the five people you meet in heaven

By Mitch Albom (Hyperion, 2003)

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 196

Via: Library Book Sale!

You are about to enter another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound, but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land of imagination. Next stop, heaven – ?!

Okay, okay. So we stole that from Rod Serling. But it applies pretty well to this short little tome by Mitch Albom entitled the five people you meet in heaven.

Pop Quiz 

Q: What’s the first thing that jumps out at you from the title?

This is actually a trick question. Heh-heh-heh. Cuz if you’re from another dimension (Hi, Mom), there are two things that jump out at you from the title:

1. The title is lower-cased. That’s not a typo or a mistake. That’s a deliberate choice by the author and/or the publisher. Why do you think that is?
2. The personal pronoun, “you.” In a book that focuses on the life of one man named Eddie, why use the pronoun “you”? Why not, “the five people he meets in heaven”? Or, “the five people Eddie meets in heaven”? Or, “I/me, she/her, he/him, they/them”?  Why “you”?

A: We’re not entirely sure on either point. And we read the whole book. Which is to say, just shows you what we know. (Kimber: Insert eye roll here.)

Where Angels Fear…

Rushing in where angels fear to tread, however, we’re gonna offer some thoughts on the five people you meet in heaven. Here goes:

When most people think about “the five people you meet in heaven,” they’re probably thinking along the lines of Grandma and Gramps. Uncle Elmer or Aunt Bertha. Maybe mom or dad or a beloved friend. That’s not really what happens in this book. Cuz the peeps Eddie meets in “heaven” are people from his life on earth that are mostly “coincidences.” Some Eddie doesn’t even recognize. Maybe that’s part of the message. And while viewpoints differ, we think a main message of this book is that every life matters. Including yours. Even if you feel otherwise.

The First Thing

There are three main things to keep in mind with this novel. The first thing to understand about five people you meet in heaven is that it’s fiction. That’s kind of important. This book isn’t intended nor does it pretend to be a theological treatise on heaven or the afterlife. It’s a novel, okay? So lighten up, Sunshine.

The Second Thing

The next thing you need to know is that the main character, Eddie, is a maintenance man at an oceanfront amusement park in California called Ruby Pier. He dies when a roller coaster mishap threatens the life of a little girl. Taciturn and reserved, Eddie dies trying to save her.

The Third Thing

For most of his life, Eddie feels like a loser. A zero. Like he hasn’t done anything with his life. Has never really amounted to much. All his hopes and dreams turned to dust. He never really got to do or accomplish anything he wanted to: Go to college. Become an engineer. Be a father. He spent “some of his life hiding from God, and the rest of the time he thought he went unnoticed.”

Treble Echoes

Told in the third person, this multi-layered, multi-textured and gently nuanced story reverberates with treble echoes of sadness, disappointment, and regret. Loss. It may seem simple on the surface. It’s not.

Five

After death, Eddie is guided through his past to help him understand his life. He roams from scene to scene from his earthy life. Eddie meets five people in five different settings: 1) A carnival and the Blue Man. 2) A battlefield. His former commanding officer during the war.  3) Snow-capped mountain, a diner and an ex-waitress. 4) A mirror and a wedding. 5) A river with small children playing nearby. A little girl.

Each setting is unique and separate, yet connected to all the others. The people Eddie meets in each setting “have one thing to teach you.” Like, “That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind.”

Birthday Boy

These “meetings” are punctuated by Today is Eddie’s Birthday sections in which special occasions, memories, and people from his past are highlighted. We’re offered a glimpse into Eddie’s backstory via these italicized sections, which help fill in some blanks as he’s meeting peeps in the wild blue yonder.

We heard a lot about this book. It was published in 2003. Nabbed it a library book sale last week. For a quarter. So way to go, Her Quickness! (Better late than never. )

We don’t agree with everything in this book. In fact, we don’t agree with a lot in this book. But as noted above, it’s fiction. So don’t take it as anything else, Buttercup.

Some stand-out quotes:

“Strangers,” the Blue Man said, “are just family you have yet to come to know.”

“No life is a waste… the only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.”

“Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.”

“That’s the thing. Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.”

“We move though places every day that would never have been if not for those who came before us.”

“Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.”

“Life has to end,” she said. “Love doesn’t.”

The Final Analysis

In the final analysis, the five people you meet in heaven will either resonate with you or it won’t. Either way, it’s beautifully written, structurally sound, provocative, contemplative, and reflective. All at the same time.

As for heaven, I’m looking forward to one humdinger of a reunion some day. Just inside the Eastern Gate. And meeting up with a whole lot more people than five.

Have you read the five people you meet in heaven?

If so, what did you think?