THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is a wonderfully moving fable that addresses the meaning of life, and life after death, in the poignant way that made TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE such an astonishing book. The novel's protagonist is an elderly amusement park maintenance worker named Eddie who, while operating a ride called the 'Free Fall', dies while trying to save a young girl who gets in the way of a falling cart that hurtles to earth. Eddie goes to heaven, where he meets five people who were unexpectedly instrumental in some way in his life. While each guide takes him through heaven, Eddie learns a little bit more about what his time on earth meant, what he was supposed to have learned, and what his true purpose on earth was. Throughout there are dramatic flashbacks where we see scenes from his troubled childhood, his years in the army in the Philippines jungle, and with his first and only love, his wife Marguerite. THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN is the perfect book to follow TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE. Its compellingly affecting themes and lyrical writing will fascinate Mitch Albom's huge readership.
I could almost feel the author congratulating himself on a book that’s so deep and inspiring and heartfelt, but really it was just heavy-handed and saccharine. It’s like he crammed every sad thing he could think of into one story. All the profound life lessons are imparted to us via dialogue. The section on war was promising, but instead of concluding that war is destructive and violent and life-ruining, we ended up at “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori”. Throw in advocating for forgiving rapists and child abusers and you’ve got a doozy of a book!
