The Five People You Meet in Heaven

The Five People You Meet in Heaven is Mitch Albom's follow up novel to the the bestselling Tuesdays with Morrie, an account of the last months of his college mentor Morrie Schwartz, as he was dying from Lou Gehrig's Disease (read my post on this book here). While the first book tackles death, The Five People You Meet in Heaven endeavors to give us an idea on what may happen afterward.

The book is about Eddie, an 83 year old maintenance man who works at Ruby Pier Amusement Park. He somehow feels that life gave him a bum deal and that he never really accomplished anything in all of his 83 years. One day, an accident occurs at one of the rides, threatening the life of one of the patrons...a little girl. He tries to save her, and Eddie is killed in the process. He regains consciousness in heaven...and meets five people who show him that his existence of earth was not as inconsequential as he believed, that he has in fact changed the lives of a lot of people.

The book shares a lot of lessons about life. It tells us that people...even those we don't know, even those who came before us, can and do have an impact on our lives, as all of our lives are interconnected, are intertwined. It tells us about the the value of sacrifice, of forgiveness, and of love that knows no bounds.

The story is very heartwarming, touching and reassures us of our place and value in this world. The essence of the story is that everyone matters. No matter how insignificant we think we are, we affect the lives of people around us, perhaps even in ways that we do not even realize, or understand. We don't even have to. Perhaps when our time comes, we too will understand, the same way that Eddie did, when his time came.

A pleasant, inspiring, and thought provoking book, though with perhaps a somewhat abrupt and anticlimactic ending. It arouses your curiosity on who the five people Eddie meets in heaven are...and further intrigues you on how Eddie's life affected theirs. It makes you think on how your own life affects others...and perhaps how the life of others affect you....

Highly recommended...:-)

Comments

Anonymous said…
Now, What did you learn from this read, about yourself?

Jer.
February 28, 2005 1:20 PM
Ronald Allan said…
Oh, I guess its pretty obvious. We are all important in this world, and we all have our roles to play. I guess some of us just have this need to be more that what we perceive ourselves to be. But its nice to know that whether we fail or succeed in what we want from this life...we've already made a difference. Whether we realize it or not. And failure is all about how you look at things.

Thanks for suggesting the book, Jer. :-)
February 28, 2005 1:34 PM
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