*sniff*
So, I just finished “The Five People You Meet In Heaven”. I didn’t have high hopes, assuming it would be a fiction equivalent of the Chicken Soup for the X series of books. So not true. This is a really brilliant little book. It’s a quick read, just a couple hundred pages, but it’s just packed with all kinds of yummy wordy goodness.
The protagonist is a character named Eddie…and in the first chapter, he dies. The rest of the story weaves between the past of Eddie’s life, and the five people he meets in heaven that explain some of the events. The premise being that after you die, five people that you’ve impacted, or who have impacted your life, come forward to help you move past the death stage and into whatever stage follows it. The author never touches religion, which is interesting…and refreshing. And he avoids being maudlin or overly sentimental. Nor does he discuss what happens after you fulfill your role as one of “the five”.
It’s really a good read. Of course, I’ve been wandering around wondering who my five would be…and to whom I would be one of the five.
Note for the girls: Not a good PMS book…unless you’re shooting for that weepy hysteria that oft accompanies long-distance commercials during this time of month. 
I read this book shortly after my mom died and I found it very comforting. The writing bothered me a little – it reminded me syle-wise of “the Bridges of Madison County”, but I liked the ideas presented, it made me think, and most importantly, it brought me some measure of comfort. I cried, but it was a good kind of cry.
PS: I’m here via …
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear about your mom! I found myself thinking of all of the various friends and family I’ve lost over the years, and that made me fairly weepy…but yeah, you’re right, it was a good weepy…sort of a cleansing weepy. And I adore gracefruit, any friend of hers, is surely a friend of mine that I just haven’t met yet.