The Five People You Meet in Heaven - by Mitch Albom

 

This is one of those books that made me forget who I am and also question who I am, what I am doing with my life. Though this is a small simple story of a man, Eddie who dies at 83 from an accident at Ruby Pier and encounters 5 people on reaching heaven, who played a significant role in his life when alive, it reached me at untouched corners of myself. 

This book offended me, I wanted to scream at the author for pointing certain aspects I had chosen to ignore than facing. It offends you for a good reason and after you complete reading it, you will come out lighter and more alive. 

Eddie meets 5 people in heaven, in each of their own particular heaven and untold story of his own life unfolds before him.

Eddie first meets Blue Man. Where he learns he is dead and is in heaven and this man was a part of his life for a very short period in childhood but left a major impact on his whole life thereafter. The second person Eddie meets is his Captain from the army, they talk about their time spent together as prisoners of war and how they escaped. Here he learns about the death of captain which he was oblivious to when he was alive, and how it is connected to him.

The third person Eddie meets is Ruby after whose name Ruby Pier was named. He learns how the pier almost destroyed her life and her encounter with Eddie's father. She tells him how his father spent his final moments and what events led to that fateful moment. The fourth person is his beloved wife Marguerite, who had died years before him. They spend wandering from one wedding to another and talking about how he had spent the remaining years without her. He asks her forgiveness for giving her a better life. She tells him she had a wonderful life with him at the pier and her only regret is her inability to have children. 

The fifth person is a little girl who had died because of Eddie unknowingly. He had sensed a shadow movement inside the fire he had lit up while escaping from the enemy ground, but he was unable to save as he was shot in the leg which made him limp all his life. He always had nightmares about the fire and shadow throughout his life. The little girl asks him wash her burns as she heals, reveals answer for one question Eddie had from the time he came to heaven and vanishes. 

Eddie learns all lives do have a purpose to serve in this bigger life that connects everyone, and his simple life at the pier was not inconsequential. 

It touches people's hearts in many ways. Just the story might not be intriguing but if you look closer and understand the depth , it leaves you in pieces and helps you rebuild yourself from the beginning without the mistakes you made earlier. I loved this book and highly recommend it. Gets 5/5.