The Five People You Meet In Heaven

This is one of the fastest book i had read other than those containing a certain Harry Potter. i had heard (or rather known) of this book for some time but i did not want to pick it up as i was repelled by the title. i thought this was some kind of religion book. i'm not religious nor a religon holder so why do i need to know who would i meet in Heaven? Most importantly, i fear death. Even the mere thought of death and the afterlife can make me freeze in fear; literally, my temperature would drop, my brain would freeze and i would break out in cold sweat. So this is not a topic that i'm really prepared to think (read) about.

So what made me buy this book now? Truthfully, the fact that it had remained a bestseller for quite a while and largely, the 20% discount at Kinokuniya. This is one of my favourite places in town and i would never fail to bring something home during its sales. Also, in the last month of 2007, a number of people i know or someone related to people i know had passed on. My uncle had a near scare too.

i had read the book during 4 train rides. This book is unlike any other book i had read. Well, it begins at the end, with Eddie (the protagonist) dying in the sun. It would have to, wouldn't it? So that he could go on to meet the five people in heaven. It figures. Well, i'm not sure am i fortunate that i read the book on the train cos many a times, i had caught myself tearing. i would have cried unreservedly if i were not on the train. i shared my thoughts with a friend and she said she cried while reading it at home in the deep of the night. So i'm not the odd one. Many emotions and reflections appeared before me while reading it. This afternoon, i overhead this mummy sitting beside me telling her boy who caught me reading that this is a sad book. Sad? i'm not sure if it is the right adjective.

On a sidenote, i saw something interesting on tv news tonight. Apparently people in Ghana treat funerals as celebrations instead of the solemn and sombre functions most civilisations have. They have really fun and colourful coffins, replicas of beer bottles, chicken, aeroplane, etc. You name it, you have it. Though sad, perhaps we should really see funerals as celebrations of a person's life, rather than mourning and harping over what has already gone. All endings are also beginnings. We just don't know it at the time. Me? i still cry at funerals. and i think i always will.

If you want to read the book, let me know. It's open for lending.