The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Five People You Meet in Heaven
Book Review: Compelling Parable about Our Connections to One Another
Summary: 4 Stars
The title and book concept have intrigued me since I first heard about the book. I don't know any religions that describe the experience in Heaven as beginning by meeting five people from your past life, so I took the book to be a parable rather than a literal attempt to describe Heavenly life. I was quite pleased (for the most part) with what I found. I recommend this book to anyone who will not feel like their religion is being cast in doubt by the book's premise. Many self-help gurus encourage us to imagine our funeral service and what would be said about us. I think there's a lot of merit to that concept. Mr. Albom has added another important element to that concept: What were the unintended effects that others had on our lives and we on theirs? Cast in that light, even the most mundane life is suddenly filled with drama and greater significance. I hope Mr. Albom will consider writing a self-help book that allows us to think through the lessons of this book for our own lives.
To describe what happens in Heaven in the book would be to spoil the book for you . . . so I won't. I found the book constantly surprising and interesting, and a quick read. One of the underlying themes of the book is the need to be more accepting of one another . . . and the consequences of our actions. In that regard, I thought the story was weak only in developing the resolution of his relationship with one of his parents. Other than that flaw, I would have enthusiastically graded the book at five stars.
Let me quote the book's intriguing opening paragraph to give you a flavor of why you may want to read this book:
"This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."
I think that's the best opening for a book that I have read in many years. Much of the rest of the writing is just as good.
As I finished the book, I began to think about how my "failures" may have actually helped others to "successes." That was a new thought for me, and one that will make me act quite differently in the future. That was a great gift to receive from reading a single story.
Book Review: Compelling Parable about Our Connections to One Another
Summary: 4 Stars
The title and book concept have intrigued me since I first heard about the book. I don't know any religions that describe the experience in Heaven as beginning by meeting five people from your past life, so I took the book to be a parable rather than a literal attempt to describe Heavenly life. I was quite pleased (for the most part) with what I found. I recommend this book to anyone who will not feel like their religion is being cast in doubt by the book's premise.Many self-help gurus encourage us to imagine our funeral service and what would be said about us. I think there's a lot of merit to that concept. Mr. Albom has added another important element to that concept: What were the unintended effects that others had on our lives and we on theirs? Cast in that light, even the most mundane life is suddenly filled with drama and greater significance. I hope Mr. Albom will consider writing a self-help book that allows us to think through the lessons of this book for our own lives.
To describe what happens in Heaven in the book would be to spoil the book for you . . . so I won't. I found the book constantly surprising and interesting, and a quick read. One of the underlying themes of the book is the need to be more accepting of one another . . . and the consequences of our actions. In that regard, I thought the story was weak only in developing the resolution of his relationship with one of his parents. Other than that flaw, I would have enthusiastically graded the book at five stars.
Let me quote the book's intriguing opening paragraph to give you a flavor of why you may want to read this book:
"This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time."
I think that's the best opening for a book that I have read in many years. Much of the rest of the writing is just as good.
As I finished the book, I began to think about how my "failures" may have actually helped others to "successes." That was a new thought for me, and one that will make me act quite differently in the future. That was a great gift to receive from reading a single story.
Book Review: dissapointing
Summary: 1 Stars
to be honest i really didnt enjoy this book, i got it after reading some really inspirational quotes from it, but it turned out not to be that inspiting at all!it starts off very well with a grippin first chapter about how het died but then i just found that it dragged on, i think the only reason i managed to get to the end was because of wanting to see how something from the beginning ended up (not trying to give anything away here :))
i dont want to criticise the auther because i found the book he previously wrote (tuesdays with morrie) very inspiring and well put together but this left me very dissapointed, i would give this book a miss
Book Review: Brilliant
Summary: 4 Stars
I found this book truely fascinating. I bought it one Sunday afternoon and by 11pm that night I had finished it - I couldn't put it down.I think one of the best aspects of the book is that it really makes you think about the people you'd meet in heaven and why.
It is written very cleverly with the end starting at the beginning and it provides flash backs of the main character -Eddie's life.
An interesting portrayal of 'life after death' and enjoyed it so much I went and bought Tuesday with Morrie.
A thoroughly good read for all the thinkers and dreamers out there!!
Book Review: Listened to unabriged audio and nearly cried in the car
Summary: 5 Stars
I borrowed the unabridged audio version of this book from my local library. It's a short novel told in very few audio cassettes so I thought it would be a quick easy story to listen to on my daily commute to work. Though it was completed in a few days commute, it wasn't so easy - I found myself wanting to sit in the parking lot on arrival to work to listen to more and then looked forward to listening to more of it at the end of the work day on my commute home. If you read this with book in hand, you would never want to put it down.This is the story of Eddie, chief maintenance person at Ruby Pier amusement park. He thinks his life has been a waste, that he hasn't impacted anyone. At the beginning of the story we meet the elderly Eddie, sad, lonely Eddie. He makes the rides safe for everyone, except one day something goes terribly wrong. In one last heroic act in his sad life, Eddie throws himself in front of a runaway roller coaster to save the life of a little girl who becomes caught on the track. But did he save her? Eddie's death is so sudden that he doesn't know if he saved her or not ... and neither do we.
Eddie procedes on his path in heaven meeting five key people throughout this engaging, heartwrenching story. It is told in a series of flashbacks through the eyes of those five people. The story is crafted so well and so beautifully that you may wish it was longer. I listened to the last portions of the story of Eddie's life and death with more than a slight glimmer of tears in my eyes. It is such a beautiful story that it will touch your very soul and leave a mark there forever.