Book
The five people you meet in heaven / Mitch Albom.
Record details
- ISBN: 9781401308582
- ISBN: 1401308589
- Physical Description: 196 p. : ill. ; 19 cm.
- Edition: 1st pbk. ed.
- Publisher: New York : Hyperion, [2006], c2003.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Reprint. Originally published: 2003. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Accident victims > Fiction. Introspection > Fiction. Amusement parks > Fiction. Amusement rides > Fiction. Future life > Fiction. Older men > Fiction. Heaven > Fiction. Death > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Psychological fiction. |
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Available copies
- 27 of 30 copies available at BC Interlibrary Connect. (Show)
- 1 of 1 copy available at Vanderhoof Public Library.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 30 total copies.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanderhoof Public Library | AF ALB (Text) | 35193000079477 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2003 September #1
Albom, newspaper columnist and radio broadcaster, is, of course, best known as the author of the astonishingly successful Tuesdays with Morrie (1997). This is his first novel. With an appropriately fable-like tone, Albom tells the story of Eddie, "an old man with a barrel chest." But for us, Eddie's story "begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun"--at Ruby Pier, an amusement park by the sea, where he spent most days, for despite his advanced years, he worked as a maintenance man on the rides. He dies on his eighty-third birthday trying to save a little girl from an accident. Eddie wakes up in heaven, where he is informed that "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." And, not surprisingly, this is what the novel is about: Eddie coming to appreciate his 83 years of mortal life; the novel's "point" is that apparently insignificant lives do indeed have their own special kind of significance. A sweet book that makes you smile but is not gooey with overwrought sentiment. ((Reviewed September 1, 2003)) Copyright 2003 Booklist Reviews - BookPage Reviews : BookPage Reviews 2003 September
Strangers in paradiseHow does an author follow up one of the most phenomenal bestsellers in recent publishing history? That was the dilemma facing Mitch Albom after his last book, Tuesdays with Morrie, perched itself atop the New York Times bestseller list and refused to leave the party until six million copies were sold.
Albom, who apparently possesses 30 hours per day in which to write a column for the Detroit Free Press and host a radio show when he's not writing, has chosen to follow up his blockbuster with a sweetly rendered parable that in tone and message echoes its big brother.
In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, octogenarian Eddie dies during a freak carnival ride accident. Just as Ebenezer Scrooge took a fateful Christmas Eve glimpse into his past, present and future, Eddie gets a similar guided tour through his own life. But while the icy Scrooge is offered a chance at redemption, it's clear from the get-go that 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.
In 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.
Through his encounters, Eddie comes to accept the atrocities he witnessed as a soldier, which cast a shadow over the rest of his life. In the book's most affecting moment, Eddie also sees that his decades as a lowly maintenance worker served a nobler purpose than he ever imagined.
There's a fine line between poignant and maudlin, and Albom teeters on that ledge at points. But his power as a writer allows him to pull back, keeping his worthy message intact. Albom is unafraid of tackling the big questions, and in this effort he plunges into perhaps the biggest of them all: Why are we here? Trust Albom to offer a plausible answer.
Amy Scribner is a writer in Washington, D.C. Copyright 2003 BookPage Reviews
- Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews September #2
Sports columnist, radio talk-show host, and author of Tuesdays with Morrie, Albom has written a parable quite different from his best-selling memoir about his old professor but with the potential to follow it as a favorite of the book club circuit. At an oceanside amusement part, 83-year-old maintenance mechanic Eddie is killed while trying to save a little girl. Instead of floating through the cliched tunnel-and-light territory, Eddie meets five people whose lives intersected with his during his time on Earth. The novel comes down firmly on the side of those who feel that life matters, that what we do as individuals matters, and that in the end there will be a quiz. The touchy-feely phobic need not be afraid: this is not judgmental ax-grinding; nor does it favor any religion. Before you finish reading, you can't help thinking about your own life-Albom's whole point, of course. Morrie fans will want to read this first novel, and readers daring to examine their own lives may enjoy as well. For all public libraries.-Mary K. Bird-Guilliams, Wichita P.L., KS Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2003 August #3
"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) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
