Mitch was born on May 23, 1958 in Passaic, New Jersey, the middle of three children to Rhoda and Ira Albom. The family moved to the Buffalo, N.Y. area briefly before settling in Oaklyn, New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia.
In 1995, he married Janine Sabino. That same year he re-encountered Morrie Schwartz, a former college professor who was dying of ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. His visits with Schwartz would lead to the book Tuesdays with Morrie, which moved Mitch away from sports and began his career as an internationally recognized author.
His first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, is the most successful US hardcover first adult novel ever.
All three of Albom’s best sellers have been turned into successful TV movies.
Oprah Winfrey produced the film version of Tuesdays With Morrie in December 1999, starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. The film garnered four Emmy awards, including best TV film, director, actor and supporting actor.
The critically acclaimed Five People You Meet in Heaven aired on ABC in winter, 2004. Directed by Lloyd Kramer, the film was the most watched TV movie of the year, with 19 million viewers.
THEME:
Search for Identity
American Dream or the
American Nightmare
GENRE:
Fiction
SETTING: Heaven and Ruby Pier
from the 1920's through the 2000's
Ruby Pier, “ an amusement park by a great gray ocean”
1920’s through 2003
This book is dedicated to Edward Beitchman, my beloved uncle, who gave me my first concept of heaven. Every year, around the Thanksgiving table, he spoke of a night in the hospital when he awoke to see the souls of his departed loved ones sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for him. I never forgot that story. And I never forgot him.
Everyone has an idea of heaven, as do most religions, and they should all be respected. This version represented here is only a guess, a wish, in some ways, that my uncle, and others like him—people who felt unimportant here on the earth—realize, finally how much they mattered and how they were loved.
“There are five people you meet in heaven… Each of us was in your life for a reason. You may not have known the reason at the time, and that is what heaven is for. For understanding your life on earth.” (Page 35)
“This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for.” ( Page 35)
THE FIRST PERSON The Blue Man
Worked at Ruby Pier when Eddie was a young boy.
Died-heart attack trying to avoid hitting Eddie with his car.
Eddie lived that day, and The Blue Man died.
SETTING IN HEAVEN
Ruby Pier
Eddie’s childhood, early 1930’s.
WHY THIS SETTINGH IS HEAVEN FOR THE BLUE MAN
HEAVEN is Ruby Pier, because this is where he found acceptance.
EDDIE AGE/HOW DOES HE FEEL PHYSICALLY
Eddie feels like a young child, flexible, he can run, jump and skip.
LESSON EDDIE IS TAUGHT/QUOTE FROM BOOK
There are no random acts in life.
Every person is connected to each other.
Strangers are the family you do not know yet.
SIGNIFICANT PASSAGE
“Fathers can ruin their sons.” (Page 40)
“I had agreed to join their carnival. And my life as a commodity had begun” (Page 41)
“There are no random acts. That we are all connected. That you can no more separate one life from another that you can separate a breeze from the wind.” (Page 48)
“It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect.” (Page 48)
“Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.” (page 49)
SYMBOLISM OF THE FERRIS WHEEL AND
RUBY PIER
ACCEPTANCE-Ruby Pier was the only place the
Blue Man felt accepted for who he was, faults and all. He had a
home, a job and friends at Ruby Pier. He could be himself.
THE SECOND PERSON The Captain
CONNECTION/RELATIONSHIP TO EDDIE
The Captain shot Eddie in the knee to save him during WWII. The Captain sacrificed his life to save Eddie and his other men and “Keep them together”.
SETTING IN HEAVEN
The Phillipine island where
Eddie and the Captain were prisoners
WHY IS THIS HEAVEN FOR THE CAPTAIN
The
Captain’s idea of Heaven is a world before there was WAR, a world
without WAR.
EDDIE AGE/HOW DOES HE FEEL PHYSICALLY
Eddie feels like a young man in his twenties.
Strong and Muscular
Knee is not injured.
LESSON EDDIE IS TAUGHT/QUOTE FROM BOOK
Sacrifices are a part of life.
When you lose something special, it is passed on to someone else.
SIGNIFICANT PASSAGES
“Young men go to war. Sometimes because they have to, sometimes because they want to. Always they feel they are supposed to. This comes from the sad, layered stories of life, which over the centuries have seen courage confused with picking up arms, and cowardice confused with laying them down. (Page 57)
“Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It is not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. Big sacrifices. A mother who works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father.” (Page 93)
“Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.” (Page 94)
SYMBOLISM OF
THE FERRIS WHEEL AND
RUBY PIER
KEEPING A
PROMISE-The juggling trick that Eddie learned at Ruby Pier allowed
the Captain to save his men and to keep his promise. "the captain
always promised he would leave no one behind, no matter what."
(Page 64) "In the middle of a big war, you go looking for a small
idea to believe in...For me, that little idea was what I told you
guys every day. No one gets left behind."( Page 86) The soldiers
also promised to meet again after the WWII at Ruby Pier.
THE THIRD PERSON Ruby
CONNECTION/RELATIONSHIP TO EDDIE
Eddie and Ruby both wish that Ruby Pier had never been built.
SETTING IN HEAVEN
A diner in the mountains with beautiful snow filled with all the people hurt at Ruby Pier.
WHY THIS IS HEAVEN FOR RUBY
The diner is where she fell in love with her husband, Emile.
It is set far away from the ocean where he was injured trying to save Ruby Pier.
EDDIE AGE/HOW DOES HE FEEL PHYSICALLY
Eddie feels 37
years old, the age he was when his father died and Ruby was in the
hospital room.
LESSON EDDIE IS TAUGHT
Let go of your anger.
Anger hurts you more than the person you are angry at.
Forgiveness
helps you and lets you move on.
SIGNIFICANT PASSAGE
“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. (Page 141)
“Forgive, Edward. Forgive. Do you remember the lightness you felt when you first arrived in heaven? … That’s because no one is born with anger. And when we die, the soul is freed of it.” (Page 142)
THE SYBOLISM
OF THE FERRIS WHEEL AND
RUBY PIER
FORGIVENESS-The
fire at Ruby Pier caused Emil's injury and illness. This made Ruby
angry. She learned to forgive, because her anger was poisoning her
on the inside.
THE FOURTH PERSON Marguerite
CONNECTION/RELATIONSHIP TO EDDIE
Eddie’s Wife
The Love of his Life
SETTING IN HEAVEN
Wedding Receptions
WHY THIS IS HEAVEN FOR MARGUERITE
Marguerite’s idea of Heaven is Every Wedding where “you can see the possibilities in their eyes” and “their love will break all the records”.
EDDIE AGE/HOW DOES HE FEEL PHYSICALLY
Eddie feels like he is "rotting away", about age 50. The age when Marguerite died.
LESSON EDDIE IS TAUGHT/QUOTE FROM BOOK
True love never dies
SIGNIFICANT PASSAGE
“Lost love is still love, Eddie. It takes a different form, that’s all. You can’t see their smile or bring them food of 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.” (Page 173)
“Life has to end. Love doesn’t.” (Page 173)
THE
SYMBOLISM OF THE FERRIS WHEEL AND RUBY PIER
HOME-Marguerite
at the hospital looks back and sees the Ferris
Wheel
She calls it "Home." (Page
169)
THE FIFTH PERSON Tala
CONNECTION/RELATIONSHIP TO EDDIE
Eddie’s nightmares since the war. Tala died during World War II, in a hut Eddie set on fire, he killed her.
SETTING IN HEAVEN
A river
filled with children playing in the water.
WHY THIS IS HEAVEN FOR TALA
Tala died in a fire. Water is the opposite of fire. Water puts out fire.
EDDIE AGE/HOW DOES HE FEEL PHYSICALLY
83 years
old, the age he died, uses a cane again.
LESSON EDDIE IS TAUGHT/QUOTE FROM BOOK
Tala
explained the meaning of Eddie's life. His job was
important.
SIGNIFICANT PASSAGE
“Children, you keep them safe. You make good for me. Is where you were supposed to be, Eddie Main-ten-nance.” (Page 191)
THE
SYMBOLISM OF THE FERRIS WHEEL AND RUBY
PIER
SAFETY and REDEMPTION-Eddie kept children safe at the pier. He spent his life making up for killing Tala who was hiding in a place she thought was "safe".
The lead character in "The Five People You Meet In Heaven" is a grizzled war veteran named Eddie, who dies on his 83rd birthday. The character was inspired by my real-life uncle, Edward Beitchman, who was also a World War II veteran, who also died at 83, and also lived a life like that of the fictional character, rarely leaving his home city, and often feeling that he didn't accomplish what he should have. The pictures here are of the "real" Eddie. The text is from an essay I wrote years ago about my uncle Eddie.
I tell stories. For awhile I told stories through music and
then I told stories in newspapers and later I told stories in
books, the best known being Tuesdays with Morrie, a story
about my old teacher who was living to the fullest even as he was
dying.
But before I started telling stories, I heard them. My family loved
to rattle them off, especially the senior members, grandparents and
uncles and aunts, usually around a Thanksgiving table, always with
plates of food close at hand. These were stories about family,
history, war, some might have even been closer to fairy tales.
Someone would inevitably say, “Oh, no, not THAT one again,” but we
would settle in and listen anyhow. I never minded. In fact, I loved
it. Those stories made me feel part of something, gave me stories
of my own, as if my elders’ tales, through their telling, could
become my tales, too.
One I always remembered was told each year by a favorite uncle of
mine, a squat, ex cab driver who had served in World War II and was
a pretty gritty guy. He talked of a night when he went to the
hospital with a raging fever. In the middle of that night, he said,
he woke up and saw his dead relatives, waiting for him at the end
of his bed.
Of course, we kids asked him breathlessly, “What did you do? What
did you do?” And being the salty fellow he was, he shrugged and
said, “I told them to get lost. I wasn’t ready for them yet.”
I filed that story away in my head, but I never forgot it. And I
never forgot my uncle, even as he aged into his 70’s and 80’s. As I
got older, I saw him as a tough, devoted but sad old man who never
got to see his dreams fulfilled and never really knew how much we
loved him.
When time came for me to write something after Tuesdays with
Morrie, I moved slowly. I didn’t want to do any sequels. No
“Wednesdays with Morrie.” No self-help series. I wanted to return
to the world of stories, to delve deeper into life and death and
the connections between the two - which lead me, inevitably, to the
idea of heaven.
Somewhere, swimming in my head, was the image my uncle had given me
around that table, a handful of people waiting for you when you
die. And I began to explore this simple concept: what if heaven was
not some lush Garden of Eden, but a place where you had your life
explained to you by people who were in it – five people - maybe you
knew them, maybe you didn’t, but in some way you were touched by
them and changed forever, just as you inevitably touched people
while on earth and changed them, too.
And so, one predawn morning, coffee in hand, I sat down to write my
next story, which now, several years later, is presented to you
here. It’s a tale of a life on earth. It’s a tale of life beyond
it. It’s a fable about love, a warning about war, and a nod of the
cap to the real people of this world, the ones who never get their
name in lights.
This story is also a personal tribute to my uncle, whom I only wish
could be here to read it.
By the way, his name was Eddie.
“YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU”
Lyrics by Jimmy Monaco
You
made me love you
I didn't want to do it, I didn't want to do it
You made me love you
and all the time you knew it
I guess you always knew it.
You made me happy sometimes, you made me glad
But there were times, Dear, you made me feel so bad
You made me sigh for, I didn't want to tell you
I didn't want to tell you
I want some love that's true, yes I do, deed I do, you know I
do
Give me, give me, give me what I cry for
you know you got the brand of kisses that I'd die for
You know you made me love you
Performed by Al Jolson, Judy Garland and Patsy Cline