This is a very short novel I read in a couple of hours. In spare simple prose, it begins at the end of 83-year old Eddie's life, the first chapter tells us about the last hour of his life. It's his birthday, but he's working at the job he's had for decades at Ruby Pier amusement park maintaining the rides.
The rest of the book, as detailed in the title, deals with the five people he meets in Heaven. The purpose of heaven, we're told, "is for understanding your life on Earth." Each person represents a turning point in his life. In between each encounter we get episodes from his birthdays over the decades--his life as a boy and his complicated relationship with his father, as a soldier in World War II, as a husband to his beloved wife Marguerite--and his life working at the Amusement park. Each person provides a lesson in fate, sacrifice, forgiveness, love and redemption.
I guess I can see why this was a bestseller and why many might have found it moving. Even I had a moment when I felt a chill run down my spine. But in the end I find this too sentimental and sappy, too Hallmark in its lessons. I feel that any emotion we feel is because we read into it our own experiences of loss and regret, rather than feeling for Eddie. I felt almost embarrassed I read it to the end.
