This year I have set myself the challenge to read 52 books in 2022 or one book a week. This is a decent challenge but I am very excited about it!
Number 19 was The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, one of my favorite writers.
I love Mitch Albom as a writer, he writes in a quirky and personal style and though lots of his books deal with death, they are never depressing, but always full of emotions.
This book is actually part 2 and the sequel to The Five People You Meet In Heaven
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The Five People You Meet in Heaven is one of my favorite books of all time. It tells the story of Eddie, a maintenance man who dies, trying to save a little girl from a defective amusement park ride. After he dies he meets 5 people who have had a lasting impact on his life, and he on his, though often he was not aware of that at the time.
Fast forward to the sequel the girl that Eddie saved has grown up. Annie had lasting scars from the accident and a troublesome childhood, but has now found the love of her life. Though on the day of her wedding Annie finds herself on a journey after life and will now meet 'her' five people in heaven.
The people she meets will not only make her understand her own childhood and traumas, but will also reunite her with Eddie, who saved her all those years ago.
What I love about Albom's books is that they speak of the most difficult subject: death, but always in such a loving, but also normal way that it doesn't become too intense. I would quite like to imagine a meeting with 5 people in heaven who help me realize what my life truly meant.
That being said, I do have to admit that the sequel is not as good as the first book. This is mostly because the main character is less lovable, more prickly and because some of the story towards the end becomes a bit cliché. As often with sequels it doesn't quite live up to the standard set by the first book. However, it is still worth a read, but I would mostly advice to read the first book: The Five People You Meet in Heaven.
Have you been reading anything fun lately? I am looking for recommendations for my summer reading!
Somehow I was never able to read Mitch Albom, nor "The Shack," nor Prayer of Jabez, nor Secrets of (?), nor any of those best sellers that exhort us to believe in something Big and Above and Beyond. But I have been reading all kinds of other things, in particular, native plants and gardening stuff, like Sara Stein's "Noah's Garden" (come to find she died of lung cancer at age 69, in 2005), and Doug Tallamy's homegrown national park stuff, Rosemary Gladstone's book of herbal remedies, and a lot of Christian books, all promising to prove that the Bible is true and Jesus will welcome us to heaven if only we choose to believe all those promises of the New Testament. So far, not one apologist, ever, has convinced me that the Bible is any more credible than any other text - Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, you name it. Jesus was a Jew, but nowhere in the Bible do I see that he turned from Judaism to a new religion welcoming Gentiles and pagans, provided they convert.... my mom says OF COURSE Jesus is real... my next TBR (to-be-read) ARC (Advance Reader Copy) is about plastic surgeons who tried cosmetic improvements to prisoners to see if looking more attractive would make them nicer people. This one might be interesting.
Thanks for the review! It is now featured on the Next Person You Meet in Heaven - by Mitch Albom (Hardcover) page.
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