The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

I know I’m slow, since this book was published in 2003 and Dao had bought it on 11 December 2004 (he had written the date on the book), but well, you know me; I AM slow indeed. Most of the time anyway :) I had not read it at the time because I had glanced at the cover; it didn’t attract me, and I thus thought it was not as nice as all its raving reviews had claimed it to be. Oh well, literally, NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER. Haha.

I don’t think I will tell all this time because I don’t exactly have the time to. I have to sleep soon because I have a Forensic Science paper tomorrow, and the sole reason why I decided to do this review is because it is such a fantastic book. To #1, I WILL DEFINITELY do the A.I. review for you ok! And I would tell all in that one =)

It starts, unusually, with an ending. The reason the author gave for that is because “all endings are beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.” Eddie is the name of the main character, and he is a maintenance worker who dies while trying to save a girl who was falling off one of the trucks of a roller coaster.

When he gets to Heaven, he is told that he would get to meet five people who were in his life for a reason. “[He might] not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.”

The five people he got to meet either existed before he did, were very important in his life, or had their lives totally changed by him.

This book seeks to convey the message that everything that happens in your life is for a reason. Something minor that happens may actually have a great impact. It also talks about the fact that we are blind to a lot of things, given the fact that we can’t possibly be living through others’ eyes all the time, and therefore we shouldn’t make assumptions about others (i.e. commit the fundamental attribution error). Most importantly, it talks about the immense strength of love and sacrifice. As my favourite quote in the book says, “Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.” – Eddie’s captain (who died and saved his three soldiers)

You will find out how all these fit together when you read the book =)

P.S: Eddie’s loved ones had all died years before he did and got to Heaven. Albom described his miserable, seemingly empty life as he badly missed and pined for his loved ones, especially his wife, Marguerite. I think it is terrible to have to stay on in life for so long without all your loved ones...well, at least he got to meet his in Heaven. I wonder if I would get to meet mine there.

:(