Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park.
As the novel opens, readers are told that Eddie is only minutes away from death as he goes about his typical business at the park. At the time of his death, Eddie was an “old man with a barrel chest and a torso as squat as a soup can,” writes Albom. Wearing a work shirt with a patch on the chest that reads “Eddie” over “Maintenance,” limps around with a cane thanks to an old war injury. He spent most of his life maintaining the rides at Ruby Pier, greasing tracks and tightening bolts and listening for strange sounds. The children who visited the pier were drawn to Eddie. Yet Eddie believed that he lived a “nothing” life doing work that “required no more brains than washing a dish”.
On his 83rd birthday, however, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. Albom then traces Eddie's world through his tragic final moments, his funeral, and the ensuing days as friends clean out his apartment and adjust to life without him. In alternating sections, Albom flashes back to Eddie's birthdays, telling his life story as a kind of progress report over candles and cake each year.
Thereafter, Albom Traces Eddie when he wakes up in heaven, where a succession of five people are waiting to show him the true meaning and value of his life. These sequential encounters are five pivotal figures from his life. He is informed, “there are five people you meet in heaven. Each . . . was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.” One by one, these mostly unexpected characters remind him that we all live in a vast web of interconnection with other lives; that all our stories overlap; and that loyalty and love matter to a degree we can never fathom. Each of these souls has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. He learns here that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where his life is explained by five people, some of whom he knew, others who were strangers. One by one, from childhood to being a soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his “meaningless” life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: “Why was I there?” Through these people, Eddie understands the meaning of his own life.
Simply told, sentimental and profoundly true, this is a fable that will be cherished by a vast readership. Bringing into the spotlight the anonymous Eddies of the world, the men and women who get lost in our cultural obsession with fame and fortune, this slim tale reminds us of what really matters here on earth, of what our lives are given to us for.
Albom takes a big risk with the novel; such a story can easily turn sugary, and this one does in moments. But, for the most part, Albom's telling remains poignant and is occasionally profound. Even with its falws, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a small, pure and simple book.
