Introducing our February 2011 Book of the Month

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom







From the book

On his eighty-third birthday, Eddie, a lonely war veteran, dies in a tragic accident trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. With his final breath, he feels two small hands in his –and then nothing. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that Heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever.

Author website

Mitch Albom




Book details
From Amazon

Paperback
Publisher: Unknown (2005)
ISBN-10: 0751536822
ISBN-13: 978-0751536829


Hope you enjoy reading this book-it's been around quite a while, and was made into a film in 2005 starring Jon Voight in the title role of Eddie.

Book opens for discussion 23rd February

Fabulous book!

I'm looking forward to reading this one!

Same here. Everyone I mention this book to tells me how great it is.

SPOILER WARNING
BOOK IS OPEN FOR DISCUSSION



The Five People you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom





From the book

On his eighty-third birthday, Eddie, a lonely war veteran, dies in a tragic accident trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. With his final breath, he feels two small hands in his –and then nothing. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that Heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever.

Book Group Questions

• “All endings are beginnings” – what does this mean to you?
• The start of the book counts down Eddie’s life in minutes – how did you react to this?
• Of all the five people Eddie meets – which character affected you the most, and why?
• What did you make of the chapters about Eddie's Birthdays?
• The old woman tells Eddie “you have peace, when you make it with yourself” - Is this true?
• Who would be the five people you would like to meet in Heaven, and why?


Now that some of us have had the chance to read this month's selection, it would be interesting to see what we all made of it. Please post your thoughts; hopefully we'll all have different interpretations of the story. Don’t be afraid to discuss, disagree and generally pull the book to pieces. The questions are just a guide -don't feel you have to answer any, or all of them - your opinions are what matters most....

If you enjoyed this you may like:


The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
Can’t Wait to Get To Heaven by Fannie Flagg
The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
The Shack by William P Young
Before I Die by Jenny Downham

The Book is now open for discussion HERE

Please remember that SPOILERS APPLY.


Looking forward to the discussion

TFPYMIH is a wonderful inspirational book even if at first the premise is a bit depressing. At the beginning of the book, we are counting down the minutes to Eddie's last breath with each paragraph, which is a bit strange. It seems that Eddie has always had a dark cloud hanging over his shoulders, alla Charlie Brown, but without the humor. He has a troubled relationship with his father, is an escaped prisoner of war immobilized by his subsequent nightmares and ends up lonely after losing his wife and family. Through it all he does many good deeds just by being who he is and does find some moments of happiness with his wife Marguerite, who was one of my favorite characters for she was the only ray of sunshine in Eddie's world.

How sad for Eddie that so many horrible things happened on his birthday, including his wife's car accident, his father's death as well as his own. In so many ways, Eddie followed in his father's footsteps even though he so desperately wanted to be different. Subconciously, he was looking for his father's approval and love, which he would never receive -- at least not openly.

I do believe that one can only find peace when they make it for themselves. In the same manner it is true thar "Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from the inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us, But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves." (p. 141 pb) Eddie learns this lesson when he finally forgives his father for mistreating him and himself for not rescuing the little girl in the Philipppines. I also agree with Albom that "There are no random acts. That we are all connected. Thay you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind." (p.48 pb) This belief feeds into the idea that "We move through places every day that would never have been if not for those who came before us." (p. 123 pb)

To me, "All endings are beginnings," signifies that when one door closes another one opens. People are in constant transition and evolving as life progresses, leading to new adventures and experiences. Life is a never ending story that is only as good as we make it.

Very quietly, this book remains in your subconscious - the writing at times is quite profound.

I found the counting down to Eddie's death quite moving and it reminded me of a training video I had watched years ago about how to prepare people for death ( I worked in a Hospice). In this video the cartoon character was told he had 30 minutes to live - and it was his reaction to this news that reminded me of Eddie - even though Eddie was unaware of the countdown to his demise - he had no hesitation in saving the little girl.

I loved all the characters Eddie met in his heaven - but the most profound for me was his last lesson and his meeting Tala, the little girl from the Philippines, when she gave him the gift of forgiveness. And yet his meeting with Marguerite, his beloved wife, gave me my favourite quote from the book ..."Life has to end, Love doesn't "

Eddie's birthdays were a revelation into his life and how he was a product of so much suffering - he did look for his father's approval all his life - and yet he had it from the beginning... on Eddie's birth day we get this snippet...when Eddie's father sees Eddie for the first time..
"The Father breathes heavily, nods his head.For a moment his face seems to crumble. like a bridge collapsing in a river. Then he smiles. His "

"You have peace, when you make it with yourself " - should be the mantra we all aspire to achieve - so many people seem to be angry with themselves - in the supermarkets. on the highway -I think that true peace has to be found within your own soul.


Who would I like to meet me in heaven - assuming I go that way of course ..


*My first infant school Teacher - she tried so hard to get me to like school -I cried so much in the first few weeks, away from my mum - but in the end, thanks to love and patience I settled down..

*My best friend from senior school - we had such fun - and yet she had secrets that she never felt she could talk to me about - I need to her to know I would have cared..

*As a young student nurse, my first ward manager was a very strict disciplinarian - she frightened me - but yet she was with me when I saw my first dead person - and was supportive in a no nonsense sort of way..

*As a young midwife, I was at the delivery of several stillbirth babies - I'd like to meet those little angels, if only for reassurance that I did all I could...

* And finally - I'd like to meet my maternal grandmother -she died before I was born - but photographs show that I look very much like her - she was a milliner (Hat maker) - I'd love for her to make me a hat...

I had read this book a long time ago and reading it again had a little more significance. Many of you know that my mother recently passed away at 89 so as I read this book, she was front and center as I followed Eddie's journey. The countdown at the beginning was sort of a reminder that we never know the time and place when it will all end and isn't it true that once we hear that someone has died, the first thing that we think about was how we spent the last time together? Albom does such a nice job with making you reevaluate your life based on a short novel. It makes you look at a person and say "what's YOUR story?" I wasn't a fan of The Shack but there were all of these great quotes in there that I adopted one on my Facebook because it sums up all of our lives just like Eddie's.

You can kiss your family and friends good-bye and put miles between you, but at the same time you carry them with you in your heart, your mind, your stomach, because you do not just live in a world but a world lives in you.
Frederick Buechner

Eddie certainly lived this life and in death he could reconcile all of his pain. What a beautiful way to think about Heaven than as a place where we can all find out "what was THAT all about" with each person that deeply affected our lives and put it all to rest so that we can finally rest in peace. I don't know who I would want to meet in Heaven but it would be more than 5 people, that's for sure. The main lesson that I get from this book is that we are all connected, even those that we don't realize (like Ruby who'se husband built the Pier for her). Eddie thought that his life was without purpose and Heaven showed him that he was significant even if his Earthly job and life seemed insignificant.

I had read this book years ago and to refresh my memory, I listened to the audiobook a few days ago. The reader was good, but something that was a little different from most other audiobooks is that it had quite a bit of music. In some books (largely young adult ones, I think), I've found that the inclusion of music made it seem a bit cheesy and I preferred a straight reading. In this one, I found the music quite evocative of moods and I think it definitely affected my feelings as I listened.

All that intro, was in part because I think I found the countdown to Eddie's death at the beginning far creepier listening this time, than I had when reading it years ago. It was a little odd because of course, I knew he was going to die and I remembered a vague outline of what he learned in heaven (though I did not recall many details), but I was glad to be past that point.



I was going to say almost exactly what Lady Jayne said and she undoubtedly said it better, so "Ditto".

I kept thinking of how much tragedy happened on Eddie's birthdays. Poor guy. Just to clarify, was Marguerite's accident on Eddie's 39th birthday? And, then it went back in time to an earlier birthday later in the book (37th I think?). I was a bit confused about that and it's not easy to go back and check things in an audiobook.

I think all the people he met in heaven affected me in some way (I think the music helped with that - I felt teary-eyed just from the music at times and of course it fit the text so I was definitely absorbed and emotionally affected). But, certainly, the first time I read, Tala was the most surprising and in some ways affecting. To know that he had been right and had let her die (unintentionally), but that she forgave him and pointed out that he spent his life making other children safe. And, that she knew that he had saved Amy or Annie (I was surprised that even as he went to wait for her to reach heaven, he didn't know her name for sure).

Edited to add: I wanted to mention that it wasn't only music that was added to the audiobook. There were crowd noises, like at the pier and maybe others that I'm not remembering for sure right now (maybe a crashing sound when there was a car crash? not sure). But, it was unusual among the audiobooks I've listened to to have these sorts of sound effects, but it worked better in this one than in others, IMO.

I am curious if anyone has read any of Mitch Albom's other books, such as For One More Day or Tuesdays at Morrie's. Are they similiar to TFPYMIH?

I've read Tuesdays with Morrie and whilst it's not the same as T5PYMIH - it does have an inspirational message and is worth reading

I have this book on my "to read" shelf. I have read Tuesdays with Morrie. This thread may push me to read something new rather than rekilting. Well, after I finish Blade and Twilight. Thank you for the push. So much to read; so little time.

I was a medical first responder for a while which was the only medical care in our remote location (no radio) for the "golden hour". Some of those cases haunt me still (we personally knew many of our cases, like Claire did). I can understand Sassenach's desire for reassurance. Maybe I can put those thoughts to rest in my mind?

I read and enjoyed both of those two books. I haven't read the more recent Have a Little Faith.

I've read both of these and they all have that life self-examination theme. He is one of the authors that I keep as a collection. They are wonderfully spiritual books but without that preachy feel to them. You follow a person's journey and can't help relating to it.