| The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
This book, first published in 2003 and then adapted for a film in 2005, tells the story of and eighty-three year old war veteran called Eddie, or more accurately, it tells the story of what happens to Eddie after his death.
I've seen this book hanging around bookshops for a while now, and have often been tempted, but was, frankly, put off by how thin the volume was.
However, I am glad that I finally got around to getting it. "...five people..." follows Eddie’s journey through the afterlife, as he meets five people who help him put his life in perspective and answer his questions about his own existence. They may be friends or loved ones, or even strangers but they all changed the path his life took, and are here to explain that and to teach Eddie some valuable lessons.
Albon's writing style is gentle and uncluttered, painting mental images of scenes and characters with ease, but without ever straying into Tolkien-esque mind-numbing levels of detail, and as his story gently carries us along, you find yourself swept up in the events and memories of Eddie’s life, and I don't mind admitting, I shed a tear or two along the way.
It is admittedly a little short, and an avid reader will fire through it in a couple of hours, and perhaps charges of over sentimentality (is that a word?) could be levelled at it, but frankly, I liked this book. Its not epic, it doesn't strive to surprise us with relentless plot twists, but its nice, and sometimes nice is just what you need in this cynical world.
Charming, sad, and ultimately uplifting, this is a book I would recommend to anyone with room inside for good old fashioned niceness.
The five people you meet in heaven by Mitch Albon is available from Time Warner books in most good bookshop, and should cost around £6.99 |
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