Book Review: The Five People you meet in Heaven/The Next Person you meet in Heaven

*Minor spoilers will be revealed; this is your warning*

After I had finished reading Tuesdays with Morrie, I was obsessed with Mitch Albom and I wanted to read more of his books. (Link to that review at the bottom of this post). Mitch Albom knew how to make a good story feel personable and lively. When I was wandering through Target, I found out that he had released two fictional stories and that the sequel The Next Person you meet in Heaven, had just came out the previous year. I had loved the story that had made him famous in the first place, so I had to buy the fictional novels that he had written.

The Five People you meet in Heaven is about a war veteran named Eddie who lives a mundane life, working at a carnival. When a ride breaks down, he saves a little girl, sacrificing his own life. Heaven though, is not a magical place floating on the clouds with majestic angels and gleaming golden gates. Instead, Heaven is a place where five people who've impacted your life in some way or another, come back and teach you a lesson that you never learned. Once the five people meet you, you are finally accepted into Heaven, along with waiting for someone you will give advice to. In The Next Person you meet in Heaven, the girl he saved, Annie, has passed away and it's her turn to go through the journey that Eddie had.

I devoured the first book in 2-3 days. The first chapter was a little slow, but once Eddie had died, it became much more interesting. (not to sound heartless or anything) It gives you a different perspective on what Heaven is like than what we humans tend to think of or what we hear in church. For all we know, that could be what Heaven is really like. I loved the first book because it absolutely blew my expectations out of the water, so I was a little bit hesitant to read the sequel because I didn't want to be too let down. A lot of people who read the book had reviewed that it was boring because it followed the same formula as the first one, but the sequel was just as amazing as the first book. The same consensus as the first one, but the different people and a different perspective made it enjoyable. The Five People you meet in Heaven has 196 pages and The Next Person you meet in Heaven is slightly longer at 210 pages. For the fast readers, both books could easily be read within one day.

Once again, Mitch Albom knows how to put relevant advice that is helpful and will appeal to every age while still feeding the reader a worthy story. Lessons such as "Life may end, but love doesn't" and "No matter what you do in life, you are here for a reason" reminds us of all the little actions we take for granted and don't tend to think about every day. Those two little novels will remain on my bookshelves for a long time, probably until it's my turn to make the journey myself. At least, I'll be very well prepared.

Signed, 

Midwestern Redhead

Want to read my review on Tuesday's with Morrie? Copy the link below and paste in your searchbar!
https://redheadinthemidwest.blogspot.com/2018/08/book-review-tuesdays-with-morrie.html