Author: Mitch Albom
Length: 196 pages
Year Written: 2003
Why I chose this book: I picked this up when I was working at Barnes and Noble (roughly 6 years ago). It's earmarked in a bunch of different places, but I didn't recall much (or any) of the story. It seemed like a nice, wholesome choice to start off my reading in 2015.
From the title alone, you can assume a few things about The Five People You Meet in Heaven. You can assume it has religious undertones, likely a tad cheesy. You can assume it is a feel-good story with a happy ending. You can also assume that Mitch Albom, who also wrote Tuesdays with Morrie, will, from time to time, tug at your heart strings and tear ducts. Ultimately, it was a cute story, but nothing groundbreaking or deeply profound. It might be a nice book to read if I was anticipating an imminent death. Or if I was a religious type who made a New Year's resolution to read more books. This would be the perfect choice.
TFPYMIH (horrible acronym) is the story of Eddie, an old maintenance guy at a beach pier amusement park. He dies, and then meets five people from his life, in their respective heavens, who then explain to him the meaning of his life's events. It is cute, and it is short. Some parts, mainly a section involving Eddie as a soldier in battle in the Philippines, are quite gruesome, but Albom's writing is more on the side of fable than truly convincing fiction. I didn't cry, and I cry at a lot of things, so there's that. At best, I probably smiled, and might have let out a small gasp at one or two moments.
Rating: 7.7/10
