MOTIVATIONAL AND INSPIRATIONAL BOOK

BOOK NAME : THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN A HEAVEN 
AUTHOR : MITCH ALBOM
COUNTRY : UNITED STATES 
PUBLISHER: HYPERION 
PUBLICATION DATE : 2003  



"The Five People You Meet in Heaven" is a story written by Mitch. It is a story about Eddie, a lonely war veteran who dies in a tragic accident trying to save a falling cart. He feels trapped in a meaningless life of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. He is killed and sent in a heaven. In a heaven, he meets five people. They have an important role when he was alive.

The first person he meets in a heaven is "The Blue Man" who suffered from argyria  caused by silver nitrate poisoning  and worked at Ruby Pier's sideshow [while it was still open, during the days of Eddie's childhood] and whose real name is Joseph Corvelzchik. While they were talking, Eddie knows that he is dead and has gone to heaven.

Eddie asks Joseph that he doesn't know Joseph and why was he the first person. Joseph tells Eddie that he died when Eddie and his brother threw a baseball when landed in the middle of the road, this caused The Blue Man to have a heart attack and pull over the car and collapse. From this, Eddie learns his first lesson which is that there are no random events in life and all individuals and in some  experiences are connected in some way.

After meting  The Blue Man, he meets four more people with whom he is connected and with every meeting four people, he gets the lesson.

In the end, it shows that Eddie's Heaven was the Stardust Band Shell, where he met Marguerite. And is shown a vision of all the many people he saved  along the years by his maintenance work, and consequently all their children's children down the generations.for he wants everyone to be free of accidents, everyone is safe. He is once again told that every life touches another and that everything is connected, it is all one big life.

CHARACTERS 
Eddie:
The protagonist and main character around who the story centers; at the start of the story, he is killed on his 83rd birthday. When he awakes in heaven, he is taken on a journey to meet five people whose lives intertwined with his in many ways which he never expected.
Marguerite:
Eddie's wife who he met at Ruby Pier and married after returning from World War II. Eddie would always remember "her waving over her shoulder, her dark hair falling over one eye." Marguerite has "olive skin" and "dark coffee eyes."She dies at the age of forty-sevenof  a brain tumor.
Joseph Corvelzchik, The Blue Man:
Joseph's skin had been turned blue when he was a boy because of repeated ingestion of silver nitrate,
thought to be an effective medication at the time. He had been given this medication to cure his "nervousness" and bed-wetting at a late age, and Joseph simply attributed all the side effects to not ingesting enough. Handicapped by this disfigurement, Joseph eventually made a life for himself at Ruby Pier.
 
Joseph is a "middle-aged man with narrow, stooped shoulders, naked from the waist up. His belly sagged over his belt. His hair was closely cropped. His lips were thin and his face was long and drawn." He dies of a heart attack because of Eddie, when Eddie tried to get a ball off the streets and causes him to swerve his car to avoid hitting Eddie.
The Captain: Eddie's commanding officer at war. He has a "full head of dark hair" and looked to be "only in his 30s."The Captain saved Eddie's life by shooting him in the leg. He died by stepping on a land mine while checking to ensure if there was a clear path ahead for his men.

Ruby: A woman for whom Ruby Pier is named by her fiance Emile. Ruby's face was "gaunt, with sagging cheeks, rose-colored lipstick, and tightly pulled-back white hair." She wore "wire-rimmed spectacles over narrow blue eyes."She wore "a dress made of silk and chiffon with a bib-like bodice stitched with white beads and topped with a velvet bow just below her neck." Her skirt had "a rhinestone buckle and snaps and hooks up the side" while also holding a "parasol with both hands." She was a widow in her fifties.

Emile: Ruby's husband, who also created the original Ruby Pier. He wore "a chalk-stripe suit and a derby hat." He had neatly cut dark hair and a mustache that covered a constant smile.Emile was known for "his heavy, confident laughter" and being "a spender and a risk taker." He was injured in a big fire trying to save Ruby Pier from being destroyed.

Eddie's mother: Eddie's mother was known for her tenderness" towards Eddie and Joe. She lived in a daze after the death of Eddie's father.

Eddie's father: He abused Eddie his entire life. He smoked cigars and was a card player. Eddie's father was remembered for his "discipline" or "violence" and "denial of affection" or "silence."He dies at the age of fifty-six of pneumonia.

Mickey Shea: He is a family friend. He worked with Eddie's father "fixing rides at Ruby Pier."Mickey is "fat, wears suspenders and is always singing Irish songs. Mickey attempted to rape Eddie's mother because of loneliness and depression. Mickey and Eddie's father fought, and Mickey was almost killed by Eddie's dad, but eventually, Eddie's dad ended up saving Mickey from drowning in the ocean, causing the pneumonia that killed Eddie's father".

Dominguez: He is Eddie's friend and coworker at Ruby Pier. He is "a lanky, bony-cheeked young man." He is planning to go to Mexico with his wife Theresa and eventually takes Eddie's job as head of maintenance.

Willie: Willie works the Freddy's Free Fall at Ruby Pier.

Amy: Amy or Annie is the "little girl with a pipe-cleaner animal".She is standing on the "ride's metal base" that one of Freddy's Free Fall's carts comes crashing down on. Eddie doesn't know whether or not he saved her until the end of the book.

Tala: Tala is a young girl Eddie sees in a burning hut. She is a Filipina, maybe five or six years old with "a beautiful cinnamon complexion, hair the color of dark plum, a small flat nose, full lips that spread joyfully over her gapped teeth, and the most arresting eyes."

Nicky: Nicky is a young man who visited Ruby Pier, and practically the reason why Eddie died. He dropped his car keys in the Freddy's Free Fall ride, causing its gears to jam and its cable to snap. Nicky claims to be Ruby's great-grandson.
 
CONCLUSION
Honestly speaking, I love the book. First reason is the language. Secondly, the concept and ideas, thirdly, I love the characters, fourthly I love the quotes and finally, I love the way the writer has presented.

The book leaves you, wondering if you ever made a difference in someone's life, here on earth. This book is truly inspirational. Moreover, the book tells the story of a good man who lives a full life but doesn't know it. He feels short changed and, following his death, wonders what it all might of meant. The five people he meets help him to accept life as it was and to find some closure for the future. Some of the five are individuals he remembers some are more phantoms that passed by without leaving much of an impression on him- or so he believes. each teaches a lesson and clarifies how his interaction impacted life.

More than the story, there are beautiful lines which captures the readers. Readers who love the inspiration and motivation books, they will love the book. This book has become one of my favourites. So, I could recoomend the book to read.


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