Book of the Month
Chele’s Pick
by Michele Tester
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
| by Mitch Albom| published in 2003
I’m going to end my Book Club column this year with how I started it, with a book by one of my favorite authors, Mitch Albom, The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
I believe it’s a fitting book for the holiday season because of its themes of human connection, forgiveness, and the meaning of life, which is particularly pertinent during the holidays when many of us reflect on the past year.
The story centers around Eddie, an elderly amusement park mechanic who dies trying to save a child and goes to heaven. Upon arriving in the afterlife, Eddie is met by his first person, the Blue Man, who tells him that he will meet five people in heaven. Each of these five people touched his life in a significant way, and each will help him understand the meaning of his life and his time on Earth.
Eddie’s childhood was marked by neglect and abuse at the hands of his father. His mother provided him with the tenderness and affection his father lacked. But his father’s abuse caused Eddie to internalize his emotions, and he carried a sense of disappointment and resentment throughout his life.
Eddie’s father worked at Ruby Pier, a seaside amusement park, as the head of maintenance. The amusement park became a significant part of Eddie’s life, linking his childhood to his adult life and then to his eventual death.
Eddie always dreamed of leaving Ruby Pier. But when Eddie’s father passed away after catching pneumonia following a drunk incident, Eddie felt forced to take a job at Ruby Pier to care for his ailing mother, a fact that fueled his resentment and bitterness for much of his life.
For Eddie, Ruby Pier was a place of joyful memories and also a place of deep sorrow and pain. He had many fond memories of playing at Ruby Pier as a child, and it is where he eventually meets the love of his life, Marguerite. They eventually marry and are deeply committed to each other for the rest of their lives until Marguerite’s death at age 47 from a brain tumor, leaving Eddie alone and angry that her life ended and that she was taken from him. His remaining years were filled with loneliness and regret over not building a life with Marguerite outside of Ruby Pier.
Not all of the five people Eddie meets in heaven are people he thought were important or held any significance in his life. But Eddie discovers that all five people are connected to him in ways he never realized, and each person teaches him a lesson about his existence and about the importance of sacrifice, forgiveness, and interconnectedness.
Throughout the book, as Eddie encounters each of the five people he is supposed to meet, he constantly asks each of them, “Did I save the little girl?” Eddie wants so desperately to know if his dying attempt to save the little girl at Ruby Pier was successful, believing that if he did save her, his life and his death would have purpose and meaning.
The book’s central theme is that every life, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has a purpose and an impact on others. An action, no matter how small, can have a profound effect on another. People who come into our lives for the long haul and those who drift in fleetingly have a role to play in the larger tapestry of our lives, whether we are cognizant of it or not.
It’s a thoughtful and heartwarming story that encourages reflection on life’s meaning. Does Eddie save the little girl? Well, I guess you’ll have to read the book to find out.
