Five people you meet in heaven

Two years back I picked a book "Five People You Meet in Heaven" from the library. To be honest, what initially attracted me to the book was its thinness book and its unusual title, I wanted to know what lay beyond those words and without having to read for a long time to crack the suspense.

I had never read Mitch Albom, never heard of him so expectations from the book were pretty much non existent. But once I started reading the book, I could not put it down, I was mesmerised by his story telling and by the time I finished it, I wanted to tell everyone I knew, about this book.

The story begins with Eddie, a maintenance man in an amusement park, dying in a tragic accident trying to save a young girl, and coincidentally on his eighty third birthday.
He wakes up to find himself in heaven, but heaven is not the expected, paradise, the garden of eden. Instead Eddie finds himself in his past, at a part of his life where he has already been. What follows next is, Eddie meets five people from his past, loved ones and strangers but who have nevertheless affected his life one way or the other.

The five people walk him through his life, help him understand what really happened in his life and how his life was intertwined with others' lives. Each of the five people teaches him valuable lessons about life that he never understood when he was alive. The book uses flashbacks to dwell on Eddie's life and though it takes us through flashbacks to Eddie's life and to Eddie in heaven, it is done moderately and is almost lyrical, the story telling is extremely smooth.

What the book tells you is that no action is insignificant, what we do affects others and our lives are intertwined. Every action of ours sets the ball rolling and culminates in someone else getting affected.

Eddie had believed that his life was not meaningful, he had felt trapped in the ordinariness of his life, but in heaven, through the eyes of the five people, his life appears totally different.

The book leaves you with optimism and hope. At a certain level it tells you to look beyond the surface. It convinces you that you are not alone, that you are connected and that you make a difference.