In the novel The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom who also wrote Tuesdays with Morrie, Published by Hyperion in 2003, is a tale about an old man named Eddie whose life had seemed worthless until he goes to heaven, where he discovers a whole bunch of things he never knew happened in his life. And specifically who they affected in a big way. It’s a captivating and dramatic piece of writing, a sure page turner, and you never know what’s going to happen.


The story centers around an elderly man named Eddie. At the beginning of the story, Eddie is working at an amusement park named Ruby Pier. Eddie is a grumpy and seemingly depressed old man. However, one afternoon, he suffers a tragic thrill ride accident while trying to fix the ride, leading to his sudden and surprising death, however, right before he died, he tried to save a little girl who was standing right next to the accident scene while the cart from the ride came crashing down. He never got to see if he saved her. His life ended as what he felt was a worthless life.
Suddenly, Eddie wakes up back in time to what he eventually learns is heaven. In heaven, you meet 5 people who help you to understand your life. Everyone you meet, you have affected or they have affected you in one way or another, even if you don’t know it. Eddie meets a “Blue Man” whose skin is actually blue, Eddie “killed” him getting a ball in the street in front of a car. Way back when Eddie was a young boy. The driver got so startled he had a heart attack and died. The second was a captain from his army platoon from the Vietnam war. He was just as terrifying in heaven as he was during Eddie’s life. Eddie accidentally killed him with a land mine. The third was Ruby, the original owner of Ruby pier, she was killed in a Ruby Pier fire. The fourth was his loving wife Marguerite who was killed in a car crash at age 47, for Eddie, seeing Marguerite was the most significant for time him in heaven because he always thought of her every day. He loved her more than anything in the world. This one even tugged at my heart strings a little bit and will for anyone who has lost a loved one. The fifth and final was a little girl on a beach, she reveals something that would change Eddie’s view on his life forever...


The flow and plot captivated me because of the way Albom used the element of surprise. As I have previously mentioned, in heaven, you meet 5 people who help explain your life to you, as the reader, I didn’t know who these people were going to be, one or two were somewhat expected but most of them, there was no clue, no foreshadowing, which can be a positive thing, to not give away the real shockers. For example, the book gave no clues of an army captain along with the blue man, who wasn’t even mentioned early on. An additional reason why this book was a fantastic read was the action was right away and the book was quite fluid from person to person as Eddie takes his tour around heaven to explain his life to him. Also, the book gives small occasional flashbacks of some of Eddie’s birthdays when he was a child and how his personality and experiences changed from the time he was 5 to the time he was 25. I found this very interesting because Eddie often thought of his childhood as he was in heaven. Recalling many memories for each person he ran into.

Throughout the book, Eddie is learning of the plotline of the story just as the reader is, so the character were never “ahead of me”. it an easy to comprehend but with special twist of captivating vocabulary which just led me to wonder what Eddie and I would discover next. Its was if I was experiencing the book with Eddie throughout his endeavours.


Mitch Albom is the author, he’s also written another best seller Tuesdays With Morrie which is a very depressing story with a tearful ending. That contrasts to the somewhat happy, delightful and satisfying ending to this book.


As I read The Five People You Meet In Heaven, I never lost interest as the story carried on. Its a sure page turner, and very dramatic in a special way that I’ve never read before Whenever a book can carry a plot but not give anything away early is impressive. I enjoyed every part of this book. I would highly recommend it to any teen, adult or anybody else who loves an exciting story.