The Five People You Meet In Heaven

A friend of mine told me the other day that she had just finished reading "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" by Mitch Albom, and that the book reminded her of me. Of course, I was instantly intrigued, having heard of this book in passing, but not having thought much about it until this weekend.

When we got home from my grandparents' house, I immediately went online to check and see if the library had it. They do, but when Kaile and I went downtown to retrieve it, we were disheartened to find that it was closed for the holiday. We went home and I thought perhaps I could find the audiobook online somewhere. No dice. I did, however, find a streaming movie adaptation of the book, where apparently the screenplay was written by the author himself. It was beautifully done. John Voight does a superb job, and his supporting cast is equally brilliant.

I won't ruin the story by trying to retell any of it; it really does need to be experienced by each person on his/her own. But I will say this: I am not a crier, as a rule. I cried four or five times throughout the film, and then sobbed for a good long time at the end. Some of it was sadness, but most of it was a mixture of positive emotional overload and very personal identification and understanding. Also factored in, of course, is the statement made by my friend that the story reminds her of me.

I'm still planning to read the book; movies aren't spoilers for me. I like the journey to the conclusion of the story just as well as the ending itself.

Regardless, I HIGHLY recommend seeing this movie. I'll add more to this once I've read the book.

1/19/10:
I have read the book now. I found a free .pdf version of it, and so I read it. It's remarkably close to the movie, I assume because the screenplay was written by the book's author. Neither the book nor the movie depletes its counterpart. Someone said they felt the book was awful, and perhaps if it's read to be just a bit of entertainment, then that person might be correct. If read for the purpose of learning something of life and death, however, I think that it provides a unique and enlightened perspective on those subjects and is well worth taking the little bit of time required to read it.