The 21st Annual Book Report Competition
for Secondary School Students
The Distinction of English Junior Section
Name of Award Student
Name of School
Title of Book Read
Author
Publisher
: Ngan Sze Ting
: Diocesan Girls’ School
: The Five People You Meet in Heaven
: Mitch Albom
: Timer Warner Books
Heaven is a word without a precise definition. Everyone conceives his or her
own interpretation of the word with infinite imagination. Before reading “the five
people you meet in Heaven”, heaven in my perspective is a serene place where we
laze on clouds and savor the scenic below. However, my preconceived ideas about
heaven changed entirely after reading the inspirational fiction; the author- Mitch
Albom has adequately illustrated to the readers his distinctive version of heaven, one
more than sole scenery, one where you find a treasure chest of life values and morals.
“All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time,” wrote Mitch
Albom. The story began with a tragic ending, when Eddie, a maintenance worker at
an amusement park, was only minutes away from his imminent death. The “ending”
was appealingly portrayed with a countdown of how ignorantly Eddie had spent his
last moments doing his monotonous routines as if his days were enduring.
Then it had all happened in a flash. Eddie vaguely remembered himself trying to
save a little girl from a falling cart of the Ferris wheel. But before Eddie could figure
out what was happening, he arrived at the last place he and I had expected- heaven.
The story became most disillusioning when it truly unfolded itself. Sequentially,
Eddie encountered five individuals who were crucial to his life- the Blue Man, the
Captain, Ruby, his wife Marguerite and Tala. They might be Eddie’s old friends, his
loved one, or strangers Eddie had never met or heard of. However, in the most
unexpected ways, all lives intersect. Every single one of the five people had an
imperative role in Eddie’s life, even though he might not know it. Stories were told by
the five characters from experience, and they served to help Eddie understand the true
meaning of his life and have it explained.
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Through the five people’s sharing, Eddie learnt about the power of sacrificing
and forgiving, the mental destruction caused by hatred and jealousy, why he lived and
what he lived for. It was then when he broke through years of agony and
misunderstanding, finally achieving eternal peace and amenity.
Eddie’s world was full of chains of “if”s. Every “if” was linked together by
Eddie’s fate. I understood that things happened by more than mere coincidence.
Literally, all the ‘if’s would make no difference. What was done was done. What
happened had happened. Eddie’s past was behind him. The best thing for Eddie was
not to look back. The same is for every one of us. We should free ourselves from the
bounds of the past and look ahead optimistically into the future.
Life value is one of the most important lessons that I have learnt from the book.
When Eddie learnt that the Blue Man, the first person he met, had died because of him,
he reacted instinctively with guilt and remorse. Contrarily, the Blue Man acted calmly
towards his own death. This was because the Blue Man had already understood the
true meaning behind life and death from another five people he had met earlier. I
learnt that death is not a waste of life. It keeps another person alive so as to keep the
balance between life and death. People had died because of Eddie, and yet Eddie had
died for the good of the little girl he had saved. As Mitch Albom wrote- “One withers,
another grows”.
“The five people you meet in Heaven” also reminded me of a severe problem in
our society nowadays- committing suicide. Young people who are confused by
relationship problems or are thwarted by failures in life may think that they had
nothing to live for, and that death is the sole solution to all problems. However, that is
not so. I learnt that life is never meaningless as long as we have faith in hope and our
friends. We should understand how important we mean to people around us and how
much we are loved.
Moreover, this book has deeply penetrated me and has led me into deep
reflection of myself. After assimilating the morals hidden in the book, I learnt to
develop more that one perspective in looking at things. Eddie felt guilty of accusing
his father when he was shown what his father had gone through was a lot harsher than
Eddie had known. Eddie had always felt that his father had wronged him by being
harsh on him. However, Eddie had only considered one side of the story. Being taught
the healing power of forgiveness and empathy, he amended the collapsed bridge
between his father and himself.
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Throughout the book, Mitch Albom flashes back to Eddie’s past birthdays in
alternating chapters. This divulges the secrets in Eddie’s life and leads the readers to
trace his footsteps, from a blissful infant to a lonely old man, his life as a harshly
treated son, a loyal soldier, a reserved husband, so that we can grasp the encounters
Eddie experienced in his life and have a more comprehensive understanding towards
the character.
The part I like most in “the five people you meet in Heaven” is the Epilogue.
This chapter dealt with the future of the amusement park, Eddie, and the little girl he
had saved. Mitch Albom emphasized again on how life and death are part of the
whole, subtly ending the book by my favorite quotation- “the world is full of stories,
but the stories are all one.”
“The Five People You Meet In Heaven” is particularly edifying to those who feel
lost and confused by this sophisticated world. This book showers you with
tremendous ideas and advice about your life that will help you shape your character
and recuperate your attitude towards life and people around you. Genuinely, there are
no regrets in life, just lessons to be learnt.
Number of words: 973
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