All endings are also beginnings (The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom)

Member Name: MI9to5

Product:	The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
Date:	12/02/09 (183 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some profound statements

Disadvantages: A little dull at times

Now I'm not going to say that I'm a religious person because I'm not and although I'd like to believe that there is something else beyond this life I'm not too certain that I do. Religion however does fascinate me greatly and the way other people express what they believe in really intrigues me. It was for this reason that I purchased 'the five people you meet in heaven'.

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom is a very simple book in many respects and looks at the five people that it's main character Eddie, an 83 year-old war veteran and maintenance man, meets when he is tragically killed in an accident whilst trying to save a small girl from a falling cart.

The book highlights how the afterlife is not a lush Garden of Eden like is often represented but quite simply a place in which you meet five people. These five people have waited in his line since their own deaths. Some of them are loved ones others distant strangers but all of them have had their paths changed by Eddie or have changed his path and are there to explain to him what his earthly life was all about.

The idea of having your life explained to you in heaven really appealed to me and I like the idea that this wasn't going to be a morbid take on death but more a light-hearted look at how you affect the lives of others and how they affect your life at the same time.

The book itself is split into chapters beginning with The End, which obviously portrays the death of Eddie, before moving onto the first person he meets in heaven and the first lesson. After the first lesson Eddie moves onto the second person and therefore so does the book repeating the same process up to the last lesson and epilogue. In the midst of these meetings and lessons however are small sections that detail birthday's Eddie has had throughout his lifetime. Some have little effect on what you are about to read or have already read whereas others give you hints about what is to come or express further details about what you have already been told.

When my Mum caught the title of this book he response was to exclaim "Oh how morbid," but like I have mentioned earlier that is simply not the case with this book. The subject itself could be classed as morbid but the way in which it is tackled and dealt with certainly isn't. Many moments within the book are exceptionally profound and a lot of the topics discussed and the lessons learnt are as equally as important in life as they are in death.

Eddie's character isn't a particularly loveable one. You like him but you never really feel that much for him, which for this book actually works. The degree of distant allows you as the reader a more philosophical approach the book and allows you to delve into what is being said and represented rather than getting bogged down with the character and his emotions.

The book obviously has a religious sentiment running throughout and God is mentioned on occasion but you do not need to believe in religion of any sort to see what the book is getting at or the message that it wishes to portray. There are many lines within the book that are filled with meaning and it is these that I found myself concentrating on.

I would definitely recommend this book and suggest that it is something everyone should read even if it is just to get an alternative view about what heaven is all about. I wouldn't however class it as one of the best books I have read lately because the style at times can get a little dull and although I felt the book did deliver some good points it just didn't deliver as much as I expected it to.

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"No life is a waste" the Blue Man said. "The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone." (The Five People You Meet In Heaven)
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Summary: A book that should be read at least once