I went to lot 1 recently to pick up "Secret" DVD, that film by jay chou. Watched it once, kinda easy to understand, but its still a great movie. Why? Because it really packs a twist at the end, and its more mysterious and magical and we will ever think it is in the beginning. Well..my post today ain't gonna be about the movie, but rather a book i picked up at popular..

its gonna be long..haha, buckle up!

Its entitled, "The five people you meet in Heaven", on first sight i was like "Wow, cool!" and i immediately picked it up. But its actually a fiction book that really sets me thinking..

Heres how it looks like incase ur interested..hehs



Ok i shall give a review on it, since i finished it..hoho, in 1day+? 213 pages leh =D

It circles around a roughneck named Edward, or Eddie as many ppl call him in the story. Why i say its a strange book, is firstly the title, and how the book starts. Maybe its because i havent been reading enuff book, infact i am quite certain, haha. But the book starts by giving us how much time he has left on earth, kinda shocking for me, but i guess it fits the book. He is a theme park, Ruby Pier's maintenance leader, as i said b4 hes a rough neck, his life basically revolves around fights and wars. But at age 83 hes still working as the maintenance guy. Blah blah blah and hes dead because the Freefall-chair ride got stuck, and his assistant, Dominiquez, follows his command to cut the cable of the ride, but then after some thought Eddie thinks cutting the cable is bad and starts shouting for him to stop, but in vain. End up he got crushed because theres this adorable girl he sees frequently in the vicinity and rushes to save her, but again, in vain. Its not sure if she died.

He gets carried to heaven, and supposes will meet 5 person.
The first guy he meets is a Blueish coloured man, he is a human btw, but because medical advances in that era is poor, i forgot wat illness he got but the doctor supposedly gave him silver nitrate solution as a daily medicine, and the more he took, he blue-er his skin got. One day, eddie ran across the road, i think to get a ball, and a car barely misses him, that car driver, is the blueish man. He managed to avoid him but died of heart attack as a result of the adrenaline rush from the near-accident. Eddie didn't even know him until now, when hes up in heaven, wat this guy is trying to teach Eddie(and us), is that.

"It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect."
"Strangers, are just family you have yet to come to know."

I find this saying quite profound, but to some extent true. Think, your sir name, like mine, is Chen, and yet there are thousands if not millions of people with the sirname "Chen", they might be strangers but we all know, we are in the same branch of family.

The 2nd guy he meets is..his War captain. It gets a bit weird here because its said that his captain has fury red beads as eyes. so it looks like a skeleton or zombie like guy. The story did touch on the fact that Eddie has a bad leg, a crippled 1, in this part it is revealed that, while escaping enemy capture in Phillipines, he was torching down the huts of the enemies, and supposedly saw a shadow insdie the burning hut, wanting to save the person, he got trapped in the flames and for some reason the captain resort to shooting him, to get him dragged away and to the hospital. The Captain happened to die on the same night, because he stepped on a land mine and got blown to bits.

His lesson to Eddie is that..

"Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to."

This is actually something he say as a result of his outcome. Because he stepped on the landmine, he saved his 4 other team mates because the car wont get blown to bits. Sacrificing himself, for the lives of the others.

Moving on..the third person Eddie meets is..the Wife of the creator of Ruby Pier, the theme park, Ruby. Eddie got confused here because she looks very weird for his era, thats because She lives in the era when Eddie was probably not born or was a little kid. Her role here is to tell Eddie about his Dad, the same dad that he hates for many many reasons..

Since young Eddie is always beaten, scolded, etc etc by his dad. To the extend like his Dad don't even have him in his eyes. He drinks, and smokes, and get drunk, and works at the theme park as the maintenance guy as well. His abusive ways to Eddie is endured, but one day Eddie raised his hands against him as He was about to whack Eddie. From then on they never spoke to each other. Until on Eddie's Dad's deathbed, he wanted to talk to him, because he understood his ways, how he came to "damage children's glass", He didnt have this chance, because the father died. Back in heaven, he actually saw his Dad, but couldn't speak to him as he couldn't hear him. At this point, its actually very sad, because you can see Eddie trying to apologise to him and agrees to let the past go, but his father just couldn't hear.

I kinda relate to his situation, but its to my grandfather, i was disrepectful, a spoilt brat and often shouted at him when he was around, now that hes gone, the chance to apologise is gone, forever. And its actually..very very sad.

Her lesson here is
"Holding anger is like 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."

i nearly cried when i learnt wat she meant and with eddie's past with his father, because that was exactly wat i did. I was a angry kid, before i maturised, i was always shouting, like i was a king. Coming to think about it, its really stupid, and i wished i could go back in time to kick my own spoilt ass!!

The 4th person Eddie meets is..His wife, Marguerite. Shes a pitiful soul really. She is very charming and beautiful, and met Eddie when he was a teen. She was ever so concerned about him and everyone, always remembering his birthday and getting Taffys for him. Eventually they got married, but never got a chance to bear a child(i think either 1 is impotent). They resorted to adoption but didn't had the money, until one day Eddie decides to spend some time at the Horse-racing tracks with his co-worker, Noel. Eddie won some money, but got chided by her when he told her the good news. As she is expecting the Orhans's children, having the knowledge that the soon-to-be-adoptive-father is gambling, it would be bad rite! So She drove to find eddie, but because some drunk teens sitting high up on a bridge decides to drop empty beer bottles on the road, one of it hit Marguerite's windshield and she swerves her car around and hit a concrete divider, effectly injuring her and lacerating her liver. Eddie's winnings are eventually spent on her treatment, poof, there goes adpotion. Soon, she died outside the hospital i think, as eddie drove her there, but didnt make it in time, she was 47. They reminisce in Heaven, and heres her Lesson to Eddie..

"Lost love is still love. It takes a different form."
"Life has to end. Love Doesn't."

I think she says all this, so that Eddie can let go, because hes very agonised about her early death, although he still thinks of her, Its a different thing totally. I think this makes sense in real life too..You see some couples, widowed at age and yet refused to remarry, thats still true love, in a different form...

The last person Eddie met is a fillipino girl named Tala. She is actually the "Shadow" eddie saw in the hut back in Phillipines when he was torching down the hut and wanted to save. The captain lied to him, he said there wasn't a soul in there. But infact, Tala was there, burnt to death...
Eddie is pretty much saddened that he couldn't save the person, and upon finding out that there is indeed a person in the hut, and is talking to her right now. He freaks out, yet very remorseful and apologetic. The thing is, Tala doesn't seem to be angry at him at all, and askes him to "Wash her" with a stone, as the scene is set at a beach like area, in the waters. When he tried to wash her, he found that she has transform into her "Burnt" form, terrible burn marks, scalped hair, droopy lips, deformed eyes. But upon washing her, she starts to shed the scars, and is restored to her original form.

Her lesson to Eddie is probably to let go of worldly affairs. You may have caused or done evil deeds, but here in Heaven, its all memories. To proceed, one have to let go.

After understanding it, and receiving the acceptance of apology from Tala. Tala is actually the "Hands" Eddie felt when he was dying, because Tala was bringing him up to Heaven. After that, his spirit began to take off, into the next part of the Heaven, where it resembles a pier, with adults and childrens everywhere, Happily ending the story...

Its actually a very touching story as you go on an emotional roller coaster ride revealling Eddie's life, as a kid, a teenager, a middleaged man, and lastly..an old but hardworking old man..