The Five People You Meet in Heaven (2003) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters edit see section history

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• Eddie Maint: Eddie is the main character of this book, he is killed at the beginning of the book and the story is then about his journey through heaven.
• The Blue Man: The first person Eddie meets in Heaven. While Eddie barely remembers him, The Blue Man remembers him.
• Alex Bisgould: The second person Eddie meets in Heaven, he was Eddie's captain during World War 2. He was born into a military life style, and died the same way. Eddie survived a surprise attack where the men in there platoon were captured and made to work in a coal mine. When the men plan an attack to get out, most of the men die and Eddie is told he survived.
• Ruby: The third person Eddie meets in Heaven. Her husband was a wealthy man who put his money to good use and built the Ruby Pier Amusement Park in her honor. The park later burned to the ground, taking her husband's fortune along with it, making Ruby regret its existence. She had been the reason the park had been built in the first place and why Eddie and his father had the opportunity to work there.
• Marguerite: Marguerite was Eddie's wife, and the fourth person he met in Heaven. Marguerite died before Eddie of Cancer, she was Eddie's first and only true love. He wanted the very best for her, even though he could not always provide it. She loved children, and wanted some but Eddie was never compliant. When Eddie meets her in Heaven she is the way she was when he first laid eyes on her, young and beautiful, but Eddie asks her to change back to the way she was at the end, showing his true love for her.
• Tala: The last person Eddie meets in heaven, who makes everything come clear to him.
• Mickey Shea: An old friend of Eddie's father. Eddie remembers him when he is practicing how to shoot at a carnival booth before he goes to war.
• Rabozzo: In Eddie's squad in the war.
• Willie: Ride operator at Ruby Pier.
• Joe: Eddie's older brother. Joe used to always get bullied and Eddie had to beat those bullies up.
• Emile: Ruby's husband, he is the creator of and original owner of Ruby pier.
• Morton: In Eddie's squad when they were in war and became a prisoner-of-war alongside Eddie.
• Noel: One of Eddie's old friends. Enjoys betting on the race horses.
• Dominguez: Eddie's co-worker at the Pier, he is really the only person Eddie gets along with, Dominguez was there when Eddie was killed.
• Amy/Annie: A girl who Eddie befriends when he makes her a pipe-cleaner rabbit. He can't remember her name.
• Eddie Main-ten-ance: Eddie's father was always hard on both Eddie and his brother Joe. He was the Ride Maintenance man until he died.
• Eddie's Mother: Eddie's mother was always there for him and did her best to help him grow up to be a good young man.
• Amy: A little girl with the pipe-cleaner animal. Possibly named Annie- Eddie couldn't remember her name.
• Nicky: Ruby's Great-Grandson. He visited Ruby Pier
• Alli: Add a description of this character.
• Sarah Lemon
• Victor Delamonte
• King Nim
• Lorraine
• Dor

Quotes edit see section history

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• “Fairness does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young.”

  The Blue Man

• “Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.”

  The Blue Man

• “The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.”

  The Blue Man

• “Departure did not seem to be an issue.”

  Eddie

• “All parents damage their children. It cannot be helped. Youth, like pristine glass, absorbs the prints of its handlers. Some parents smudge, others crack, a few shatter childhoods completely into jagged little pieces, beyond repair.”

  Eddie

• “Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.”

  Ruby

• “Love, like rain, can nourish from above, drenching couples with a soaking joy. But sometimes, under the angry heat of life, love dries on the surface and must nourish from below, tending to its roots, keeping itself alive.”

  The Fourth Person Eddie Meets in Heaven, (p. 174).

• “Young men go to war. Sometimes because they have to, sometimes because they want to. Always, they feel they are supposed to. This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down.”

  The Second Person Eddie Meets in Heaven, (p. 59).

• “Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to.”

  The Captain (p. 97)

• “"Life has to end," she said. "Love doesn't"”

  Marguerite

• “All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time.”

  Eddie

• “Sacrifice is part of life. it's supposed to be. it is not something to forget. it is something to aspire to. little sacrifices. Big sacrifices..... Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You are just passing it to someone else.”

  Captian

• “Parents rarely let go of their children, so children let go of them. they move on. they move away. the moments that used to define them- a mother's approval, a father's nod- are covered by moments of their own accomplishments. it is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stone, beneath the waters of their lives.”

• “Forgive, Edward forgive. do you remember the lightness when you first arrived in heaven? That's because no one is born with anger. And when we die, the soul is freed of it. But now, here, in order to move on, you must understand why you felt what you did, and why you no loonger need to feel it.”

  Ruby

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Ruby Pier: Named for the creater's wife, Ruby. This is where Eddie grows up and eventually works and dies. Eddie's father was also employed by Ruby Pier.
• Heaven: Where the story takes place.
• Philippine Islands: The only place that Eddie ever went during World War II.

Organizations edit see section history

• Ruby Pier: This is a fictional organization, that one of the characters named after his wife, Ruby.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Glossary edit see section history

• Gimme: Slang. Short for 'Give Me'.

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

• Death: All of an organism's vital organs shut down/ beyond repair/ stopped.
• Afterlife: Events, or another life, after you die.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Mitch Albom (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Erik Singer (Narrator)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PS3601.L335 F59 2003
• Dewey: 818'.6

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Young adults and above. About death, may be disturbing for some children. Some scenes include wartime prison.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Wikipedia: More information about The Five People You Meet in Heaven both as a book and a film.

Movie Connections edit see section history

• The Five People You Meet in Heaven (IMDb): 2004 movie based on the book

More Books Like This edit see section history

Books with Additional Background Information edit see section history

Books Influenced by This Book edit see section history