comfort in the thought of life after death-especially in light of that recent death. This book makes you think, they way Jackson McCrae's CHILDREN'S CORNER or the movie A WONDERFUL LIFE does-causing certain switches to be flipped so that you look at the world differently. It is intriguing that our somewhat humdrum meaningless life is in fact just the opposite! Read the book and you will understand. We never really know how much we truly affect, in a positive way, the people that we encounter as we live this life of ours. I recommend this book for your personal library.

Mitch Albom's recipe for success looks like it's to mix one part A CHRISTMAS CAROL and two parts IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE and blend, and it is a fine recipe at that! THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is a fine story that is simple and easy to understand. It's also a recipe for a fine Christmas present that most people should appreciate. Where Rikki Lee Travolta's MY FRACTURED LIFE and Augusten Burroughs' MAGICAL THINKING or DRY are fine presents for the quick wit, off center sense of humor quirky types, THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is a fine present for almost any type. The writing is fresh and original and has made me a fan.

Good deeds do not go unrewarded is the underlying theme of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" and a fine theme at that.