"All endings are beginnings. We just don't know it at the time..."Eddie is a grizzled war veteran who feels trapped in a meaningless life of fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. As the park has changed over the years -- from the Loop-the-Loop to the Pipeline Plunge -- so, too, has Eddie changed, from optimistic youth to embittered old age. His days are a dull routine of work, loneliness, and regret.
Then, on his 83rd birthday, Eddie dies in a tragic accident, trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. With his final breath, he feels two small hands in his -- and then nothing. He awakens in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a lush Garden of Eden, but a place where your earthly life is explained to you by five people who were in it. These people may have been loved ones or distant strangers. Yet each of them changed your path forever.
One by one, Eddie's five people illuminate the unseen connections of his earthly life. As the story builds to its stunning conclusion, Eddie desperately seeks redemption in the still-unknown last act of his life: Was it a heroic success or a devastating failure? The answer, which comes from the most unlikely of sources, is as inspirational as a glimpse of heaven itself.
This rare glimpse into the life of heaven is a wonderful tale of the people who impact our lives in so many ways.
Following after Sum: Forty Tale from the Afterlives, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a quick read and a wonderful transition into the realm of heaven.
As you read The Five People You Meet in Heaven here are a few questions to think about:
- Which person did you think had the most influence on Eddie's life?
- Why do you think these particular 5 five were chosen to show Eddie his life?
- Who would your five people be? Why those five?
- If you could only thank five people who have significantly impacted your life who would they be and why?
How is the reading coming along for everyone? Any thoughts so far?
ReplyDeleteI finished with his first 2 people. I don't really understand what influence the 'blue' man had in his life. Unless I read that part too long ago and forgot (I've been reading a lot of things inbetween reading this book). His army captain had a very big influence not only him personally but how the war changed how he lived life.
ReplyDeleteAs I read about Eddie's five people, I kept changing my mind about which one had the greatest influence and why. Finally, when I got to the fifth person, Tala, and the epilogue, all the pieces began to fall into place for me. I believe that Tala is the most important of Eddie's five people because she was a shadow presence during his life and she helps Eddie both at the time of and after his death, to see what his life purpose was, to forgive himself for her (Tala's) death, to learn that he saved the little girl on the day of his own death and to gain a vision of how we are all connected.
ReplyDeleteEach of the other four were important as well because they served as teachers and guides for Eddie during his life. And, after his death, they provided him with new information and a different perspective about his life.
In choosing who my own five people would be, I find myself stopped at four. They are my mother and father, my oldest brother and an uncle. My parents and my brother, Malcolm, taught me to love and live in peace. My uncle Ralph taught me to follow my dreams and provided me with the wherewithal to do it.
My fifth person remains a mystery to me now, but I'm sure that, like Eddie, I may just be very surprised to realize who that fifth person is.
Florence Hunt
I liked this book and could relate a little better to it then the previous book.
ReplyDeleteI think Tala and Eddie's wife were equally important in shaping who Eddie was. Tala (in a way) destroyed Eddie (he was never fully alive to pursue his dreams and aspirations) even though it was absolutely no fault of hers. And her explanations tied his life together.
Marguerite saved Eddie from totally getting lost in his self. By having that deep love and trust he was able to hold on to his life. And even though he didn't truly realize it after Marguerites death, the children at the pier replaced his happiness he had found with his wife.
My 5 people? Humm...My Mom and Dad. My grandma had a very strong influence. She died June of '94 but I still miss her very much and think of her often. She also helped raise my when I was young. My aunt has influenced my by her work ethic, how physically and mentally strong women can be. And like the blue man, there has and maybe will be people influencing me that I don't even know about. Like maybe Deon and others from St. Paul's. :)