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 * __The Five People You Meet In Heaven__**

__[|The Five People You Meet in Heaven]__, by [|Mitch Albom] is an exciting, breathtaking novel that takes you through the experiences of 83-year old Eddie’s risky life, while working at Ruby Pier Amusement Park “by a great gray ocean.” This novel starts off by telling the reader, “This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun. It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time.”

Eddie, the protagonist of this story, was a “squat, white-haired old man, with a short neck, a barrel chest, thick forearms, and a faded army tattoo on his right shoulder. His legs were thin and veined now, and his left knee, wounded in the war, was ruined by arthritis. He used a cane to get around.” At the amusement park, Eddie was part of the maintenance committee. Each day, he would walk around the park and check out all the rides just to make sure they were running safely, and carefully. He searched for broken boards, unsafe rides, and other things just to make sure that everyone was safe and sound in the park each day. Teenagers bothered Eddie. Children, he loved. As a little girl, Annie was going onto the ride; they had a very valuable conversation. Annie was only a child, so it didn’t bother Eddie at all.

Annie was crying! As Eddie looked up into the sky, he saw one of the carts on the ride falling down to the ground, where he was standing. Eddie remembers hitting the platform, and he remembered feeling Annie’s two hands in his. Eddie wondered: “Then what?” “Did I save her?” “Did she live?” Eddie died that day. “Some was swirling. Water. An ocean. He was floating over a vast yellow sea. Now it turned melon. Now it was sapphire. Now he began to drop, hurtling toward the surface. It was faster than anything he had ever imagined, yet there wasn’t as much as a breeze of his face, and he felt no fear. He saw the sands of a golden shore. Then he was under water. Then everything was silent. Where is my worry, he thought. Where is my pain?

Eddie meets five different people while living an almost second life in Heaven. For example, Eddie meets the “Blue Man” first. The Blue Man informed Eddie on what happened, and how he died, because the last thing he remembers is hitting the ground. “Where do you think you are” the Blue Man asked Eddie. “Heaven.” “NO.” Eddie replies The Blue Man continues to tell Eddie where he is, and that he got into an accident while working as an employee at Ruby Pier. Finally, Eddie realizes what had happened to him on his 83rd birthday, and needs time for himself. Throughout the rest of the book, Eddie meets four other people who teach him extremely important lessons that he will take with him wherever he goes.

Eddie is the narrator of this book. He tells the story of his life-end to beginning. He explains to us, as the reader, that he died on his 83rd birthday by an accident at Ruby Pier while watching the rides in motion. Then, he explains his life as a young child, and how he grew up there, for the remainder of his childhood. This book is very effective to me; because it shows what values you should really take notice of in your life. It also sends the message that you should live you life to the fullest, and do everything you want to do, like Eddie rode every roller coaster, not having any clue that his life was going to end within the next 53 minutes.

__[|The Five People You Meet in Heaven]__ pulled me into the book. Believe it or not, I finished reading it within 2 days! I never thought such a novel could pull me in, as the reader, to keep turning the pages and never have a second thought about stopping. You always wanted to know what was going to happen next.

Mitch Albom is the author of several other books, aside from __[|The Five People You Meet in Heaven,]__ including his newest published book, __[|For One More Day.]__ __[|The Five People You Meet in Heaven]__, published in September of 2003, is the most successful U.S. hardback novel and has, to date, sold over 8 million copies worldwide.

I would recommend this novel to individuals from the age of 13 and up. This book was very easy to read, but taught many life lessons that younger children may not understand as well and easily.