The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
Mitch Albom
Harper
224 Pages
A book with a genuine power to stir and comfort its readers" – New York Times
So reads the blurb on a copy of The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom (2003), which I recently purchased after getting a review copy of its just released sequel, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven. I had to go back to the beginning lest I miss out on anything.
But, I realised as I moved from part one to two, I need not have done so, as Albom explains the basics of the story for the benefit of new readers. His franchise is based on "just one of the many ideas about heaven", where heaven is not a garden but an opportunity to understand life on earth better. "This novel is a wish, not a dogma, a desire that loved ones like [my uncle] Eddie finds the peace that eluded them on earth, and realise how much we all affect one another, every day of this precious life," he writes in his author notes.
The Five People You Meet in Heaven had begun with the protagonist dying: "But all endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time." Eddie dies trying to save a little girl Annie from a falling cart at Ruby Pier, the amusement park where he worked. What follows is Eddie's journey into the seemingly unknown as he meets the five people who had an impact on his life, one way or the other – a Blue Man; his captain from the war; the owner of Ruby Pier, Ruby; his wife Marguerite; and Tala. The book ends with several unanswered questions, even as Eddie reunites with the love of his life: was his sacrifice successful, did he manage to save little Annie from the cart?
These questions are answered within the first few pages of The Next Person You Meet in Heaven. Annie, now grown up and a registered nurse, is the protagonist here. All her life, Annie had moved from one 'mistake' to another until she commits a final one – a tragedy barely 24 hours after marrying her childhood sweetheart Paulo. Later, she embarks on a journey similar to Eddie's, of meeting the five people who had an impact on her life.
As Annie makes one mistake after another, readers can predict who she will meet next – even the last person doesn't come as a surprise because you know where the story is going. In contrast, I was taken aback when I reached the last person in the first part, and watched all of Eddie's fears come to life.
The Next Person You Meet in Heaven (left); and Mitch Albom
The premise of Albom's book is endearing. Humans are always seeking answers to questions about our existence – what happens when we die, is there an afterlife, and will we then get the answers we've been asking all our lives, and was our time on earth worth it?
Through Annie, and Eddie before her, readers seek answers to their own questions. The people they meet aren't all that different – someone who indirectly saved their life, someone who changed the course of their way, someone they dearly love(d), and someone they can't forgive.
It is the last category that tugs at your heart. In both Annie and Eddie's cases, it is their parent – an unexplained and distressing relationship through the years. It is in these heart-wrenching chapters that one realises that there is not always enough time – sometimes, you won't get to say anything. More so because who knows if Albom's version of heaven is true.
Forgiveness is one of the themes of the storyline – apart from sacrifice and love – that stood out for me.
The concepts in the two books are the same, as are the struggles of the protagonists, yet it is the earlier book that is more engrossing. If you are a Mitch Albom reader, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven is a short, wholesome read. But it is a bit of a drag, unlike The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
