| The Five People You Meet in Heaven | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 1605 reviews)
Sales Rank: 566
Category: Book
Author: Mitch Albom
Publisher: Hyperion
Studio: Hyperion
Manufacturer: Hyperion
Label: Hyperion
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 198
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0786868716
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780786868711
ASIN: 0786868716
Publication Date: September 2003
Release Date: September 23, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Plot Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?" Personal Details Collection Status In Collection Index 10 Read It Yes Links Amazon US Product Details LoC Classification PS3601.L335F59 2003 Dewey 813/.6
Amazon.com Review
Part melodrama and part parable, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park. As the novel opens, readers are told that Eddie, unsuspecting, is only minutes away from death as he goes about his typical business at the park. Albom then traces Eddie's world through his tragic final moments, his funeral, and the ensuing days as friends clean out his apartment and adjust to life without him. In alternating sections, Albom flashes back to Eddie's birthdays, telling his life story as a kind of progress report over candles and cake each year. And in the third and last thread of the novel, Albom follows Eddie into heaven where the maintenance man sequentially encounters five pivotal figures from his life (a la A Christmas Carol). Each person has been waiting for him in heaven, and, as Albom reveals, each life (and death) was woven into Eddie's own in ways he never suspected. Each soul has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. Through them Eddie understands the meaning of his own life even as his arrival brings closure to theirs. Albom takes a big risk with the novel; such a story can easily veer into the saccharine and preachy, and this one does in moments. But, for the most part, Albom's telling remains poignant and is occasionally profound. Even with its flaws, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a small, pure, and simple book that will find good company on a shelf next to It's A Wonderful Life. --Patrick O'Kelley
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1600 more reviews...
Worth Thinking About October 13, 2008
I appreciated this story a lot more after re-reading it. It does, at first, seem as sappy as many reviewers have said, but on a second look, the author does convey some strong ideas well. Behind every person that we brush past--sometimes without noticing--is a story. The main character, Eddie, of course, is the kind of gruff, broken old man that nobody notices, but we see he was once a war hero who ended up trapped in a dead end because of his duty to country and family.
Along those lines, I thought the two most impressive of Eddie's "five people," were the Blue Man and Ruby, primarily because he didn't know either one of them. The Blue Man's story is a tragic one--reduced to being a freak and basically losing his human dignity. Ruby reminds Eddie that the run-down amusement park in which he wastes his life was once a somebody's grand dream.
The choice of a broken-down amusent park, which seemed pretty bizarre as a setting, I guess was a good choice. Both the workers and customers would be the kind of people you don't stop to give a second thought.
While I appreciate the story more, I still find the ending a bit cheesy and tacked on. Albom has made a good case that we're all interconnected in many ways we don't realize, why ruin that good observation by giving Eddie's life some overarching purpose that, basically, sounds more like an amusement park safety commercial? Likewise, he goes a little bit overboard with the interconnections--like Ruby's grandson's key?
Anyway, worth reading and thinking about at least parts of this story.
 Wonderful October 7, 2008
I knew this would be good, and it was great. If you have extra time, read it.
 Good Story October 7, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book followed Albom's Tuesdays With Morrie, and is "only a guess, a wish," of his view of heaven. READ CAREFULLY: Albom is not saying this story is what heaven will be like. It is only a story, a way to convey his view that all people are important and affect everyone they meet in some way.
As far as the literary content goes, this book is fair. The writing isn't generic, but it won't wow you, either. The story moves along nicely, and Albom is careful not to reveal the characters himself, but rather allow them to tell their stories. I appreciated that aspect.
If you are looking for any theological content about heaven in this book, please turn elsewhere. That was not Albom's intention, and there is a lot of New Age rhetoric in this book. But if you keep in mind that this is just a story, then it's a good way to pass time when you're not seeking too much intellectual stimulation. (That's a compliment, I promise)
Lessons for life October 3, 2008
The lessons from this book can help us to live our life with more connection to self and others. We don't have to wait until we die to recognize that we can live with meaning in the here and now.
Your destiny fulfilled September 25, 2008
Why you SHOULD read this book:
- Sense of harmony and balance with life and death
- The acknowledgment that you have a God-given purpose
- Simple and quick read
- The flashback to the past references keeps you entertained and cleverly unfolds the present
- Mental picture is easy to orchestrate
- The epilogue!
Why you SHOULD NOT read this book:
- If you cannot let go of your own view of heaven
- You can't read in pictures
- Or you over-analyse
**This is the first story-telling book I've read in about 10 years! This isn't a book about death, nor is it a book about heaven; this is a book about LIFE here...right this very moment! I couldn't have been happier with reading this. If you don't get teary-eyed, you don't have a pulse! It's good enough for Oprah!**
Sidenote to those criticizing:
Shut up.
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