The Next Person You Meet in Heaven: A Review
The sequel of “The Five People You Meet In Heaven” by Mitch Albom which is “The Next Person You Meet In Heaven” is focusing on Annie’s story which Eddie saved from Freddy’s Free Fall accident. The prequel focuses on meeting Eddie’s people that are important in his life and learning from the lessons of life. In this sequel, Annie saw and met people that are important in her life and learning her life and her story.
Warning: Some Spoilers ahead
It started the novel as Annie was married to Paolo and how she lives after the Freddy Free Fall incident. She lost her left hand in the incident and they repair her hand, she never remembered what happened in that incident because of trauma. She was a nurse in a hospital and she met Paolo for the first time since he left home when they were kids. She enjoyed being together with Paolo until they have an accident in the hot air balloon that will choose their lives between life and death. Annie will spare her life to save her husband from near-death by being the donor of his lung. She went from heaven and met her five people just like Eddie did. She met the first person which was a doctor that saved her hand and her life, the doctor who experienced Annie’s incident that broke his limb. The second person she met in heaven was a human version of her pet dog, Cleo. She embodied the woman who caretakes dogs and she took care of young Annie from ups and downs despite her hand.
The third person she met in heaven was her mother. Her mother explained why she is not a good mother over Annie that made her hate her mother and going by her first boyfriend, Walt. Annie told her secret that she has a baby with her first husband before meeting Paolo and her baby died because his lungs are not yet developed. Annie accepted and forgave her mother for the first time. The fourth person she met in heaven is Eddie, the one who saved Annie from Freddie’s Free Fall and the main character in the first novel. He explains his story like he met five people in his life and asking each of them if Annie was alive. He explains fully Freddy’s Fall accident that Eddie’s life was put to an end and knowing his purpose on his job, protecting kids. The last person she met in heaven was her husband, Paolo. Annie realized that he died before she could save him. She woke up from the hospital, knowing that her husband died. Although the ending is a sad one, it replaces it with a happy one as she had a daughter named Giovanna.
This book gives lessons that will remember that life gives you beautiful scenery. The author gives the idea of fiction meets reality, which means that it gives the lives of the people and how people’s lives revolve around family and love. In this novel, it has also plot twists, like instead of Annie being dead and living peacefully in heaven yet it is her husband who died, the backstory of Annie, and Eddie’s apparition to Annie’s wedding. The overall plot is perfect in that it embodies the person’s life and how the main character experiences a mental breakdown or suffering that will go through the rising action gradually changing to a happy ending. However, this sometimes gives the conflict between fiction and reality that people think that this will happen when we die and learning something from other people who is important in our lives. The author tells us how people can show their true and light self to other people despite the hatred and regret that the world offered to us. This novel gives the realization of the people that life is beautiful and people can move lives. This novel gives another perfect storyline and inspiring one like his prequel of this novel.
I recommend this novel to everyone because it is not only can make you cry but it makes you inspire that life is a beautiful thing to happen. It gives you that every day is a blessing just like in this novel. This can be an inspiration to us that there is light in every tunnel we face in.
Image from the GoodReads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38718233-the-next-person-you-meet-in-heaven
