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The five people you meet in heaven, by Mitch Albom.

Happened to find the pdf version of this book somewhere. I skimmed through the first few pages, where the author starts the story with “the end”(which reminded me of the same trick played in the movie Happy Ending). Then I was more than determined to read the book after reading Dongshixisu’s review. I’d like to quote one sentence: this book is of…manageable size, a good concept and superficial. Didn’t know Mitch was the author of Tuesday With Morrie…well, seems he is really fond of writing about life’s great lessons.

So, five people in heaven(of course dead ones…representing 5 stages of life), with five great lessons to teach(we know that…love, sacrifice, life…) , altogether make five stories weaved into one small book telling the life-long-story of Eddie, the protagonist, who died on his 83rd birthday trying to save one little girl from an accident in an amusement park where he worked maintenance. SORRY I had to make it a LONG sentence-,-. The story starts from the day Eddie dies, then he meet those 5 people in heaven, who one by one illuminate his life by showing him what happened to his life, by helping him to view his life from totally different angles.

“People think of heaven as a paradise garden, a place where they can float on clouds and laze in rivers and mountains. But scenery without solace is meaningless.”
Hmmm, Mitch does have a unique point of view on HEAVEN.

Of the five people, I like the first and third ones together with their stories most.
The first man is “the Blue Man”, whose skin is blue and works as a “performer” in the sideshow: sitting on the stage, half undressed to show his bluish skin as people walk past and the barker tells them how pathetic and freaky he is. This reminded me of the “elephant man”, a book I first read in highschool and then watched the movie years later. These “freaks” lead dreadful lives.. I’ll never have the guts to step inside to watch such a kind of sideshow…even the thoughts of ugly, distorted men make me uncomfortable.

The reason why he is connected to Eddie is a little bit affected, I really think the author is not quite “creative” here giving a clumsy story pulling the two characters together(I won’t elaborate about the story anyway). But this is the one I like best simply because of the clumsy coincidence in life, of the unpredictability, and of his perspectives on death.
Then comes Eddie’s Captain at war, teaching us (Eddie and ME…) about sacrifice;
then the old lady Ruby…it’s a long story…hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us… -,-forgiveness;

then Eddie’s beloved wife Marguerite teaching US about LOVE;

then at last one five-year-old girl who was killed by Eddie when he was at war, teaching us….i can’t say what exactly it is…@_@ okay you will find out if you read it.

The author might’ve got tired of writing the last two stories coz compared to the former three ones, (or maybe it was me tired of reading?), those last two are obviously much weaker and simpler and powerless, and superficially shorter, as if he was in a hurry to finish his work. I couldn’t help noticing this:(maybe he just ran out of ink-,-

Anyway, again, a beautifully written little book, you will find yourself moved at certain scenes and paragraphs in it

If a body meet a body, coming through the rye
If a body kiss a body, need a body cry?

You might not know about Mr. Salinger the writer, but I bet you know who is John Lennon. Well, John Lennon was assassinated by Mark Chapman, who asked John to sign a copy of this book “The Catcher In The Rye” just that morning he killed John.
The story was told in first person as Holden Caulfield, a teenage boy expelled from school for the forth time due to his flunking in too many exams, decided to leave school a few days earlier before the vacation actually started, and to hang around in New York city instead of returning home directly. He took a train late in the night and stayed in the hotel; called for prostitute but ended up paying the due money without doing a thing…
To him almost all the people around were phonies: the school headmaster, his roommates, guys in the lousy bars and hotels…and he looked down upon all of them. He even wanted to walk away, down and down the road of the city blocks to the west. He missed his dead younger brother Allie very much– Allie was like his bosom friend and brother; and his affections for his little sister Phoebe was so touching and natural, I almost burst  into tears when I got to the paragraphs with him watching Phoebe playing on the carrousel.

The description of the boy’s inner thoughts and activities gets rather depressing sometimes (which did make me quite uncomfortable and depressed). Although lacking similar personal experience, I could still imagine the miserable boy’s situation. In fact you need not a large vocabulary to read this: it’s a literally simple story. If not disturbed with the aroused depression that I had to take a break from time to time, and if not had more time for reading in the holiday(you know…) , I could’ve just gone on reading, non-stoppingly, until finishing this 115-page-book.

This novel used to be rather controversial…even banned in America after its initial publication. It’s sooooo DEPRESSING…I even felt relieved when I finally reached the last sentence in the last page. However, just as someone quoted in his article that someone said that one writer said…

“the best novels are those that wound us deeply, which cause us to think afresh about ourselves and the lives we lead. ”

PS, the book title came from the poem “Coming through the rye”, by Robert Burns.

Coming Through the Rye
by Robert Burns (1759-1796)

——————————————————————————–
Coming thro’ the rye, poor body,
Coming thro’ the rye,
She draiglet a’ her petticoatie
Coming thro’ the rye.

O, Jenny’s a’ wat, poor body;
Jenny’s seldom dry;
She draiglet a’ her petticoatie
Coming thro’ the rye.

Gin a body meet a body
Coming thro’ the rye,
Gin a body kiss a body -
Need a body cry?

Gin a body meet a body
Coming thro’ the glen,
Gin a body kiss a body -
Need the warld ken

 

 

This book took my mind off agitated fantasizing of Christmas for one whole day, and, in a positive way, used up a large percent of my spare time(which were mostly spent watching all sorts of American tv series, or cooking merely edible macaroni, or msn chatting… ) .

Anyway, after so many hours’ staring at the screen and switching(alt+tab) from acrobat reader to kingsoft 2006, to LDOCE, back to reader again… I’m here, happy and proud, to announce that I’ve finally finished reading this fantastic, witty, humorous, “feministic” novel, and really enjoyed it.

Bridget Jones, a single woman in her early thirties. Singleton as she is, this little woman sometimes worries about “dying alone and being found three weeks later half-eaten by an Alsatian”–exactly the same worry with which Miranda from Sex and the City impressed me deeply.
People kinda describe Bridget as the FATTER Ally Mcbeal in Britain. Cannot agree more! Like the skinny Ally, Bridget always gets crazy, weird or romantic daydreamings, what’s more, she’s not afraid of writing them down in her diary! Poor thing, counting calories consumed, cigarettes smoked, alcohol units imbibed, lottery instants bought in every diary entry, she is also unbelievably optimistic and good at picking creative excuses for weight gained(am I looking in the mirror???).

The whole story started with Bridget’s unrealistic new year resolutions: 13 I WILL’s and 19 I WILL NOT’s in total. Things on the I WILL list are like: stop smoking, or, “drink no more than fourteen alcohol units a week”; while on the I WILL NOT list, there’s one item I think all women could use for reference: “Fall for any of following: alcoholics, workaholics, commitment phobics, people with girlfriends or wives, misogynists, megalomaniacs, chauvinists, emotional fuckwits or freeloaders, perverts.” Blimey! Do remember it should be in the NOT list.

Then her first diary entry on Jan 1st, naturally, reveals “an exceptionally bad start”.
In a witty, laugh-out-funny way, Helen Fielding puts before us tons of interesting stories and hilarious inner thoughts of Bridget. Her sense of humor and wording skills attract me rather than the stories themselves.
For those who have seen the movie, you already know about the main story:
bridget had the crush on her boss Daniel, had a short-term relationship with this fuckwittage, broke up, eliminated prejudice over Mark Darcy(Mark Darcy the “top-notch barrister. Masses of money. Divorced.”), and after the mom accident they started dating, then… Simple enough.

Keywords from BJD:
Singleton
Fuckwittages/fuckwits
Bloody
Smug Marrieds
Inner poise

An excerpt for those who’re expecting their birthdays in a short time:
Bridget: “Humph. Have woken up v. fed up. On top of everything, only two weeks to go until birthday, when will have to face up to the fact that another entire year has gone by, during which everyone else except me has mutated into Smug Married, having children plop, plop, plop, left right and centre and making hundreds of thousands of pounds and inroads into very hub of establishment, while I career rudderless and, boyfriendless through dysfunctional relationships and professional stagnation.”
“plop, plop, plop…”try to read this in british accent. haha, so funny!

For further information…I’ll be more than happy to provide you with the pdf version.

Take the following quiz to see where you fit on the Bridget-O-Meter.
Have you ever:

realized cellulite is creation of fiendish, misogynist extraterrestrial force in grips of which female earthlings are helpless (or entertained similar, late-night theory)
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

not heard doorbell rung by attractive man owing to proximity of industrial-strength hairdryer to ear?
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

had genuine concern about whereabouts of missing friend tempered by gratification at possessing perfect outfit for funeral?
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

calculated likelihood of dying alone, in bad underwear
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

found more than four pairs of black pantyhose—each unwearable for a different reason—in drawer at any one time?
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

served guests food of a color not existing in nature? (Add five points if color is blue; one point per half-hour period between 8:30 and the hour at which dinner typically materializes; two points if consistently tempted to impress guests with food cannot pronounce.)
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

checked phone messages more than six times an hour in any four-day period following initial sexual encounter?
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

been late to first day on job because of two+ hours spent on optimum hair/make-up/outfit combo? (Add one point if ensemble still turned out to be dead wrong. Add two points if punctuality continues to prove elusive.)
[ ] NEVER [ ] OCCASIONALLY [ ] FREQUENTLY

Each “never” answer is worth one point; each “occasionally” worth two points; each “frequently” worth three points.

If you score over 25, you may be Bridget—unlike Helen Fielding, who says firmly, “No, I’m not Bridget. I don’t smoke or drink, and I’m a virgin.”

Nonetheless, her hilarious account of the miseries and triumphs of one very modern woman makes Fielding a spokesperson for all of us.