Albom, Mitch. The Five People You Meet In Heaven. United States. Time Warner Paper Backs. 2003
Reason: While the author never technically says the exact location of the book, I can infer that the location is probably in New York. This is due to many reasons-first of all-for a while, before his father dies; he is a taxi-cab driver. That just screams New York to me for some reason. I would have to say that this is a mystery novel because of the fact that it really did have me going and wanting to turn the next page. It was a book that I couldn’t put down. I would have to guess that the novel takes place in the eighties. Once again, it never specifies. However, it definitely wasn’t to long ago.
Plot: The main characters name is Eddie. Eddies home base is on the Ruby Pier. The Ruby Pier is his father’s domain; however, once his father dies he is left in charge (he was a taxi driver prior to this because he didn’t want to have to follow in his fathers footsteps). He does this for financial reasons, as he wasn’t making so much money being a taxi driver. Eddie does anything from balloon animals to just pure maintenance on the rides. The day he dies, he was making a pipe-cleaner animal for a little girl. The day just seems really usual, not out of the ordinary what so ever. He gets a call on his walkie talkie that tells him to come to “Freddy’s Free Fall”, which is a ride within the park that got shut down. While the other men are trying to rescue people from the suspended carts, Eddie decided to try to figure out what exactly is wrong with these carts. He draws the conclusion that the cables had to snap, there was just no other synopses. He then realizes it’s too late. There is this little girl that is standing looking up at the carts; she begins to cry-as her mother is on the ride. The carts start to fall down, Eddie, trying to be a superhero, runs and try to save the little girl. He has a bad knee from the war. He ends up blacking out and a car ends up falling on him. He ends up dying. However the little girl was saves (however, he doesn’t know this until Tala, one of the five people he meets in heaven, tells him this). Once he gets to heaven he meets five different people who teach him interesting lessons. I learn that everyone else’s lives are affected because of your own personal actions.
The first person Eddie meets in heaven is named Joseph. However, he refers to himself (and others refer to him this way to) as the “blue man”. The connection between Eddie and Joseph is absolutely ridiculous. Evidently, Eddie is the cause for this mans death. When Eddie was younger he was playing catch with some friends. The ball ended up hitting Joseph’s windshield. Minuets later, still anxious from this “attack” Joseph crashes into a truck. He doesn’t die from that, he dies from a fatal heart attack that he had moments later. The lesson that Eddie took from Joseph was that people are indefinitely affected by your actions, weather you realize it or not. The second person Eddie meets in heaven is a captain from the war the Eddie was in. The captain, evidently, stopped Eddie from walking in the fire. When Eddie was walking towards the fire, the captain decides to shoot him in the leg. Thus, crippling him. However, he definitely stops Eddie from walking in the fire. Eddie was then sent to the medical unit. When the captain was going to check up on Eddie’s leg he gets blown up in a mine. After the captain leaves Eddie meets his father again. His entire setting changes to a snowy mountain. Eddies father and him were never too close. That is why he is not the third person he meets in heaven, better yet, the third person he meets in heaven is a lady named Ruby. We assume that she is the lady that is named after the pier-“Ruby Pier”. She ends up being the wife of the owner. This lady is a little freaky and tells him the truth about his father’s death. Unlike he was told prior-he was now told that his father died from a disease. Eddies mother never really picked up the phone and called the hospital, she just let him die. But it really wasn’t that- it sounds worse in the summer than it actually is. It is not Eddies mothers fault, it is Eddie’s fathers. He had a bad drinking problem and would never even seek help. Ruby teaches Eddie about forgiveness, and persuades Eddie to forgive his father. The fourth person Eddie meets in heaven is his late wife, Marguerite. The funny part is, Eddie is obviously aged, however, she stayed in the same natural, youthful state as she looked the day her and Eddie wed. Obviously, when she died, Eddie was very upset. The lesson that she teaches him is that “love doesn’t have an end. When people die, love takes a different form to be left out in the dark”. The last person Eddie meets in heaven is a little philopeano girl named Tala. Tala is about five of six years old and very short. Eddie meets Tala near a stream. The tie between Tala and Eddie is that Eddie threw a flame thrower in Tala’s hut when he was fighting in the war. Eddie thought he saw something but never really went to check. Tala is probably the most interesting and mysterious character out of all of the people he meets in heaven. She teaches him this lesson-“everyone has a purpose in life, and that not only affects their own lives but other people's lives as well”. These people all equally affect Eddie and, as described above, give him a different life lesson.
Character: For the character analysis I decided to do the main Character, Eddie. I don’t really get why Eddie lost his life. I mean-I see how, but I do not really get why. I mean, I don’t think everyone gets the opportunity to meet five people in heaven-yet-who knows? Eddie seems like a older man, not that attractive. Maybe 5’9 or something. He just seems mysterious about his past and I think that’s what draws me to him.
Evaluation: I loved this novel. I would recommend this book to anyone trying to seek purpose- who would hopefully because everyone. I really liked the lessons that Eddie was taught through the five people in heaven. It made me realize how valuable life really is.
This book easily compares to real life. But to the same extent we do not really know what happens when we die. This subject freaks me out and I could definitely go without talking about it. This book just reminds me of an atheist for some reason, I don’t know exactly why.
If I was the main character, I would have acted the same way. However, this book kind of taught me that you can’t escape fate, so even if I was put in the book as the main character, his fate would have been the same.
Author, Context and Trivia: Mitch Albom is the author of nine books. This book is just the second one. This book, I learned, got made into a movie and premiered on ABC. He is also a journalist and radio host. He definitely has an impressive resume. I would probably read more of his books- I would just hope that they are similar.
