the five people you meet in heaven; Mitch Albom

Shortest book I've read so far this year.  I took this one down in less than two hours.  I almost wish it hadn't been that easy.

It's interesting how many of the books I've read this year have some sort of perception of God or heaven as a huge part of them.  This did.  I don't think heaven is going to be like this, because I think heaven is going to be blessedly free of self-concern.  I think we just get to worship and we don't have to particularly be worried about learning lessons anymore.

However.  That being said, the lessons in this book are fantastic.  I think the plot is interesting and interestingly conveyed.  I think the story is well-written.  I liked it a lot.  I cried.  Not that that's a huge thing.  Especially when I'm crying over cat food commercials where the kitty gets a home out of the rain storm.  Yeah.

So here's where you should stop reading if you want to read the book.  And not know anything else about it.

The main character dies pretty quickly.  That's not a real spoiler because you know this from the very first page.

He goes to "heaven" and has to meet a series of five people who each have to illuminate a piece of his life for him and teach him a lesson about what that really meant.

I really think the lessons were good.
#1 "It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect.  That death doesn't just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed."
Wow.  That is a fascinating idea.  It gives the idea, "it could have been me", a whole new sense of depth.  I'm not sure how biblical or divine this perspective is - I think it gives too much credence to the idea of chance, but I think it's important to think from another person's perspective.  To cherish life and to realize that we don't know God's plan.  We might have years or minutes, no one knows the hour of their death.  And it is important to mourn with those who mourn.  We are a community and we should support each other.

#2 "You don't get it.  Sacrifice is a part of life.  It's supposed to be.  It's not something to regret.  It's something to aspire to.  Little sacrifices.  Big sacrifices.  A mother works so her son can go to school.  A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father... That's the thing.  Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it.  You're just passing it on to someone else."

Beautifully said, Mitch.  This lesson is particularly dear to my heart because, for one, it is one of the cardinal traits of my husband's personality.  He believes in duty and sacrifice and doing what is right because it is right and no other reason.  People are shocked when they hear I agreed to move so far away from home when I married, but it seems like such a small sacrifice when compared with the joy I get from living and loving and supporting my husband.
We sacrifice around us all of the time.  It is so easy to think of sacrifice personified in the presence of an American soldier, and somehow to downplay it because it's talked about so much.  But sacrifice is important in all of us, true heroes and people who think they are just living the day to day.  And this book does a good job of putting that concept on display.

#3 "Holding anger is a poison.  It eats you from inside.  We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us.  But hatred is a curved blade.  And the harm we do, we do to ourselves."

I can hold a grudge with the best of them.  I really can.  It was actually one of the things my dad really thought Patrick should know before he married me.  I'll hold them longer if the word or deed was done against someone I loved than against myself, but that's not the point.  This quote is fantastic though.  So many of us won't let go of hurts, and they change the entire course of our lives.

#4 "Life has to end.  Love doesn't."

I don't really know what to say about this one.  It has to do with loving someone even after they've gone, but I've never really lost someone I loved.  Not really.  It makes me cry even to think about it, really.  But I believe love should be stronger than death, even if it changes form.

#5 I can't quote this one.  It's complicated.  But the thrust of it is that our lives have purpose.  Who we are and what we do is purposeful.

It's a beautiful thought that even through experiences that we think or horrible, or that bring us to a place where we don't necessarily want to be, a purpose is being worked out.  I think that's important too.

I was leery about this book, but I really did end up liking it a lot.  It is more than worth the short amount of time it takes to read.