010. the five people you meet in heaven (2003).

the five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albom (2003).

You know one of those books that you just can’t say anything BAD about?

This is THAT kind of book making you feel warm and generous and want to go out and hug someone and yeah, kiss a baby, too.

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layers. – Eddie. Grumpy old war veteran (83 yrs). 

This is a story of Eddie from the day he was born till the end. Then again, in this book, there is NO END. Only the beginning, cause what we (Eddie) think END turns out to be just the opposite, the true beginning.

After he got killed in a freak accident, Eddie wakes up in Heaven and in there, just like a title says, he meets five people whom he encountered during his life on Earth.

Those five persons teach him one lesson each (total, five) for him to understand the meaning of life.  Here are the five, sort of, angels.

1.      Blue Man. Skinny middle aged man with fat belly. His skin color is BLUE due to some kind of genetic disease. He was killed by young Eddie (7yrs). His lesson: All lives interact/connected with each others. We are never alone.

2.     Army Captain in Philippine, who taught Eddie everything out there to know about how to survive in War. His lesson: Sacrifice and the true meaning of it.

3.     Ruby. Her husband Emile built and named the seaside amusement park after his beloved wife Ruby. Therefore, Ruby Pier. She shows Eddie why his father is the way he was and how he died. Her Lesson: Hatred and forgiveness.

4.     Marguerite. Eddie’s wife who passed away at 47. Her Lesson is Love and how strong it is.

5.     Tala. A little Philippine girl (5 yrs) Eddie burned to ashes during the war. She saves Eddie's soul however. Her Lesson: I am not quite sure about this one. Redemption, maybe? Reassurance? But she tells him where he belongs.

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lace. – Eddie’s life is, almost all of it, spent around Ruby Pier. He first visited it as a kid and later got a job as a maintenance man (kids called him “Eddie Maintenance”).

After spending more than five decades in there, his face and name becomes synonymous with old, out-dated Ruby Pier.

The other place which has any meaning in Eddie’s past is war zone in Philippine during the 2^nd World War where he  injured his leg which shattered his dream of being an engineer and crushed his fighting spirit, too. 

Eddie’s life is practically finished in Philippine.

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lot. – To understand what happened in your life, after your death, God gives you chance to meet five people who in turn explain the meaning of your life and the reason for our existence. 

After that process, you become the one of five for someone else and the endless circle of life in Heaven continues…..

Then, when you finish your last job of illuminating someone else’s life by talking to someone whose life you are deeply involved, you finally go to the real Heaven( ? ) to meet with your loved one. A very clever and beautiful story.

Very similar to Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol(1843).

Two main differences. 

1.      In here, the main guy, Eddie, actually dies at the beginning of the story, whereas Ebenezer Scrooge gets a second chance before his time is up.

2.      Instead of the three different ghosts (from past, present and future), Eddie gets to see five persons from his past only before he become one of five for a little girl he saves in the beginning.

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erdict. –A beautiful book.

Everything is in its right place, nothing out of order.

Not exactly my kinds of books (it makes me almost cry with joy (?), almost), but anyone who is a bit tired of life in general should give it a try. This book will soften your edge. It happened to me. I couldn’t help myself and chances are you won’t neither.

As you can see, I give away almost entire plot-line here, but for this book, it doesn’t matter. Really. Even if you know what's coming and ready for them, it will still affects you in very comfortable way.

 ps) This book is all about Heaven. If you also like to know about the other side, Hell, go check my other review, click here  008. INFERNO.