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  1. $19.60 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

by Mitch Albom

The Five People You Meet in Heaven Cover

ISBN13: 9781401308582
ISBN10: 1401308589
Condition: Standard
All Product Details

Review-a-Day   (What is Review-a-Day?)

"It's easy to feel an affinity for this simplistic, folksy bathos; it's easier, after all, to act for the sake of heaven than to make the considered and nuanced moral choices that really confront us in life. And it is here that Albom fails. His character makes no moral choices, he does not ponder the depths of his existence, he is merely a reactive stick figure that has to go to cotton-candy heaven to learn that his life had meaning. It's single-serve religion for a drive-thru, strip-mall, mega-church kind of country." Sacha Zimmerman, The New Republic (read the entire New Republic review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From the author of the number one New York Times bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie comes this long-awaited follow-up, an enchanting, beautifully crafted novel that explores a mystery only heaven can unfold.

Eddie is a grizzled war veteran who feels trapped in a meaningless life of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. As the park has changed over the years — from the Loop-the-Loop to the Pipeline Plunge — so, too, has Eddie changed, from optimistic youth to embittered old age. His days are a dull routine of work, loneliness, and regret.

Then, on his 83rd birthday, Eddie 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.

One by one, Eddie's five people illuminate the unseen connections of his earthly life. As the story builds to its stunning conclusion, Eddie desperately seeks redemption in the still-unknown last act of his life: Was it a heroic success or a devastating failure? The answer, which comes from the most unlikely of sources, is as inspirational as a glimpse of heaven itself.

In The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom gives us an astoundingly original story that will change everything you've ever thought about the afterlife — and the meaning of our lives here on earth. With a timeless tale, appealing to all, this is a book that readers of fine fiction, and those who loved Tuesdays with Morrie, will treasure.

Review:

"Simply told, sentimental, and profoundly true, this is an contemporary American fable that will be cherished by a vast readership." Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Review:

"Sincere....A book with the genuine power to stir and comfort its readers." The New York Times

Review:

"Fans of Tuesdays with Morrie will be delighted with this novel." People magazine

Review:

"A sweet book that makes you smile but is not gooey with overwrought sentiment." Booklist

Review:

"Transcendent....Albom has aimed high here, and there's a whiff of paradise as a result." Atlanta Journal Constitution

Review:

"This is a lovely book, sweet, entertaining and wise. What a gutsy, surprising follow-up to Morrie." Anne Lamott, author of Traveling Mercies and Blue Shoe

Synopsis:

The multimillion-copy bestseller is finally available in paperback. In The Five People You Meet In Heaven, Mitch Albom's timeless tale is a book that readers of fine fiction, and those who loved his blockbuster Tuesdays With Morrie, will treasure.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 5 comments:
i love to read, February 20, 2008 (view all comments by i love to read)
I disagree with the critics who think that Albom failed on his character whom they say lacks a moral attitude or doesn't go through any significant change. Albom was being a realist in this book. Yes, Eddie (the main character) is just a person reacting to life. Who doesn't? Albom was being a realist. As people, we don't realize our higher purpose or use quantum physics to get what we want. Most of us just react to what happens to us. Some critics need to just be happy with the story because it does have a good point.
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(7 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)
i love to read, February 20, 2008 (view all comments by i love to read)
My high school class began reading this book yesterday! I am only on chapter two, and can't wait to finish it!!! It is to be highly respected. I admire this writer!
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(6 of 12 readers found this comment helpful)
Angel of Starlight, December 10, 2007 (view all comments by Angel of Starlight)
A perfect book for the holiday season, 'The Five People You Meet in Heaven' addresses various issues of human identity which no truly great piece of literature should ever leave unexplored Albom's flair for blending the lives of fictitious characters sometimes makes this meaningful, insightful story seem more real than what is happening directly in front of the reader. Warm and engaging, this book is sure to become a holiday favorite. It's perfect for reading on warm, cozy evenings in front of the fire... either by yourself or with any of the five people who mean the most to YOU.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9781401308582
Author:
Albom, Mitch
Publisher:
Hyperion Books
Subject:
General
Subject:
Death
Subject:
Amusement parks
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Publication Date:
January 2003
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
196
Dimensions:
7.24x5.42x.51 in. .41 lbs.
Age Level:
from Al to l0

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