You can never go wrong with a Mitch Albom novel.
Two of my recent reads were The Five People You Meet in Heaven and The Next Person You Meet in Heaven.
Since this is my first review I’m posting here, I’ll let you know that whenever I rate my books, I rate them on a five star scale, so before I dive into my full blown reviews, I’ll always let you know what my ratings were.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven ✩✩✩✩
The Next Person You Meet in Heaven ✩✩✩✩✩
Since I read Tuesdays with Morrie back in my junior year of high school, I’ve called myself a huge fan of Mitch Albom’s, but to be honest, it’s actually the only book I had ever read by him. I stay up to date on his new releases, I always check to see if the bookstore I’m in has any of his novels, I’ve gifted Tuesday with Morrie to people, re-read the novel, bonded with one of my college roommates over the book, but I’ve never picked up any of his other books.
And for years now, I’ve had a copy of The Five People You Meet in Heaven and its sequel, but as I purchased more books, they fell lower and lower on my to read list.
I find that when I read one of Albom’s novels, I have to be in the right headspace for it, and up until last week, I didn’t think I was there.
I find Albom’s works to be so powerful – I feel that even his works of fiction have so many lessons to take from them and I didn’t think I was ready to engage with something like that quite yet. One of my favorite things about reading is the power and ability of a writer to teach its readers something without ever making it a point to shove the lessons in their face and Mitch Albom is excellent at this.
I’ve been making a conscious effort as of late to be more mindful and contentious and I decided that one of the best ways to do this would be to finally pick up these novels, and boy did they match up to the hype I was giving them in my head.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
The concept behind this novel absolutely blew my mind (in the best way). If you’re unfamiliar, the book explores the concept of the afterlife and what happens when you make it to heaven. Unlike the typical vision of heaven where you pass away and are transported to a utopia-like destination, in this world, Albom takes his characters on a journey where their life is explained to them by five people. The characters may not know the people they’re meeting, or, they may be people they were very close with in life, but they are impactful nonetheless.
This is almost the polar opposite of how I thought about the afterlife, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like this is almost more ideal than what I was thinking. Though the conversations Eddie had with his five people weren’t easy, they also held so much meaning that Eddie, the novel’s protagonist, needed.
This was a short book and an easy read – I was able to read almost the full book in just one sitting – but don’t let that fool you: this novel has such a special, nostalgic component to it and while Eddie experiences such powerful moments of self growth and self acceptance, as a reader, you experience these emotions as well.
Although the book centralizes around death, it has the ability to be uplifting and inspiring while we feel the character grow and we muddle our way through the answering the question for Eddie of “Why was I here?” on earth.
Eddie began the story as a callous man, and throughout his journey, he became someone whom readers could relate and empathize with. He was never dislikable, but he became someone you rooted for, who made you cry when he cried, and at the end of the day, taught you the important lesson of how interconnected all of our lives are.
The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
Usually, I find that sequels have a difficult time living up to the hype of its preceding novel, but honestly, I enjoyed The Next Person You Meet in Heaven even more than The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
This novel follows Annie, a character we met during Eddie’s story. Annie played a pivotal role in Eddie’s life, as it was this little girl he was trying to save when he ultimately lost his own life. Now, in this story, Annie is a young adult and experiences a tragedy of her own.
When the novel opens, Annie has a successful career and has just gotten married, but she and her husband are in a tragic accident and Annie embarks on a journey to meet her five people in heaven.
Annie was such a lovable character – her struggles became your struggles, her fears your fears, her tears your tears. You’re on Annie’s side though every step of her journey, and through careful examination, you’re able to understand why she lives the way she lives and the reasons she surrounds herself with the people she does.
On top of Annie being the perfect protagonist to follow throughout this novel, it was the twist (maybe even two twists) at the end that catapulted this novel to five stars for me. I had tears streaming down my cheeks as Annie met her final two people and the way the Mitch Albom was able to tie the whole story together was outstanding.
Though I could go on forever and ever about how wonderful these novels were, if I say much more, I will end up spoiling what was arguably the best part of the duology and I can’t be the one who takes that away from you.
If you’re on the fence about whether or not to pick up the series, waste no time and pick them up now!
The characters and their unique stories aside, these novels are the perfect example of why we should enjoy the little things in life and they will show you just how much our lives connect to each and every one around us and they may even make a little bit more mindful of how you affect others, even when you don’t realize it.
Anchored Musings 