The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

1289 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Mitch albom writing the five people you meet in heaven

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

For my book report I chose to read and critique Mitch Albom’s “The Fine People You Meet in Heaven”. Mitch Albom’s story is centered on a character named Eddie. Eddie is a grizzled war veteran who feels like he has led a nothing to show life, and blames most his problems on his father. Unlike most stories ours begins at the end with Eddie’s death. After dying Eddie goes on a journey through heaven and along the way he meets five people that teach him of the impact of things he has done during his life.

Eddie work for an ocean-side amusement park as the head of maintenance. He seems to have been sucked in and stuck at his job because of certain things that have happened in his life. Injured in World War 2, Eddie now walks with a limp. Eddie is 83 years old when he passes away by trying to save a small child from a cart falling on one of the rides at the park, and when he tries to move the child out of the way the cart falls killing him.

After he dies the next thing Eddie knows is he’s at the pier and no longer has any pain in his body but feels like a young man again. Eddie begins running around and testing this new body of his when he notices someone. The first person Eddie comes in contact with is the Blue Man. The Blue Man used to work as a “freak” at Ruby Pier. The Blue Man tells Eddie that he was responsible for his death, and Eddie denies that he was. Then the Blue Man tells Eddie how what he was younger he ran in front of the Blue Man’s car causing the Blue Man to have a panic attack that later caused him wreck his car and eventually killing him. Eddie apologizes frantically but the Blue Man then teaches Eddie the first lesson that he will learn on his journey. The lesson the Blue Man taught Eddie was that there are no random acts in life, and that all incidents are intertwined in some way. After learning the lesson that the Blue Man gave him Eddie is whisked away to the next part of his journey.

Eddie finds himself back on a war ground, which resembled the area he fought on during WWII.

Show More
Related

  • The Novel Is Remarkable, and the Film Is Exceptional

    924 Words  | 2 Pages

    “I forgive you, Dad.” (Movie) On the movie screen the tearful Eddie, with his trembling voice, is wholeheartedly trying to reach out to his father inside the Diner in Heaven. It is the moment that Eddie’s sentimental reflection turns into an emotional eruption. At that moment Eddie’s tears almost wet my face. That is just one of stunning visual effects I felt while watching the film, “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” The film, directed by Lloyd Kramer, is based on the book with the same title, written by Mitch Albom. In terms of plot, general theme, and setting, they are all projected in similar ways both in the book and the movie, such as chronological order of the five people Eddie meets in Heaven, use of flashbacks, and Ruby Pier entertainment park as the central stage. By appearance, both in the book and the movie, Eddie and the five people are naturally the major focus. However, I believe that the relationship between Eddie and his father is specially fabricated by the director and the author with the intention of making the story more complex and captivating. On top of that, I find that Eddie’s father, portrayed as a controversial character throughout the book and all over the film, is really worth further reviewing and discussion. More specifically, I would like to analyze the similarities and differences vividly perceived between the novel and the movie in various ways of portraying the father.

    Read More

  • Life Is So Good by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman

    485 Words  | 1 Pages

    Good Afternoon Ms. McCafferty, I made this appointment because I passionately believe that the book, Life is so good written by George Dawson and Richard Glaubman should be on the Carey booklist for Year 9 students. Life is so good is a magnificent part biography, part autobiography of a 103 year old black man named George Dawson who went to school to learn to read and write when he was 98 years old.

    Read More

  • Salvation on Sand Mountain by Dennis Covington

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    Dennis Covington writes about a unique method of worship—snake handling, in his memoir, Salvation on Sand Mountain. He begins as a journalist, looking in on this foreign way of life; however, as time progresses he increasing starts to feel a part of this lifestyle. As a result loses his journalistic approach, resulting in his memoir, detailing his own spiritual journey. Upon the conclusion of his stay in this world, Covington realizes the significance of this journey, and argues in his memoir that we cannot entirely know ourselves until we step outside of our comfort zone and separate ourselves from our norm.

    Read More

  • Buried Onions By Gary Soto

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    Recently he met this girl who had knew a few answers to the question he is searching for. Eddie is on a dangerous path to his investigation,but he is determine to find the killer. After his cousin is killed, Eddie's aunt pressures him to avenge her son's death. Eddie drops out of City College and works odd jobs, all the while wondering about this, the latest of the senseless killings that have become a fact of life within the community. A run of unlucky breaks adds to his frustration as he is completely caught up in the violence he disapproves

    Read More

  • Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol

    787 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jonathan Kozol's book, Amazing Grace, analyzes the lives of the people living in the dilapidated district of South Bronx, New York. Kozol spends time touring the streets with children, talking to parents, and discussing the appalling living conditions and safety concerns that plague the residents in the inner cities of New York. In great detail, he describes the harsh lifestyles that the poverty stricken families are forced into; day in and day out. Disease, hunger, crime, and drugs are of the few everyday problems that the people in Kozol's book face; however, many of these people continue to maintain a very religious and positive outlook on life. Jonathan Kozol's investigation on the lifestyle of these people, shows the side to poverty that most of the privileged class in America does not get to see. Kozol wishes to persuade the readers to sympathize with his book and consider the condition in which these people live. The inequality issues mentioned are major factors in affecting the main concerns of Kozol: educational problems, healthcare obstacles, and the everyday struggles of a South Bronx child.

    Read More

  • Heaven Is a Playground by Rick Telander

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    Heaven is a Playground is a book, published in 1974 by author Rick Telander, about Telander’s journey to New York City and the summer he spent there for a magazine piece, acclimating himself with the culture that existed on inner-city basketball courts in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. While he was there, he met a man by the name of Rodney Parker. Parker was kind of like a street agent because he worked tirelessly to get a lot of these inner-city kids into school. In the book, Telander talks about all of his experiences with the people in the neighborhood and the relationships he developed with the kids, whom he would eventually go on to coach.

    Read More

  • The Best People I Changed By Leslie Soberanis

    863 Words  | 2 Pages

    On an ordinary day, Leslie opens the main door of her house, when she walked inside she saw her mom and sister Islla sitting on the coach. Islla was crying, and Leslie ask her “What happened?’ Why you crying?’”. Islla told her that she is pregnant and that she wants to keep the baby even if her boyfriend will be against the baby, but she will need to drop out from her University. In a few minutes of thinking, Leslie decided and told her sister “You don’t need to drop out I will help you to babysit with my nephew.”

    Read More

  • Stud Terkel’s The Good War

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    Eddie Costello’s current view of the war is as a "sore asshole", but he says he started out as a "seventeen year old adolescent patriot". Eddies experience is similar to Johns in that he initially went to great lengths to participate in the war, lying about his age to get a munitions factory job at only 14.

    Read More

  • Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers

    1362 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Vietnam War in the late 1960’s was described as a tragedy, a victory, a win, and a loss, but for whom? The millions of people who loss their lives or the millions of people who fought to save others or is it for the millions of people who had to make that decision every time that they were in battle, but as for Richard Perry, a seventeen-year-old, African American just out of a Harlem High School, had to ask that question solely to himself. Perry, a talented and bright young man put away his dreams of college and becoming a writer because of the unfortunate circumstance he is in. He lives in poverty in the slums of Harlem. His single mother is abandoned by her husband and this leaves Perry and his younger brother Kenny without a father and a second income. Therefore, Perry’s mother does not have enough money to send him to college and the money they did have went to her alcohol problem. Although Perry has the grades and potential to go to a community college he is unsure about his plans in life and feels that money is the source of all his problems (Myers 15). Perry believes he should join the army to escape his future, to get money and to make it up to his younger brother and mother, and he does just that, He gets enlisted in the Army in the summer of 1967, due to a failure to process his medical file correctly leading him to not receive a medical discharge, Perry gets an unexpected ticket to the Vietnam War. In Fallen Angels, the major subjects include the history in The Vietnam War and war itself, Perry’s self discovery in war and the moral vagueness of war is represented. The themes of Friendship, Innocence and Racism are all reflected in the book. Friendship reflects the bond that Richie makes with Peewee Lobel, Lieutena...

    Read More

  • A Million Little Pieces by James Frey

    1149 Words  | 3 Pages

    Main theme: How a person deals with drug and alcohol addiction while in an institution

    Read More

  • Reunion by John Cheever

    821 Words  | 2 Pages

    Reunion, by John Cheever, is a story told through the eyes of a young boy, Charlie, who is recalling a meeting with his father who he hasn’t seen for more than three years. It is set in New York where Charlie’s father lives. He meets up with his father during a stop over between trains.

    Read More

  • The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman

    2253 Words  | 5 Pages

    Communication is cited as a contributing factor in 70% of healthcare mistakes, leading to many initiatives across the healthcare settings to improve the way healthcare professionals communicate. (Kohn, 2000.)

    Read More

  • A Cold Day in Paradise by Steve Hamilton

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    A Cold Day in Paradise is a book that was written by Steve Hamilton and takes place in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The name of the book is very significant to the meaning of the book. The cold day represents the metal bullet that is in Alex McKnight’s chest and on cold nights, it is a reminder of a traumatic event that took place. While Paradise is the place that he lives and where the last death took place and it was also on a cold windy night.

    Read More

  • When Heaven and Earth Changed Places by Le Ly Hayslip

    1578 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Hayslip’s book When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, she talks about her life as a peasant’s daughter and her and her family’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War has not only affected Vietnam itself, but also the United States, where in the beginning they did not want to get involved. However, with the spread of communism, which had already affected China, the president at the time Lyndon Johnson, thought it was time to stop the spread of the Vietnam War. With America’s involvement in the war, it caused great problems for both sides. In Vietnam, it causes the local people from the south and north side to split up and either becomes a supporter of communism or of the US’s capitalist views. In addition, it caused displacement for those local people, thus losing their family. In America, the Vietnam War has brought about PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder, and deaths of many soldiers, more than World War II. With the thought of containment for communism, the US had gave back Vietnam their war and “gave up” on the war, leaving Southeast Asia in the sphere of communist views. With the thought of the domino theory that a country will fall in similar events like the neighboring countries, like China as Vietnam’s neighbor the United States tried to remove communism from Vietnam. US’s involvement in the war caused problems for both sides of the war.

    Read More

  • Book Report On The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

    1124 Words  | 3 Pages

    of Eddie's life on Earth and the beginning of his journey through heaven. The basic

    Read More

More about The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

Open Document