The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapters 6-7

Chapters 8-9

Chapters 10-11

Chapters 12-13 and Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

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Discussion Questions

Chapters 1-3Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “The End”

Eddie works on his 83rd birthday at Ruby Pier, an amusement park near the ocean. He maintains the rides, vigilantly preventing accidents that have occurred at other parks. Eddie has worked at Ruby Pier for so long that many of the customers know him by name, especially the children who refer to him as Eddie Maintenance because of the patch on his uniform shirt. Eddie recalls how Ruby Pier looked when he was a child and remembers being a soldier, the source of his permanent limp. He sits and gazes at the spot that once was the location of the Stardust Band Shell where he met his wife. He makes a pipe cleaner animal for a little girl he recognizes from previous days, Amy or Annie. Eddie’s day is interrupted by the screams of customers. He rushes to Freddy’s Free Fall, a ride that drops two cars down a steep tower. Somehow, one of the cars has come loose at the top. Eddie instructs Dominguez, his coworker, to climb up to the top and have the ride operator manually release the safety belts so that they can get the riders out of the car. He tells Dominguez to then release the car so that it will fall to the bottom where they can perform maintenance. However, as Eddie runs the workings of the ride through his head, he realizes that the cable is unraveling. Unbeknownst to him, a boy named Nicky, lost his car key on the ride weeks ago and it is rubbing against the cable. If they drop it, the brakes will not stop it. Eddie tries to warn Dominquez, but the crowd noise drowns his voice out. As the car begins to fall, Eddie realizes the child, Amy or Annie, is in the way. He rushes toward her and feels “two small hands” (18) in his own.

Snapshot 1 Summary: “Today is Eddie’s Birthday”

Eddie’s father is escorted to the nursery to see Eddie for the first time.

Chapter 2 Summary: “The Journey”

Eddie does not see the events that lead to his death. Instead, he floats for a while, his thoughts on the little girl he was trying to save. He floats in water that constantly changes color. He realizes he is free of pain and worry.

Snapshot 2 Summary: “Today is Eddie’s Birthday”

It is Eddie’s fifth birthday, and his mother has organized a party at Ruby Pier. He wears his gifts, a cowboy hat and a toy holster. Mickey Shea, a coworker of his father at Ruby Pier, holds Eddie upside down and counts to five. Mickey calls it birthday bumps. Later, Eddie’s mother walks with him on the pier and tells him God is proud of him for being good on his birthday.

Chapter 3 Summary: “The Arrival”

Eddie wakes in a teacup at Ruby Pier. It is not the Ruby Pier he left, but the Ruby Pier of his childhood. His body no longer feels heavy and there is no pain. He can run for the first time in 60 years. Eddie hears a voice when he approaches the sideshow tent. He goes inside and realizes it is the barker speaking, but he cannot find anyone. The voice suddenly stops, and Eddie discovers a man with distinctive blue skin sitting on the stage. The man says he has been waiting for Eddie.

Chapters 1-3 Analysis

The novel is written in the third-person omniscient point of view. Information is given from the very first sentence that makes it clear the plot is organized and will be told in a linear fashion. However, the timeline is not traditional. The story is introduced with the phrase, “it begins at the end” (1). The story begins with the death of the main character in a chapter called The End. Death is often the end of a story, but in this case, it is just the beginning.

Birthdays are an important theme in the novel. The novel begins on Eddie’s 83rd birthday and gives the reader snapshots of Eddie’s life through events that took place on his birthday. This begins with Eddie’s birth and his father coming to see him for the first time. Eddie’s father was not in the delivery room as was common in the 1920s, so his first look at his second-born son is through the nursery window. Eddie’s father smiles, expressing pleasure at the sight. On Eddie’s fifth birthday, he is at Ruby Pier, the same place where he worked most of his adult life and where he died. It is revealed that Eddie’s father also worked at the pier, suggesting the pier has been a part of Eddie’s life since he was a small child. Another character, Mickey Shea, is also introduced in this section, foreshadowing his involvement in Eddie’s life as it unfolds.

Eddie spends the last hour of his life working at Ruby Pier and thinking about the past. He remembers being a soldier and damaging his leg, leaving him with a permanent limp. He remembers meeting his wife. He recalls all the children he has met and the many interactions he had with them. All these things foreshadow important moments of Eddie’s life that will play an important role in the lessons he will learn as he meets five important people after his death.