The Five People You Meet in Heaven
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- $15.99
Publisher Description
Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him, as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to 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 here?"
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
What’s the meaning of life? And what happens when we die? Mitch Albom’s novel offers answers that are resolutely hopeful, even joyful. After 83-year-old amusement park maintenance worker Eddie dies in a tragic accident, he’s sent to heaven to meet a handful of individuals who altered the course of his life. Each of these people—from a man with blue skin to a young girl he was attempting to save when he died—demonstrates the vastness of life’s web of connections, and also how each living moment should be cherished. In plainspoken language filled with welcome humor, Albom distills life’s biggest, most complex questions into an immensely readable—and rereadable—book that’s heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"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, author of the bestselling phenomenon Tuesdays with Morrie, in a brief first novel that is going to make a huge impact on many hearts and minds. Wearing a work shirt with a patch on the chest that reads "Eddie" over "Maintenance," limping around with a cane thanks to an old war injury, Eddie was the kind of guy everybody, including Eddie himself, tended to write off as one of life's minor characters, a gruff bit of background color. He spent most of his life maintaining the rides at Ruby Pier, a seaside amusement park, greasing tracks and tightening bolts and listening for strange sounds, "keeping them safe." The children who visited the pier were drawn to Eddie "like cold hands to a fire." Yet Eddie believed that he lived a "nothing" life gone nowhere he "wasn't shipped to with a rifle," doing work that "required no more brains than washing a dish."On his 83rd birthday, however, Eddie dies trying to save a little girl. He wakes up in heaven, where a succession of five people are waiting to show him the true meaning and value of his life. 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; that acts of sacrifice seemingly small or fruitless do affect others; and that loyalty and love matter to a degree we can never fathom.Simply told, sentimental and profoundly true, this is a contemporary American 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, like Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, reminds us of what really matters here on earth, of what our lives are given to us for. Backed by a $500,000 marketing campaign that includes a 30-city author tour, and boosted by the good will that millions will feel when they see Albom's name on the cover, this wonderful title should grace national fiction bestseller lists for a long time. Simultaneous Hyperion Audiobook, BOMC main selection.(One-day laydown Sept. 23)
Customer Reviews
A must read that touches the soul. Loved it.
I couldn’t put the book down.
Heartfelt book!
This is such a warm, heartfelt book. You meet Eddie who is in his mid eighties and think his life is insignificant and has been a waste. In a path where he dies in trying to save a little girl’s life he meets five people in heaven that teaches him lessons. It’s a great book as it shows everyone is connected and has an impact on everything in life. It also great because with all deaths surrounding us now, it lifts up the spirit that we will meet again our loved ones in the afterlife and understand everything that happened in our life as part of the bigger picture with God.
So amazing
Books do not get better then this. I cried when Reading this.