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Five People You Meet
In Heaven
by Mitch Albom
If
you’ll remember, I christened my book reviews with Mitch Albom’s
Tuesdays with Morrie which was based on a true story of a
time in Albom’s life. It was a very touching and moving story of
one of Albom’s professors who died of Lou Gherigs disease. So
when I happened to come across Five People You Meet in Heaven,
also by Albom, I did not hesitate to read it. And read it I did;
it only took me three hours from beginning to end.
Everyone, I believe, has their own view or idea of what heaven
might be. In Five People You Meet in Heaven, Albom has
perceived and brought into words such a wonderful story of one
mans entrance into the afterlife.
We immediately meet Eddie, who is 83, just before his death, and
are given a small glimpse into how he lives his life from day to
day working at Ruby Pier, an amusement park. After death, in
heaven, he is almost immediately confronted with a man from his
childhood, who explains to him that the first stage of heaven is
meeting five people, and he is the first. The purpose of the
five people, whom Eddie might not even know, is to explain why
he lived, why he was put on this earth.
Five People You Meet in Heaven was such a gripping and
wonderfully told story I refused to put it down until the very
end, sleepy-eyed as I was. As I mentioned in my first review
with Tuesdays with Morrie, Five People You Meet In
Heaven was made into a TV movie starring Jon Voight. Albom
is such a wonderful story-teller; I am continually surprised
that his day job is a sports journalist!
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