The Five People You Meet in Heaven combines magical realism and metaphysical fiction in a way that never fails to drive interest in classrooms. It offers the perfect introduction to magical realism and a fantastic opportunity to study foreshadowing, imagery, symbolism, and other literary devices in a short book that is readable by students at all levels of high school.

Mitch Albom's novel is a great addition to a unit on the value of family, forgiveness, love, and sacrifice, as well as the emotional impact of death and loss. The main character Eddie accidentally letting Tala die compared to saving the little girl at the amusement park calls for a fascinating discussion about redemption and purpose: Was Eddie supposed to die in order to make up for his past mistakes?

It is important to note that, despite the fact that the main character Eddie is dead for most of the book, The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a novel about life. Albom explores connectivity, that lives touch one another, and that human existence is simply one big life; these are powerful, deep ideas, surely applicable to the student experiences beyond the classroom and, thus, important to discuss and reflect upon.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

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Summary of The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Key Facts

• Publication Date: 2003
• Length: 196 pages
• Lexile Measure: 780
• Recommended Grade Band: 9-10
• Number 16 of Waterstone's Top 25 Books of the Last 25 Years (2007)
• New York Times Bestseller (2003)

Eddie is an 83-year-old man working at an amusement park, burdened by a war injury in his leg and disappointed in himself for not making a better living. During a ride malfunction on the day of his 83rd birthday, Eddie attempts to save the life of a little girl who is about to be crushed by the ride. He dies immediately, not knowing whether or not he was able to save her. After he dies, Eddie experiences flashbacks to past birthdays and encounters with important people from the different times of his life, all of which inspire him to self-reflect and to understand his purpose.

What Your Students Will Love About The Five People You Meet in Heaven

• The inspiration to ponder existence and the purpose of living
• Several interesting characters with unique qualities and depth

Potential Student Struggles With The Five People You Meet in Heaven

• The number of characters to keep track of

Learning Objectives for The Five People You Meet in Heaven

• Make connections between the life of Eddie and the lives of students.
• Identify the author's purpose or message of the text.
• Analyze the ways in which irony and foreshadowing help build suspense.
• Recognize literary devices used in the text, including allusions, personification, metaphors, and similes.
• Study character relationships and how one character may directly or indirectly affect another.
• Trace the motif of coincidence in the story.
• Identify themes of the novel and evaluate how they are developed throughout the course of the text.

Literary Elements in The Five People You Meet in Heaven

• Allusion
• Foreshadowing
• Imagery
• Irony
• Metaphor
• Parallelism
• Personification
• Symbolism
• Third Person Omniscient Narrator
• And more!

Major Themes in The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Love — The text of this novel emphasizes love's powerful effects on an individual's thoughts and decisions.

Related Works:

• Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare
• The English Patient, by Michael Ondaatje
• The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

Sacrifice — In presenting Eddie’s death as the catalyst of the story, Albom explores the idea of sacrifice: Can death serve a purpose?

Related Works:

• Beloved, by Toni Morrison
• A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
• For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway

Forgiveness — Specifically, The Five People You Meet in Heaven deals with the burden of guilt and, eventually, the ability to forgive oneself.

Related Works:

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis
• The Bronze Bow, by Elizabeth George Speare
• Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo

Other Resources for The Five People You Meet in Heaven

• A TV movie version of the novel premiered in 2004. It was nominated for a Primetime Emmy and has very few differences from the book. Albom wrote the screenplay, and, according to his website, the film was the most-watched TV movie of the year. Viewership reached 18.6 million.(Watch the trailer)
• The official Educator's Guide on Mitch Albom's website
• An interview with Mitch Albom
• A blogger's book-to-movie comparison

Order The Five People You Meet in Heaven Resources from Prestwick House

This free guide was originally posted in January 2016. It has been updated as of March 2021.