Review: ‘The Five People You Meet in Heaven’, Mitch Albom

First ever book review, weird. To be honest, I rarely read other people’s reviews. I don’t want their impression of the book to impact mine before I’ve even started. So I’m thinking of these more as recommendations, and I promise I will try not to contaminate your potential view with my own. (And that’s a definite first for this place.)

The novel I started with was Mitch Albom’s The Five People You Meet in Heaven, which I think I was given; I found it in a bag of books I lent Isobel for school When she returned it, she said the book was mine so I think someone in my family must have picked it up somewhere then passed it on – which is quite fitting because the story is about an elderly gentleman named Eddie, who dies on his birthday trying to save a child in an accident. When he gets to heaven he learns that everyone there meets five people you knew in life, all of whom are linked to you and who help explain your life. That’s nothing that’s not on the blurb – don’t worry, I won’t spoil anything.

In a nutshell, I do in fact recommend it. I’d never heard of the author and had no idea what to expect, although with stories about existential crises, death and/or philosophy, you can guess that the content might not always be a barrel of laughs, or align with your personal spiritual (lack of) beliefs. It’s not a particularly sad book though, and nor is it particularly preachy. All in all, if you like stories about normal people, big life questions and/or a few twists and turns, head to your local library or independent bookshop now!

Okay now let me know if this was a terrible review and/or recommendation and/or if you’ll read it! You can pledge to support me on Patreon every time I review a book here.