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Summary: Platitudes and One Man's Version of Wisdom
Review: This is a "cute" book. It is filled with platitudes and the author's version of heaven and what he thinks is life wisdom.The book traces the main character's death and path to heaven. What you can read between the lines is that Eddie was a pretty unhappy and unlikeable guy in life (presumably modelled after the uncle to whom the book was dedicated). The path to heaven according to Mr. Albom goes through five meetings with people who touched a person, eevn tangentially, during life. Through these people, a person sees that every story is connected and there is redeeming value to every miserable happening on earth. The writing was decent but I just could not get past the point that this was one person's opinion about life and heaven. Regrettably, I did not find that opinion to be reasoned, challenging or intellectually stimulating. There was nothing to make the reader think that author was a great mind whose opinion on such a subject as the afterlife should be given any more credence than anyone else's. Much of what was passed as "Wisdom" could have come out of a fortune cookie, a "thought for a day" calendar of from the guy next door. I actually found the flashbacks to Eddie's life the most interesting parts of the book. The heaven part did nothing for me except make me worry that I was getting too much saccharin for one day.
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Summary: glad i got a discount
Review: i bought this book because of all the hype that surrounds it.
while reading this, i kept on thinking i'll keep reading and maybe it will get better. I kept on reading and then thought, maybe the ending will be great. i finished the book wondering what the heck was all the excitement about? Tuesdays with Morrie was written from the heart. To me this book was written to satisfy the public's thirst for anything written about the "other side" and to make money from it. I felt nothing for the characters and the story left me feeling nothing but disappointed.
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Summary: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Review: Mich Album book, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven and author of "Tueday's with Morie" in a interesting look at life before you die and after. It represents a choice we have in the after life and it also explores the character Eddie who dies during a freak carnival accident In The Five People You Meet in Heaven,Eddie is, in fact, dead. His job now is to meet the five spirits waiting to help him make peace with his time on Earth. Mitch Albom's vision of heaven, the newly dead connect with spirits who help them make the transition to the afterlife. Most people would expect to meet long-lost friends or relatives, but in Albom's view, it is strangers who can best enlighten us. Eddie comes to accept the situation and cast a shadow over the rest of his life. In the book's most affecting moment, Eddie sees that his decades as a lowly maintenance worker served a nobler purpose than he ever imagined. Mitch Album presents a imagery that is distinctive about choices in life. He examines both the afterlife and the present. The book is not a new exmination of a topic. Its a revelation of what happens when you have given choices in life. The book is a mix of what one might experience in the afterlife and what life is before you die. I woiuld recommend the book for individuals who are particularly exploring life meaning. I believe we all are in the process of understanding ourselves and life. Mitch Album says it through Eddie, Jesus says it through the scripture. "I am the way the truth and the light" No man commeth to the father but by me"
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Summary: five people you meet in heaven
Review: This Book was great. I really enjoyed it. never put it down
I will read more books by this author. he is brilliant.
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Summary: Good Thought Provoking Read
Review: As the 5 people Eddie meets in heaven walk him back through his life, they help him see that his life did have value and wasn't as worthless as he thought. It sort of reminded me of It's a Wonderful Life, the old Jimmy Stewart movie, by answering the classic, "What if I'd...." for Eddie. This book does an excellent job of making you reflect on your life and the effect your words and actions have on others. It also shows that we are connected to each other in ways most of us have never imagined. It reminded me that we are not the first to touch this earth; there were others here before us. The presence of these earlier visitors continues on in their unknown brushes with our lives. The world goes in a circle and we are part of that circle as is every other person in our own personal sphere and the world. Great book, easy read, you should try it and see what it does for you.
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Summary: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Review: I enjoyed the book. I can't rave about it but I found it to be an enjoyable, if short, read. Parts of the book are very touching. For example, when Eddie meets his fourth person I began to tear up (thinking about what I would do when I reach that stage in my life). Other parts are just strange. I'm still trying to figure out why Eddie meets his first person. The fifth person Eddie met was a surprise to me. Not because he met that person but because of the bearing that meeting has on a conversation Eddie has earlier in the book (with his second person). To me, the book ended rather abruptly. I didn't get a good sense of completeness or resolution. Almost as if the writer didn't know how to end the story.
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Summary: Fantastic Because You Feel Good
Review: The Five People You Meet in Heaven is fantastic. What I like most is that it leaves you feeling good. I loved The Da Vinci Code and My Fractured Life, but neither one were huge pick-me-ups. While excellent books, they didn't leave me with that little kid happiness in my heart that makes you want to skip even though you're in a business suit. That's the feeling you're left with after reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Is it in the same "literature class" as Da Vinci, Fractured Life, or even Middlesex? Maybe not. But it's a fantastic book for other reasons, and I think that is what counts sometimes. It's okay to read a little of both - some books for literary value and others to feel good.
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Summary: "Everything happens for a reason..."
Review: This book was very easy to read and had many worthwhile lessons. I found I was rereading parts of the book simply to review the main lessons. The book is about a man named Eddie who dies while working at an amusement park. The obvious cycle in this book is the cycle of life. It starts out with Eddie's death, but once he reaches heaven, he feels young again. His body ages as he meets the five people in heaven who are waiting to teach Eddie five lessons about life. I also noticed the circles within the lessons from the five people. The five people are Eddie's mentors as he makes his way through his process in heaven. The first person he meets teaches him the lesson that all of our lives here on Earth and in heaven are connected. Our actions have reactions for someone else, whether it is positive or negative we may not even know. The second person teaches him that sacrifice is "something you pass along to someone else." You can't feel negatively about the events in your life. The third person teaches him that forgiveness is much better than holding a grudge. You need to understand the reason why you were angry and the reason why you need to let it go. The fourth person teaches him that love continues through life an death. Finally the fifth person teaches him that wherever the path leads, he was meant to follow it. He worked at the Pier because he was supposed to work there. He was supposed to take care of the children, and make sure they are safe. He realized that his actions affected children and adults in his lifetime and in the future. Because of his observations and his mentoring Dominguez, the rides will continue to be safe and maintained. Eddie completed his first cycle in heaven and is waiting to start the next one when he becomes the person one will meet in heaven. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and will read it from cover to cover again many times. The lessons are worthwhile and apply to anyone. Being a mentor is an example of touching someone's life. Through our wisdom, we can either help improve their lives or make it worse. If we focus on the positive, the impression we'll make will be ten-fold.
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Summary: Light, maybe even trite, but satisfying anyway
Review: Many of the one-star critics raise a valid point about Albom's fable, that is it very light and intellectually undemanding. Sure, but that's the beauty -- and the limitations -- of a fable. In fact, that Albom has taken a likeable everyman and crafted a very easy read out of his death and journey to meaning is a terrific achievment. A very interesting contrast, and certainly a deeper and darker one, is Peter Hillary's IN THE GHOST COUNTRY, a story about a man who goes to hell (of sorts) and meets his dead friends and family there, and thereby confronting a lifetime of loss. It's a true story too, and those who found Albom's book too slight for their tastes will probably get a lot out of it.
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Summary: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Review: I had heard what a wonderful book this was, but after reading it, I found it sappy and began to think that this is one of those books that people feel obligated to like when really there isn't much there. I definitely wanted to like this book much more than I did, I enjoyed Tuesdays with Morrie, also by Mitch Albom, and I liked the idea of heaven being an exploration of our interconnectedness and an answer to the question "Why am I here?" but it was not the life-altering experience for me that I've heard about from other people. Things I did like about the book (in addition to it being a quick read) was that it made me think about how you affect others daily, sometimes without ever realizing it. I also liked that the story showed a portrait of a man who hated what his life had become, but in the end (through the mentors he meets in heaven) he comes to find out that he wasn't as worthless as he believed he was (the sappy part). The mentors were 5 people he had touched/encountered in life, some he affected knowingly, and others he affected unknowingly. The book left me disappointed as it never did answer, for me, what the point of Eddie's life was...nor was I convinced it was not worthless.
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