I’ve just read Mitch Albom’s novel, “The Five People You Meet In Heaven“. It’s the story of an eighty three year old veteran of World War II who dies while trying to save a girl in an amusement park. The story takes us through Eddie’s life through encounters in heaven with five people whose lives intersected with his in significant ways.
I’ve seen the book in Borders and in airport bookshops and almost bought it several times. Finally I succumbed, finishing it on a plane flight from Mackay to Brisbane.
Well I must say I was impressed, moved and intellectually stimulated. This is the guy who wrote “Tuesdays with Morrie”, the non-fiction account of his conversations with his college mentor, sociologist Morrie Schwartz who was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Mitch is in touch with matters of life and death. He touches on the experiences of post traumatic stress disorder, the impact of resentment and forgiveness, and the transformative effects of deep and faithful love.
Mitch is also a nationally-syndicated newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press, nationally-syndicated radio host for his flagship station WJR-AM in Detroit, and television commentator. He has an excellent web site – www.mitchalbom.com – featuring tapes from Tuesdays with Morrie and interviews from his radio shows. He’s clearly at home on the internet – with well designed sites www.albom.com and www.albomfivepeople.com.
“Five People” was made into a television movie, starring Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Daniels and Michael Imperioli. Likewise Tuesdays with Morrie
What amazes me though is the spin offs on the Five People novel. There’s “Effective Habits of the Five People You Meet in Heaven