The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Rating:
Summary: Hard To Write a Review - Very Subjective
Review: I think this book deserves 3 stars with a caveat. Some will like the book and many will think it is nonsense.

This is one of those touchy-feely short large print font books about 200 pages long and if it was written in a normal #8 font would be under 100 pages. It is a best seller like (another short book in big print) "Who Moved My Cheese". It has a few simpler messages but not much more.

Either you are open to a short sermon on one man's view of the meaning of life and or you will not like the book. I am sure some people will absolutely love this book.

It is all very subjective. If you give this as a gift think about the recipient first otherwise they might just throw the book away.

Jack in Toronto

Rating:
Summary: Not for "sophisticated" readers?...
Review: In my mind, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is a fine book for what it is. Regard it, if you want, as a fable of what might happen to some of us after we're dead.

You can argue that it's sentimental, emotional and riddled with more cliches on a single page than what's found in director Frank Capra's entire filmography.

But people expecting a seismic shift in their lives -- something wise, shattering and "attitude-altering" from anything receiving great word-of-mouth that skyrockets in popularity -- are forever doomed to disappointment.

There are few things worse than when so-called "sophisticated readers" (and I include myself in this group), attack a book mercilessly, feeling so let down by high expectations.

"The Five People You Meet in Heaven" moves quickly, is never dull and wears its heart with earnestness. Sure, it's cloying in a way that will irritate those used to so-called "fine literature," those paperweight-thick tomes filled with big words and pretentious phrases.

But "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is remarkable in its simplicity, and it has all the basic story telling elements down that makes for a good read. I really believe it's the kind of title that will never go out of print. People will still be talking about it fifty years from now. And it will forever polarize readers.

I think it's too easy for people, some guilty of overt intellectual snobbery -- to scoff at works like "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" -- at the exclusion and denigration of all that is mainstream and "popular," as if the masses who made this book a success are all wrong and they themselves are sure-headed and right.

Just don't believe them. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is for you if you find other thick and weighty titles a little daunting after a while. It's the perfect "break," a refreshing change of pace for a guy like me used to going through so many books that feel like work, titles filled with depressing themes and sentences as tortuous in construction as they are in their efforts to provide messages that are pseudo-revelatory and profound.

I like books for the "masses" just as much as I like prize-winning titles stretching several hundred pages each, some good, some great and some awful. And "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" isn't designed to please critics. It's unfair and just plain mean-spirited to accuse any author of "making money" or "selling out" when it's obvious that he/she has tapped into something that resonates and brings optimism to many people who might otherwise avoid books. There's nothing wrong, in my view, with reaching out to as many people as possible and giving them hope and contentment amidst the turbulence of their everyday lives.

I'd like to think "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is a response to fashionable pessimism, the type found at any gathering of intellectuals (I know, I've been to some, and they're awful). But it isn't. Having said this, author Mitch Albom still surprised this old codger (me) with what he reveals on the last page. (Don't cheat -- it has no text -- but it's a doozy.) This made me even more fond of the book.

However simplistic, straight-forward and "seemingly" effortless, I won't fault Albom for knocking out something that feels aimed straight from his heart to yours, even if he doesn't always connect. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" will always generate arguments, pro and con. Yet its fans will always outnumber its critics. This is a book that will refuse to be dismissed. And this is a great thing, you know, people arguing the merits of books.

Hence I'm not embarrassed to admit that "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" falls into my category of "guilty pleasures." But I don't feel guilty. And you shouldn't either.

Rating:
Summary: Choose Life
Review: In the same way that The Lovely Bones dug a hole in my gut with longing and if-onlys, this book manipulates the heaven out of my emotions. And I don't mind that at all. Like The Lovely Bones, this book deals with how people go through the motions of cleaning up after the death of a loved one, while the dead learn to cope being dead -- and with the fact that the life led may be over, but there are still lessons to be learned from it. Or in this case: an old man dies trying to save a little girl, and then gets to reaquaint himself with the wonders of life while settling onto the cushy clouds of paradise. Mitch Albom is a winning fabulist who shines and thrives with good intentions. That's where he strikes profoundly. It keeps him real. I have a problem with the heaven thing. Don't get me wrong. I hold on to something between faith and hope that we can look down and somehow stay connected to and nourished by what we've left behind. However, the afterglow of Heaven-based stories for me is as bittersweet as it is life affirming. Why couldn't poor old Eddie get to enjoy some of this knowledge back on earth. Therein lies a good part of Albom's message: seize the knowledge of your worth and meaning now. A terrific read. Another Amazon quick-pick I recommend is THE LOSERS' CLUB by Richard Perez

Rating:
Summary: An Emotional experience about death, and in turn, life
Review: This book has an incredible story line with life learned lessons you conquer in life. Albom captures the feelings with an old, lonely, maintenence man after he dies in the effort to save a girl from a carnival ride accident. He is then on a journey to meet 5 special people in heaven. The 5 people are not the 5 Eddie expects to meet, but people that have touched and played an important role in his life. Each person explains how they know Eddie and teach him his life lesson. In the end, Eddie reflects on his life and finds the perfect heaven. I sincerely enjoyed the various people Eddie met and how they were connected by the tiny bit. The book expresses that everyone is connected to your life somehow and will reflect in the future.

Rating:
Summary: The Five People You Meet in Heaven vs. Tuesdays With Morrie
Review: I thought that both of Mitch Albom's novels, Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven were written extremely well. Both were touching stories, which describe life moving onto death. Morrie was the main character in Tuesdays with Morrie, who gave an enlightenment to death. A true storie, Morrie is diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), a virus that slowly takes over your body, starting with your feet. Mitch Albom was Morrie's college student, who took many of Morrie's courses on "The Meaning of Life" and eventually reconnects with Morrie. The two were out of touch for a while, but Mitch decides to commute from Detroit to Boston every Tuesday, "always their day", to talk with Morrie about life. Morrie has gains many fans along with fanmail and is now a very bust person. When Mitch comes, he records their sessions. Morrie dies later and Mitch gathers all of his notes and audiotapes to write his book that Morrie titled while still living, "Tuesdays With Morrie".
I really enjoyed this book because there were many lessons and theories that Morrie told Mitch that should be learned. For example, "Here's what I mean by building your own subculture...The little things, I can obey. But the big things--how we think, what we value--those you must choose yourself. You can't let anyone--or any society--determine those for you." Morrie is an inspirational character with a heart of gold, and a powerful mind. He gives up many things in the course of his death, but does not complain at all. Morrie gets to the point where he can't move his arms, eat food, and even breath on his own, but he still takes everything in with a positive attitude. Mitch's perspective of life is drastically changed when he reunites with Morrie. He realizes that he really doesn't lkike where his life is going right now, and Morrie helps him change for the better. Morrie is very motivating person and has many great lessons to be shared.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a fictional story about a man named Eddie. The novel starts out with the ending. Thatis, the ending of Eddie's life. It is Eddie's last hour alive, yet he doesn't know it. Eddie works as a maintenance man at Ruby Pier, an oceanside amusement park. He is in his early eighties and dies in a tragic accident: trying to save a little girl from a broken ride, and the ride crushes him. Eddie wakes up in Heaven and is told that he will meet five people there, they might be a complete stanger to him, or a very familiar person, but every one had an impact on his life. The first person he meets is a blue man. Eddie learns that he actually killed this man (indirectly and unknowingly) on accident as a little boy. The next person Eddie sees is his Captain from the Vietnam War. Here, Eddie discovers that one night in the Phillipines, when he and his group were POW's and they escape, Captain shot Eddie. This was because as the men were escaping, Eddie was in a trance, walking into a fire. Eddie's captain shot his leg in a final effort to stop him, which saved Eddie's life. Eddie never knew how he got shot, because he was unconsious for several days. Captain tells him that he shot him and why. Eddie is very confused, but then calms down and Captain disappears. The reason why Eddie is so mad is that his leg was permanently damaged, and he couldn't do many things afterward.
When Eddie started off in heaven, he was a little boy: young, active, and free of pain, but as he meets these five people, he grows older, and has more pain, and relives events of his life.
The third person Eddie meets is an older woman named Ruby. She walks out of a diner where Eddie's dad is and she starts talking to him. Eddie had never met her before, she was never a part of his generation. The purpose of Eddie meeting her is so he can get a better understanding of his father. Eddie's father was a maintenance man at Ruby Pier before Eddie, and Ruby is the person Ruby Pier was named after. She shows him stories about his father, showing his kind and loyal side. Eddie had not talked to his father for years before he died and finally gained more of an understanding of him.
The two other people Eddie meets in Heaven are his wife, who died at the young age of fourty-seven, and a little girl from the Phillipines. This girl was the person he saw in the fire, while his troop was escaping and Eddie was in a trance. When Eddie was shot, he never got to save Tala. She was burned to death and in Heaven, she lets Eddie know what really happened. Now that Eddie has met his five people, he is cleansed and can move on in the afterlife.
Although I really enjoyed both books, they are both MUST-READS, I enjoyed The Five People You Meet in Heaven a little more. I think that it was a very creative concept, an author talking about something he had never experienced, making everything up completely. It was very interesting reading about a character's life and afterlife in a different perspective. Most people imagine Heaven as a beautiful garden or clouds with angels, but Mitch Albom gave a totally different description of Heaven. I like that a person can take a completely imagined, but stereotyped, place and give it a different feeling to make people think. The author's theme is that you must be able to release all anger, understand why we ever felt it, and why we no longer need to feel it. This is how we cleanse ourselves when we get to Heaven, and how we move on into the afterlife. It was very well-written and deserves five stars for such a brilliant theory.

Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put this book down.
Review: I just got this book today when someone recommended it to me and when I started reading it I couldn't put it down. I skipped dinner and didn't do my homework but it was just that good. It leaves you wondering if you ever made a difference in someone's life here on earth. Then it makes you wonder who the five people you will meet in heaven are. This book was truly inspirational. It makes you want to go out into the world and try and make as big as impact on people's lives. I recommend anyone to read this book whether you believe in heaven or not. It's an absolutely amazing book.

Rating:
Summary: Everything Happens for a Reason
Review: I love -- LOVE -- this book. There are hundred of reviews, so I'll be brief: An old man dies saving a little girl. In the afterlife, five people -- some he knows, some complete strangers -- take turns explaining how events in his life have impacted the lives of others. Much to his surprise, the lives of others have had an equally profound impact on his own life. The reader learns that at the core of this cynical, resentful old man is a lonely individual who longs for the woman he loves, and the acceptance of an absent father. This book is rich in its character development and deeply profound in its underlying message, which is simply this: We are here to do what we are here to do. Grown men will cry. I sure did.

Rating:
Summary: Highly rated
Review: I bought this book beacause several friends told me it was a highly rated book. They also told me to purchase Nightmares Echo and Name All The Animals. The freinds were right!! This is an outstanding book,as is nightmares Echo and Name All The Animals. Each poignant and honest in their own right. "The Five People You Meet in Heaven is loaded with lessons of life. brilliant work.

Rating:
Summary: Six degrees of . . .
Review: I tend to avoid books that I think are over-hyped, at least until the hoopla dies down. Thus, my coming to "The Five People" a little late in the game. While I don't disagree that there are elements of "Christmas Carol" or "Wonderful Life" in the idea of the book, it really reminded me more of "Six Degrees of Separation" or "Bark of the Dogwood" more with the idea that we're all somehow connected and/or responsible for each other. I'm sure Albom didn't mean to offend as many people as he's done, but rather wanted to write another inspiritational book along the lines of his first one. People generally see the good in something if they're a good person, and, well, you figure out what the opposite of that is . . .

Rating:
Summary: Make the biggest impact while you're here
Review: I got a lot out of this book because it made me evaluate my life and get serious about making a difference. A friend of mine recommended it to me, and it did the trick. I recommend two books along with this one. Tuesdays With Morrie, by the same author, gives you a real-life experience of a man who gives life his best shot right till the end, and Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self which shows you how to bring your best self into any situation, make the most of it and bring out the best in others.