"Five People" Absorbs Into Your Heart Like a Breath Of Fresh Air

Who can forget “Tuesdays With Morrie,” in which sports writer turned novelist Mitch Albom inspired us to be grateful for what we have, and cherish each day to the fullest of extents. Well, if you couldn’t get enough of that book, there’s another sappy little tale by Albom you might enjoy. It’s called “The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Ever heard of it? It’s been on the “New York Times” best seller list for god-knows-how-long, it’s earned countless awards, and I’ll tell ya, if I got a penny for how many times I saw that book sitting in one of those little stores in airports that sells magazines and gum and whatnot, I’d be a wealthy dude.

When I picked this book up at the bookstore, I thought “oh no, what the hell am I getting into?” I’m checking out, giving the guy my credit card (25 dollars for 200 pages, what am I, crazy?) and I say “Five People You Meet in Heaven? I’m about to read a book about heaven? Going from some Elmore Leonard shoot-em-up mystery…to heaven? I was thinking about just asking for my card back, just forget about getting the book. But I kept my mouth shut. Good thing I did.

So I’m just getting home from the store, Friday night, just feel like sitting down and relaxing for goodness sakes. So I cook up my dinner, and I fill my stomach, and then I sit down, roll my eyes, and open “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.”

The first few pages make clear to you that death is near for the main character. Eddie, a crabby old fart, has led a boring life. He’s convinced himself that he has done no good, hasn’t done anything valuable…just fought in the second World War, married his high school sweetheart, and ended up working at an amusement park, Ruby Pier. Well Eddie’s pushing 84 and still, he has yet to retire from his position as head of maintenance. Eddie dies one night when a car from one of the rides come crashing down upon him as he dashes to save a young girl from it’s path.

Eddie goes to heaven. There, he immediately learns that he will sit down and converse with five different people whose lives have been impacted because of him. From these conversations Eddie will begin to understand the true meaning of his life. With every new person, Eddie will learn something different about himself.

Soon, as the conversations begin, Eddie begins to understand life itself. He is awakened to his own worth and the worth of others and the worth of life. He learns about love, sacrifice, and how being mad isn’t the answer. But most importantly, he learns that his job at Ruby Pier, what he thought was tedious unproductive nonsense, was in fact essential to the proper upbringing of many generations of children. And finally, when he learns that he saved the young girl at the park, he learns that he was meant to live for a reason. Eddie will speak with his wife, his army captain, and others, who will speak to him about his significance to them. Significance he was not aware of at the time.

We learn that Eddie was a fine man. Eddie was a good husband, a good father, a good friend, and a meticulous and diligent worker. He was always nice to the kids at the park, and they adored him.

Albom’s new tale is a good one. His words absorb into your heart like a breath of fresh air, and he is never overly sentimental. While “Tuesdays with Morrie’s” sentimentality sometimes hit the level where I’d almost throw the book out the window, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” stays far from that.

Albom develops Eddie in a way like no other author in this day and age. By the end of the book, I felt as if I knew the man like my neighbor.

And Albom makes me smile.

And nearly shed a tear.

And he just made me feel good