The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

Synopsis:
Part melodrama and part parable, Mitch Albom's The Five People You Meet in Heaven weaves together three stories, all told about the same man: 83-year-old Eddie, the head maintenance person at Ruby Point Amusement Park. As the novel opens, readers are told that Eddie, unsuspecting, is only minutes away from death as he goes about his typical business at the park. Albom then traces Eddie's world through his tragic final moments, his funeral, and the ensuing days as friends clean out his apartment and adjust to life without him. In alternating sections, Albom flashes back to Eddie's birthdays, telling his life story as a kind of progress report over candles and cake each year. And in the third and last thread of the novel, Albom follows Eddie into heaven where the maintenance man sequentially encounters five pivotal figures from his life (a la A Christmas Carol). Each person has been waiting for him in heaven, and, as Albom reveals, each life (and death) was woven into Eddie's own in ways he never suspected. Each soul has a story to tell, a secret to reveal, and a lesson to share. Through them Eddie understands the meaning of his own life even as his arrival brings closure to theirs.

My Review:
It took me a while to get through this book even though it’s short. I loved “Tuesdays with Morrie” and thought I would love this book too but this one does not even compare. I think I was not invested in the story or the characters and I just felt a level of detachment. To be fair I do not think I was in the mood for this type of a book when I started reading it. But at the same time no matter what I am feeling I want the book to engage me and I had to force myself to finish this one. I am sure big Mitch Albom fans will find it interesting but I was disappointed.