The Five People You Meet In Heaven
Mitch Albom
I picked this book up in a charity shop a couple of months ago. I had been meaning to read it for a while as I had heard about it through the grapevine and it sounded like a really intriguing story. Anyway, I walked into the shop with a friend and I had run out of books at home to read, and there it was, the first book on the shelf for the bargain price of 50p, brand spanking new and everything. It might as well have had a sign over it with Christmas lights and 'BUY ME' written in glitter with a big arrow pointing at it. I couldn't resist.
The story revolves around Eddie, eighty-three years old, a war veteran who has worked in the same amusement park for so many decades that the children call him 'Eddie Maintenance.' He's pretty much a part of the furniture. On his birthday Eddie dies (how morbid) saving a little girl from a tragic accident and wakes up in, not Heaven or anything of that sort, but sort of an in-between place. There he meets five people who explain his life to him and changed his life forever. Among them are loved ones and absolute strangers. The Blue Man, a freak who made a life for himself at the amusement park where Eddie has lived his life. Second, Eddie's former war Captain, who tells Eddie the truth of why he was injured at war. Then comes Ruby, after whom the amusement park Ruby Pier is named who helps Eddie to let go of the anger he holds against his father. Marguerite, Eddie's late wife comes next and teaches us all a few lessons on the meaning of love and finally, a young girl who helps Eddie to realise the meaning to his life.
The Five People You Meet In Heaven is written beautifully, it is easy to read and flows well and there is never a dull second. Over the course of the book, you go through the toil and turmoil that Eddie has been through in his life and you feel his pain, you sympathise with him over the death of his life and alongside him, you learn the painful truth about his experiences in the war. Albom does a brilliant job at teaching us all a lesson that we all have the power to change the lives of those around us by one simple little action which we may not even notice, such as running across the street. I found the idea behind the story wonderful too, Mitch Albom says in his author's note that the idea arose because he felt that people who felt unimportant on earth should realise how much they mattered and how much they were loved.
This is a book I would advise everybody to read, it will definitely give you something to think about.
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