I read “Tuesdays with Morrie” a few years ago and was not impressed. It was gushy, mushy, sappy, cheesy, corny—whatever you want to call it, it oozed superfluous emotion and scurrilous wisdom, in the irritating “old dying man gives advice” package. It was, in a word, trite.
“The Five People You Meet In Heaven” is certainly a project along the same lines: Albom, seemingly as a career goal, wishes to give religion to people who are uncomfortable with religion. He’s basically a one-man pop guru, dispensing life advice with a heavy coating of secularism, and, as such, it’s nothing we haven’t heard before: treasure those you love. Look out for beauty. Follow the Golden Rule. Blah blah blah.
Yet, and I hate to admit it, I thought “The Five People You Meet In Heaven” was far better than “Tuesdays With Morrie,” although not quite good, per se. This is, of course, Albom playing his same song, but, like a piano-playing child progressing from the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” to playing the same song with chords, there’s an improvement. Basically, where “Tuesdays with Morrie,” was an irritating, self-righteous memoir, saturated in Albom’s own voice, telling his own experiences, “The Five People” is a novel, and, in it, Albom has learned the best lesson of all writing: show, don’t tell. Instead of telling us to treasure relationships, he shows us, through the guide of Eddie and his wife, Marguerite. Instead of telling us we are all connected, he shows us, through the chain of people Eddie meets in heaven, each of them having played a critical role somewhere in Eddie’s life.
And, actually, it’s a good message, and the execution isn’t half bad. The prose is nothing special, but it doesn’t distract from Albom’s goal. Maybe I was just exhausted from traveling through the night before, but I was, almost, touched. If you have to read one Albom work—and, as far as I’m concerned, they’re interchangeable, message-wise—read this one. At least you’ll get a decent story in the bargain.
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