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The Five People You Meet in Heaven

By Mitch Albom

(965)

| Hardcover | 9780786868711

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■ 미치 앨봄의 첫 소설,
2003년, 의 작가, 미치 앨봄이 또다시 출판계에 신기록을 세우며 전세계인들의 마음을 뒤흔들고 있다. 화제의 책은 바로 . 죽음을 맞이하는 옛 스승과의 마지막 수업을 담은 에세이 로 전세계적인 성공을 거둔 이후, 7년이란 오랜 기다림 끝에 첫 소설 을 들고 다시 우리 곁으로 돌아온 것이다. 전작과 마찬가지로 에서도 작가의 삶과 죽음에 대한 예리하면서도 따뜻한 시선이 돋보인다. 특이하게도 주인공 에디의 죽음과 함께 시작되는 이 작품에서 사양길에 접어든 놀이공원의 정비공으로 80평생을 살아온 주인공이 공원에 놀러온 어린 소녀를 구하려다 숨을 거두게 되는데, 사후 그가 다다른 천국은 우리가 상상하던 곳과는 전혀 다르다. 그 낯선 천국에서 그는 자신도 모르는 사이에 서로 영향을 주고받았던 생애 다섯 사람들을 만나게 되는데, 그들과의 만남을 통해 보잘것없어 보이기만 하던 자신의 삶에 숨겨져 있던 의미와 가치를 깨닫게 된다는 내용이다. 이 책은 2003년 9월 출간 전 예약판매로만 베스트셀러에 진입했고, 미국 전 언론의 뜨거운 관심 속에 출간 1주일 만에 3쇄 150만 부가 판매되는 기염을 토했으며, 현재 아마존, 반즈&노블 서점 등의 독자 서평란에 서평 열풍을 일으키며, 아마존 서점, 반즈&노블 서점, 뉴욕 타임스, 퍼블리셔스 위클리의 베스트셀러를 석권하고 있다.

■ 의 줄거리―“내 인생의 다섯 사람은 누구일까?”
은 주인공 에디의 죽음과 함께 시작된다. 여든세 살 노인 에디는 사양길로 접어든 바닷가에 있는 놀이공원 루비 피어에서 정비공으로 평생 동안 일했다. 그리고 평생 낡은 작업복을 걸친 채 전쟁 때 입은 상처 때문에 지팡이에 의지한 채 절뚝거리며 돌아다니는 그를 모든 사람들, 아니 본인조차 있으나마나한 존재, 그저 이세상의 뒷배경 속에 묻혀 있는 이름없는 얼굴 정도로만 생각했다. 그는 인생의 대부분을 루비 피어라는 바닷가 놀이공원에서 놀이시설이 안전한지, 기계에서 이상한 소리가 나지는 않는지 점검하며 보냈다. 하지만 놀이공원에 놀러온 아이들은 시린 손들이 따듯한 불가로 모이듯 에디에게 끌렸다. 그러나 에디는 자신이 별볼일없는 인생을 살았다고 생각한다. 한때 이곳을 떠나 멋지게 살려고 노력한 적도 있었지만 실패한 후 포기한 채 살면서, 사람을 죽이기 위해 총을 들고 떠나야 했던 전쟁터 말고는 평생 다른 곳에는 가보지도 못했고, 본인이 인정하듯이 설거지할 정도의 머리만 있으면 할 수 있는 그런 보잘것없는 정비일만 하면서 살았던 것이다.그렇게 구질구질하고 우울하며 후회스런 나날을 보내던 그가 여든세 번째 생일날, 추락하는 놀이기구 밑에 서 있는 어린 소녀를 구하려다가 목숨을 잃는다. 죽는 순간 그는 구하려던 아이의 작은 두 손의 감촉만 기억하며 숨을 거둔다. 죽은 후, 예상대로 그는 천국에 가게 되지만, 그가 간 천국은 전혀 낯선 곳이었다. 흔히 우리가 상상하는 아무 고통도 염려도 근심도 없는 그런 낙원이 아니었다. 대신 그 낯선 천국에서 그는 자신도 모르는 사이에 자신의 삶에 영향을 주고받았던 다섯 사람들을 만난다.
(에디 자신은 전혀 몰랐지만) 어린 시절 에디가 형과 함께한 공놀이로 인해 교통사고가 나는 바람에 죽게 된 파란 몸뚱이를 가진 사내, 제2차 세계대전에 참전한 에디의 목숨을 구해주기 위해 일부러 다리에 총을 쏘아 평생 불구자로 살게 만들었던 상사였던 대위, 평생 에디의 마음을 괴롭혔던 아버지에 대한 진실을 들려주는 루비 피어 놀이공원 창립자의 아내인 루비 부인, 에디의 평생 사랑의 대상이었던 일찍 죽은 아내 마거릿, 마지막으로 에디가 참전 중에 불을 질러 죽게 만든 필리핀 소녀 탈라 등 모두 다섯 사람을 만난다. 에디는 그들과의 만남을 통해 80평생 하잘것없는 존재로 살았지만, 왜 자신이 이세상에 태어나 살아왔는지, 그리고 보잘것없다고 느꼈던 구질구질한 자신의 삶이 얼마나 의미 있었고, 가치 있었는지 깨닫는다. 그리고 본의 아니게 서로에게 저지른 잘못과 오해에 대해 용서를 구하면서 자신과 화해하게 된다. 그러면서 자신이 그토록 떠나고 싶어했던, 고독과 우울에 싸여 불행한 말년을 보냈던 지옥과 같았던 놀이공원 루비 피어가 바로 자신에게는 천국이었다는 걸 새삼 깨닫는다.

■ 삶에 대한 진지한 물음과 예리한 통찰―“도대체 나는 왜 살아가는 걸까?”
주제에서 느껴지다시피, 이 책은 요즘 유행하고 있는 신변잡기적이고 가벼운 책들과는 그 궤를 달리한다. 대신 우리의 삶에 대해 진지하게 묻는다. “도대체 나는 왜 살아가는 걸까?” 매일매일 똑같고 하잘것없는 인간으로 느껴지는 평범한 우리가 왜 태어나 왜 살아가는 건가?라고. 또한 천국이라는 사후세계 여행을 통해 삶에 대해 아주 진지하고 담백 솔직하게 탐구한다. 보통 천국을 아무 걱정, 근심없이 아픔도 없이 기쁨과 충만함이 넘치는 곳으로 상상하지만, 작가는 이 작품에서 천국을 색다르게 해석한다. 삶에서 단단히 맺혀 있던 아픔덩어리가 풀리는 순간, 자기 삶을 온전히 이해하고 그를 통해 자신과의 화해가 이루어지는 곳이 바로 ‘천국’이라고.
그리고 이 책 전체를 흐르고 있는 정서는 다분히 동양적이다. 에디가 천국에서 만나는 다섯 사람들은 평소 그와 안면이 있는 인물도 있지만, 전혀 낯선 이도 있다. 그렇지만 이들은 모두 서로에게 연결되고 영향을 주고받아(인연) 사소한 것이지만 그것이 연결고리가 되어 결국 그것이 에디의 전체 인생을 이룬다. 서양적 환경에서 자란 작가가 어쩌면 이렇게 윤회라든가 인연, 해탈 등 동양적 정서를 잘 이해하고 그것을 자신의 작품에 도입했는지 놀라울 정도다. 특히 마지막 장면에서 그가 전쟁 중에 불을 질러 죽게 한 소녀의 타버린 몸을 씻겨주며 해탈하는 장면은 정말 압권이다. [인터파크 제공]

Critics

THE FIVE PEOPLE YOU MEET IN HEAVEN

When I finished the last page of Mitch Albom's TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE, I knew I had to share the book with as many people as I could. I proceeded to buy 41 copies, inscribe them all to my friends and family members, hand them out, mail them --- whateve ... (read full critics)

teenreads published on Thu, 16 Sep 2010

The Five People You Meet in Heaven By Mitch Albom

How does an author follow up one of the most phenomenal bestsellers in recent publishing history? That was the dilemma facing Mitch Albom after his last book, Tuesdays with Morrie, perched itself atop the New York Times bestseller list and refused to ... (read full critics)

bookpage published on Wed, 15 Sep 2010

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57 Reviews

10 people find this helpful

The Five People You Meet in Heaven

The story is about heaven. It is not a heaven where you spend eternity in guilt-free bliss; instead it is a place where you gain a final understanding of your life and death. It is a place where you learn your last lessons – those that you wouldn’t understand when you’re still alive.
Lesson ... (continue)

The story is about heaven. It is not a heaven where you spend eternity in guilt-free bliss; instead it is a place where you gain a final understanding of your life and death. It is a place where you learn your last lessons – those that you wouldn’t understand when you’re still alive.
Lesson 1: “That there are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another than you can separate a breeze from the wind. The human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. That death doesn’t just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed. Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know. No life is a waste. The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone.”
Lesson 2: “Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father. Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.”
Lesson 3: “Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hatred is a curved blade. And the harm we do, we do to ourselves.”
Lesson 4: “Lost love is still love. It takes a different form, that’s all. You can’t see their smile or bring them food or tousle their hair or move them around a dance floor. But when those senses weaken, another heightens. Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it. Life has to end. Love doesn’t.”
Lesson 5: “They were there, or would be there, because of the simple, mundane things Eddie had done in his life, the accidents he had prevented, the rides he had kept safe, the unnoticed turns he had affected every day.”

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Holmes said on Jun 30, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

4 people find this helpful

I have been meaning to read this book for a while. This week the movie was on TV, so I picked it up. It was a quick read and it made me think. The book looks at what heaven might look like. When Eddie died he went to heaven and met five people that he affected or they affected him. I made me think a ... (continue)

I have been meaning to read this book for a while. This week the movie was on TV, so I picked it up. It was a quick read and it made me think. The book looks at what heaven might look like. When Eddie died he went to heaven and met five people that he affected or they affected him. I made me think about what may seem like a minor incounter or incident may actually change someone else's life. Once someone told me to do something nice for someone without them asking and necessarily knowing what you did. This book made me think of that and the book and movie Pay It Forward. I think this is a great concept which is not put into practise near enough.Quotesp. 196Lines formed...five people, waiting, in five chosen memories, for a little girl anemed Amy or Annie to grow and to love and to age and to die, and to finally have herquestions answered--why she lived and what she lived for. And in that line now was whiskered old man, with a linen cap and crooked nose, who waited in a place called the Stardust Band Shell to share his part of the secret of heaven: that each affects the other and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all in one.I think this quote sums up the whole book because it brings together the whole thing.Discussion questions1. What would your heaven look like?2. Has there been anyone in your life like the characters in this book?3. Who would you guess you would see in heaven if you died tomorrow?

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SheReads said on Mar 6, 2007 | Add your feedback

2 people find this helpful

Many people told me that this book is a lecture of some very well-known principles, and that it is just another one. Yet, how many people can really live them out? I read this book as if I am attending 'lessons' as Mitch put it. And these lessons are as interesting as some of the best presented s ... (continue)

Many people told me that this book is a lecture of some very well-known principles, and that it is just another one. Yet, how many people can really live them out? I read this book as if I am attending 'lessons' as Mitch put it. And these lessons are as interesting as some of the best presented sermons. I read the book on my way back to work and on my ride back to home. It serves as a good reminder of those basic principles that I should never forget, especially amid the busy day.

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Joseph said on Aug 21, 2007 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

I hope it is really like this.

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golfnut said on Feb 11, 2012 about the Audio CD edition | Add your feedback

A meaningful story with an attractive/exciting start. Some lines were really touching.
People got to have their stories explained after death - why one lived and what one lived for. It just happened to be a line of five waiting in the heaven.
'Each affected the other and the other affected t ... (continue)

A meaningful story with an attractive/exciting start. Some lines were really touching.
People got to have their stories explained after death - why one lived and what one lived for. It just happened to be a line of five waiting in the heaven.
'Each affected the other and the other affected the next, and the world was full of stories, but the stories were all one'. Never underestimated, you could always influence the others.
1st: the Blue Man - why some die while other live
2nd: the Captain - tale of sacrifice and no sacrifice is a waste
3rd: Ruby - story behind ignorance and hatred
4th: Marguerite - no love is lost love
5th: Tala - no one is nothing, everyone is supposed to be there, the right position
　
"He lowered his chin and held his arms out like a glider, and every few steps he would jump, the way children do, hoping running will turn to flying."
"No life is a waste. The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."
"Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to."
"... stung again by the denial of a man whose love, almost inexplicably, he still coveted, a man ignoring him, even in heaven."
"It is not until much later, as the skin sags and the heart weakens, that children understand; their stories, and all their accomplishments, sit atop the stories of their mothers and fathers, stones upon stones, beneath the waters of their lives."

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Candy said on Jan 17, 2012 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

Haiz.. you'd never knew who comes and goes in your life. And certainly wouldn't know what impact will cause your life to turn out differently.

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YoYo said on Dec 15, 2011 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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Book Details

Rating:
(965)
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English Books
Hardcover 198 Pages
Edition: 1
ISBN-10: 0786868716
ISBN-13: 9780786868711
Publisher: Hyperion
Pub date: Sep 01, 2003
Dimensions: 1226 mm x 839 mm x 129 mm Just how big is that?
Also available as: Paperback, Audio CD, Audio Cassette, Library Binding, Others and eBook
In other languages: other languages 繁體書, 简体书, 한국 책