Title: The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
Author: Mitch Albom
Published by: Harper
Published on: 9 October 2018
Pages: 224
First loves often remain in the heart, like plants that cannot grow in sunlight.
Remember Eddie? If you don't, I'll give you a clue. He was a mechanic in an amusement park called Ruby Pier who met five people in his afterlife. ;)
Next question: remember Annie? Now, Annie might not ring a bell as much as Eddie, but I assure you that her existence was why we got a masterpiece such as The Five People You Meet in Heaven. She was the reason Eddie was led to meet those five people in the afterlife. She was the little girl Eddie saved from that fatal crash in Ruby Pier.
Now all grown up, Annie had no memory of the accident that left her scars. She had a hard time growing up, too. Her mother was often off with new boyfriends and she had strict rules set on her. On top of that, she was also haunted by what the truth of that memory loss might reveal. She was married to her sweetheart, though, and ready to go on her honeymoon. However, another accident came her way and like Eddie, she too woke up on the other side with five people waiting to tell her story of how her life had been.
One of them was Eddie.
EGGLYSIS
As you might have noticed in my glowing review of The Five People You Meet in Heaven, it was the first book of Mitch's that I read that made me fall in love with him. I daresay it was his magnum opus, though The Time Keeper was quite underrated.
The Next Person You Meet in Heaven follows more or less the same formula as its predecessor. But with all its nostalgic gems, it doesn't hold up well. Annie's backstory doesn't breathe and live as much as Eddie's, and I think the only time I was excited was when it was finally's Eddie's turn to meet her. It was very emotional, and the plot got better from that point on. I do love the twist at the end, though, as it packs more emotional punch to Annie's story.
Overall, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven...
留言