The Five People You Meet in Heaven Summary
5 min read ⌚
Do you know how you are doing in life?
Well, you can find that out in heaven, in case you are ready to wait that long.
Or, you can read our summary of “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” and learn the lessons you have to learn now. And then, maybe, you will understand where you stand.
Who Should Read “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”? and Why?
People that read “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” are tempted to call it an adult fairytale, but it is more than that. The protagonist of the book Eddie, has had a past filled with a problematic father, a love early lost, and a child he killed during the war by accident. His story begins at the end of his life when he dies saving a little girl’s life in the amusement park he is working on.
However, the end is only the beginning of his journey to giving his life meaning by talking to the five people he meets in heaven, that are there to provide him with valuable lessons.
This is a book about forgiveness and moving forward, and we recommend it to everyone who wants to take a heaven’s perspective on his own life.
About Mitch Albom
Mitch Albom is a bestselling author, a columnist for Detroit Free Press, and a founder of two volunteer programs, which helps underprivileged kids study art.
“The Five People You Meet in Heaven Summary”
This story begins with death.
However, don’t worry, it is not a story that will make you sad. It is a story about forgiveness and life purpose, and it will make you realize that every end is a beginning.
Eddie, the protagonist of “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” spend the last hour of his life on his workplace – Ruby Pier, the ocean-side amusement park. Ruby Pear was just like any other amusement parks: it had bumper cars, an arcade, and a Ferris wheel. Eddie’s job was to maintain the attractions and make sure that no parts were loose.
At the moment when he had 19 minutes left in the world, he sat down in a chair to rest. A little girl came up to Eddie and asked him to make an animal for her. He did as she asked, she thanked him, and walked away.
A second later he heard someone shout: “Oh my God, Look!”
He looked up, and he saw what caused the shout. One of the carts of Freddy’s Free Fall ride was loose and hung at a dangerous angle. He immediately called security on his radio and then told the park workers to get rid of the safety restraint so they could get out the people stuck in the broken car.
They did as he instructed, but as they released the restrained, the cable broke, and the car began to fall.
Eddie sat in a place where it would miss him, but just in front of him was the little girl that he made a rabbit for. He stepped to save her, and only a second later he saw a blinding flash of light.
Then, nothing.
When he awoke, he was at the same place, Ruby Pear, but from decades ago. He felt healthy and fit and ran around the amusement park to see all those beautiful attractions.
He soon came to a sideshow area; a curtain hung in front of him. When he opened it, he met the first person in heaven.
Hello, Edward,” said the man with blue skin. “I have been waiting for you.”
And so, the story starts.
Key Lessons from “The Five People You Meet in Heaven:
1. The Blue Man
2. The Captian
3. Ruby
4. Marguerite
5. Tala
The First Lesson: The Blue man
The Blue Man told Eddie that he, just as everybody else, will meet five people in heaven.
Each of those people was once present in your life for a specific reason, although you may not have known the reason at the time. He said that heaven’s purpose is just that – understanding the life you lived on earth. He further explained to him that each person he meets would have a lesson for him.
And his lesson was that all lives are connected, and no one is isolated from those around him.
The Second Lesson: The Captain
The second man he met was the Captain. When Eddie served in the military, he was taken a prisoner along with four other people, among which was the Captain.
He told Eddie the reason he was in heaven – that sacrifice was part of life.
The Third Lesson: Ruby
Eddie’s father was not a role model. Now he saw him sitting in a restaurant. He shouted from outside, but his father, just like he did during his lifetime, was unwilling or unable to respond.
Then the third person Eddie met in heaven appeared: Ruby.
She told him not be angry, because he could not hear him, and that for him to go on on his path in heaven, he has to learn how to forgive him.
The Fourth Lesson: Marguerite
The fourth person Eddie met in heaven was his long dead wife, Marguerite. He loved her unconditionally, and during his lifetime he never overcomes her death at a young age.
His fourth lesson was that love survived death, that even lost love is love, only in a different form.
The Fifth Lesson: Tala
The fifth and last person he met was Tala, a little Asian girl of around six years of age.
She wanted to know why he was sad, and he said that he felt that he wasted his life on earth, spending the whole time fixing attractions at the amusement park.
She told him that he was wrong. Instead of looking at it like that, he should try to realize that he spent his life keeping children safe.
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“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” Quotes
Everyone has an idea of heaven. Click To Tweet The version represented here is only a guess, a wish, in some ways, that my uncle, and others like him - people who felt unimportant here on earth - realized, finally, how much they mattered and how they were loved. Click To Tweet This is a story about a man named Eddie and it begins at the end, with Eddie dying in the sun... Click To Tweet It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time. Click To Tweet We are all connected. You can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind. Click To Tweet
Our Critical Review
“The Five People You Meet in Heaven” is an elegantly written and easily readable book, that tells a fable-like story that will talk to all your senses.
Emir is the Head of Marketing at 12min. In his spare time, he loves to meditate and play soccer.
