“All endings are also beginnings.
We just don’t know it at the time…”
- The Five People you Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
Every one has his/her own idea of heaven. It is a beautiful and a peaceful place. A place where there are no worries, angels floating on the clouds, playing on harps. Hell is a place where a red skinned guy with a pitchfork fries you in hot oil!!
Well, this is the myth shattered in this book. Although there is no mention of hell, but the heaven described by Mitch Albom in this book is totally different from what we have grown up believing. Heaven is a journey, not a place… it’s a journey along which you meet five people who talk to you about your life. They all have a story to tell, about your life.
I was at Crossword a book store in Mumbai, buying a book for my cousin for her birthday, when I came across this book. “Hmmm…the five people you meet in heaven. Unusual title.. but sounds interesting…” I went ahead and got this book for myself.
The story begins with an ending. This is the story of Eddie, the maintenance guy at Ruby Pier, the amusement park in his hometown. His job is to check the rides for any signs of wear and tear. The Pier has been his life… all his memories are woven around this place. The story begins with Eddie’s death. Eddie dies while saving a little girl at Ruby Pier. It was his birthday that day.
All endings are also beginnings … The “real” story starts after Eddie’s death. All Eddie can remember is the two tiny hands in his, he isn’t sure if he has saved that little girl. He begins a journey, where he meets the five people who made an impact in his life, directly or indirectly. These pople came into his life for a reason, they all had some story to tell. Some people that you come across, behave in a certain way. Why do they behave that way, why did they do the things they did? Why did some one else die instead of me? These were some of the questions that Eddie carried in his heart all his life. He finds the answers to those questions during the journey.
The story is written in an interesting manner. The title got me thinking… 5 people you meet in heaven.. sounds like a sermon.. or some boring story about heaven, about doing good deeds and going to heaven, about comparisions with hell. No, it is not… It deals with the concept of death, heaven and life after death in an interesting manner, without getting drab.
The book is divided into short chapters, each describing Eddie’s encounter with the person who he interacts after his death. These chapters are divided by some incidents that happened during his lifetime, on his birthday. Eddie’s journey ends after he meets his fifth person.
The book really got me thinking (which is like… next to impossible :D ). Every day we come across people, people walk into our lives and they walk out of it. They all have something to share with us. These are the people who will tell you your story, why some things happened and why some things didn’t work out.
It is a very short book, les than 200 pages, I finished it in a day. Short but sweet, and as they say “ All the good things come in small packages “ .