The Five People You Meet In Heaven
By Mitch Albom
About the book
In The Five People You Meet in Heaven the story kicks off with an elderly man named Eddie. Eddie is a maintenance worker for a popular summer carnival on Ruby Pier. He repairs and makes sure all the rides are safe and secure, and has been for almost all his adult life. All the kids who come to the fair are very friendly with him and call him "Eddie Maintenance" for what it says on his badge. Eddie has kept the carnival a safe and fun place for everyone to visit for decades, and he prides himself on having accident free safety record for his time he has spent working on the pier. On one tragic day, one of the most popular rides called "Freddy's free fall" malfunctions, people are stranded very high up on the ride. Eddie is on the ground watching one of his co-workers who has climbed up the ride on the top trying to handle the malfunction with the ride. One of the carts that holds passengers has tilted and on the ground Eddie comes to conclusions the cable must be shredded, however the maintenance man up on the ride is not aware, and believes that stopping and then restarting the ride with fix the problem.
Eddie begins to yell, trying to warn him that restarting the ride will only cause the cable to snap and the cart to come crashing down. Eddie is not heard with as he is drowned out by the rest of the carnivals noise. The cable suddenly snaps soon after the ride starts again, and the cart begins to fall from a deadly height. Eddie can do nothing but stand under it as he see the last bit of his earthly life. He throws his arms out to catch a little girl falling and then everything goes dark.
Eddie's Afterlife
After Eddie tragically dies he meets several people in heaven, and they all played an important role in his life. He meets with the general he had when he was in enlisted in the army, he sees his father who he grew up never having a good relationship with. Every encounter he has with another person that was in his life someway or another is in a new setting, and each person is teaching and showing him his past life and how others sacrificed so much for him to live the life he lived. The fifth and final person Eddie meets is a young girl who Eddie believed he saw in a wildfire when he was serving in the army. He went into the fire looking for her but his general told him there was no girl burning in the fire. Eddie meets the girl he was told did not exist, and she is covered with blisters and boils. The young girl befriends him and assures "Eddie maintenance" that there is nothing in heaven that could ever hurt them. The book ends with Eddie embracing the little girl in his arms and joyously crying his eyes out.
Theme
There are various themes in the book, with the overall theme that there are no random acts in life and everything happens for a reason. In this book the theme changes as Eddie progresses through heaven, each theme being a lesson Eddie learns from each of the people he meets in heaven. Eddie learns various lessons through the people he meets and the experiences he relives throughout heaven.
Conclusion
In conclusion, this book was extremely inspirational and touching to me and everyone that has read and experienced the life of Eddie maintenance. Mitch Albom really brought a joyous and enlightened feel to this book and changes the way you look at life and to be grateful for everyone you have in it. I recommend this book to everybody and nobody should not read this book.