The Five People You Meet In Heaven
A Somewhat Critical Review of Mitch Albom’s
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
I must admit that I am not much for reading fiction. In fact, the last fiction book I read was probably in high school when I was assigned a book report on To Kill a Mockingbird.
But Albom’s book was interesting to me because it involves the topic of heaven. Even though fiction is fiction (just made up), it often carries themes and ideas that people will accept as truth. For that reason, I thought I would read the book and comment on how it might influence readers.
I am a follower of Jesus Christ who tries to live by what the Bible says. That’s where I’m coming from in this review. However, I think Christians can be very judgmental sometimes toward works not from Christian writers or artists. We must keep in mind that this book is fiction and is not claimed as truth by its author. In fact, as you will read later, I think there are some great lessons found in Albom’s book.
So how might this book influence the reader? Let’s review it!
CLEANLINESS
By cleanliness, I am referring to the typical things parents would look for in movies before allowing their kids to watch- language, sex, drugs, etc. Albom’s book contains at least twelve uses of profane words, and at least once uses the Lord’s name in vain. There are no sexual references or joking even of a sexual nature. Alcohol use is mentioned throughout parts of the story, but it is referred to in a way that makes it out to be a poor decision.
THE WRITING STYLE
I have never read any of Albom’s books, but I did enjoy reading this book because its style of writing. This might be one of the reasons the book was on the New York Times bestseller list. He writes in a way that flashes back to different periods of the main character’s life then returns the reader to the current time period. He uses the flashbacks to explain the current state of the main character in such a way that by the end of the book, all things become clear and connected. The style of writing was so smooth and easy to read through that it enabled me to read it rather quickly.
A NOTE ON HEAVEN
Albom’s book does not represent heaven according to the Bible. First off, there is no indication that the main character or any of the people he meets in heaven are born-again believers in Jesus Christ. Therefore, the main character or others would never have actually reached heaven. If the reader can get beyond this, then he might enjoy the lessons learned from the story.
A wrong view of heaven is found on page 35: “…and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.” According to Scripture, this is not the point of heaven. Heaven is for those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord to live eternally with and in worship of their Savior. There is no indication in Scripture of heaven being a place to reflect on your life on earth.
Another wrong view of heaven is found on page 47: “But now I gotta pay…For my sin. That’s why I’m here, right? Justice?” I am not sure what could be farther from the truth than this view of heaven. This was spoken in the story by the main character, although he received an answer similar to the view I wrote about in the previous paragraph of heaven being a place to reflect on life on earth.
There are a couple other references to heaven in the book that represent heaven incorrectly, and if these views are going to be understood as truth by the reader, then the reader needs to take extreme caution with this book. Remember, this is a fictional work. But if this fictional work becomes truth, we will have problems.
I would recommend that readers of this book go through a Biblical study of heaven before reading Albom’s book so they are not confused as to what is truth.
KEY LESSONS FROM THIS BOOK
CAUTION: IF YOU READ THIS SECTION, YOU WILL SPOIL A MAJOR PART OF THE STORY!!
Despite the inaccurate view of heaven, Albom’s book does teach some great lessons. Eddie, the main character, goes to heaven after his death in the first chapter. He meets five people in heaven who were each aprt of his life on earth. Each one teaches him something about his life that he was not aware of. The lessons from these characters match the view of heaven prevalent in this book–that heaven is a place to reflect and make sense of life on earth.
The lessons taught by these people are great lessons we all could learn from. Although I will not summarize each story, let me summarize each lesson.
Person One- the lesson here was that everything we do in our lives has an impact on someone, even when we don’t know it.
Person Two- Sacrifice is supposed to be a part of life. Some profound things are said about sacrificing for others:
“That’s the thing. Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re really not losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.” (pg. 94)
“I shot you, all right,” he said, “and you lost something, but you gained something as well. You just don’t know it yet. I gained something, too.”
“What?”
“I got to keep my promise. I didn’t leave you behind.” (pg. 94)
Person three: “Learn this from me. Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from the 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.” (pg. 141) This quote summarizes the lesson of this person.
Person four: the lesson here is how important love is between a man and his wife. Eddie recalls his life with his wife since she is the fourth person he meets in heaven.
Person five: I did not find as much of a lesson from the last person as another reader might. This person was a great character to tie up one of the unknowns of Eddie’s life. It showed him that he was right at one point in his life at following his natural instinct to help someone even though it could have cost him much.
MY CONCLUSION
The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a well written book that will entrance the reader because of its style and plot twists. It is captivating to learn the lessons taught to the main character to see how they apply to the reader’s life. But it contains inaccurate views of heaven that will mislead people if those views are accepted as truth. As with anything, it should be read with discernment and be compared to the truth-Scripture.
Please comment on this review to add to this discussion if it interests you.
