"I missed you so much" (The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom)

Member Name: sirg0508

Product:	The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
Date:	28/05/06 (1456 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to read, another Heaven concept, emotional

Disadvantages: Ends too soon

Eddie was a maintenance worker at Ruby Pier Amusement Park – even at 83 years of age his world revolved around keeping the park up to speed making sure the rides were safe. As the book begins, it begins with Eddie’s birthday, the end of his life and his tragic death as he attempts to save a girl in danger. ‘The Five People You Meet in Heaven’ meets those people significant in Eddie’s past even if he never knew them himself and he discovers important lessons along the way: why events happened in his life which will help him find peace in Heaven.

It really does sound like such a mundane story and to be honest it is – who wants to know about an old man’s troubles and the boring life even he himself knew he led? The book isn’t even that much of a page turner and there is only one main thing Eddie wants to know – if he managed to save the girl. From the cover I’d expected the book to be set back in time but it is a modern story with Eddie’s death in the early 21st century but as it does go back into Eddie’s past meets characters from the turn of the 20th century. It seemed a little strange starting with Eddie’s death but it worked. The opening chapter effectively gave a broad outline of Eddie’s life as well as the last moments he had on earth – even in a countdown to that awful moment. The reader knows it is coming but is never certain what road the book will take to that moment.

Not surprisingly on Eddie’s death as he is transported to Heaven he does meet five people each of whom have a lesson to pass on to help Eddie learn why things happened in his life. The book livens up because these characters each have their own stories to tell but they all connect to Eddie’s life. In a way the reader is helped because Eddie doesn’t directly know some of the characters or has a vague memory of them so each is introduced then we ourselves know why they are there and how they are linked. These are the page turners – who is Eddie going to meet next and why?

Each alternate chapter focuses on Eddie’s past. As his life ended on his birthday, the chapter begins ‘Today is Eddie’s birthday’ and it will mention the age he is on that day. These are not chapters to be ignored because they really do help the book flow and give Eddie’s point of view from that day of his life. Those chapters introduce new characters such as his parents, brother and the love of his life, Marguerite and the period such as during and after the war in which he struggled. Life doesn’t end however in this book. The amusement part still runs when Eddie has left the earth and there are a few chapters that continue into life – the funeral and life after Eddie. This does give the book a future because when people do die they are not just forgotten about and Eddie did touch people’s lives even though he had no family left at the end so it is good to see how these people continue… Eddie himself could even be one of the people those still alive meet in Heaven.

The story is quite an emotional one, a rollercoaster really, looking at the highs and the lows of this man’s life. It really does make you think though about life itself and the way the stories are written, from the point of view of others, gives Eddie an insight into things he’d never have known otherwise. Towards the end of his life, Eddie was a frail old man who had suffered war wounds and abuse but in this book the wounds are fresh and have to heal again. I wouldn’t say the story was shocking but it does have some surprising moments and it really is possible to feel the pain of the moment as they are dug up. It’s not all dark and depressing and there are moments I found a little more humorous or put a smile on my face.

The book is easy to read and not long at 208 pages. The chapters are short and as I mentioned, divided to give even more of an insight into Eddie’s life. I still loved it though. It is easy to see that the author, Mitch Albom, did research into different areas covered in the book – maintenance of amusement parks and wartime but even using his real Uncle Eddie as a model. Everyone’s ideas of Heaven are different and this is another point of view – each choosing their own Heaven and helping those that arrive there to discover their meaning of life. But what you may see is different to what others see and this point was proved in the book. It’s not a subject that you have to believe – Eddie questions many of things happening in his Heaven and it really isn’t a religious book. I highly recommend it because it is a good read and I did enjoy it. I’d love to know how Eddie spent his death in Heaven as after he meets those five people it does cut short but also led me to question what Heaven is and wonder what five people I’d meet there.

In the Acknowledgements there is a photo of Albom’s Uncle Eddie as he gets ready to blow out candles on his cake. It’s a nice touch even though the story is fiction, gives it a little more of a real feel to it. The book also gives a snippet of his bestseller ‘Tuesday’s with Morrie’.

ISBN: 0-7515-3682-2
Price: £5.59 (Amazon UK) – can be bought cheaper so look around.

Summary: Death + Life + Lessons = Peace in Heaven