The Next Person You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

From Goodreads, 

"In this enchanting sequel to the number one bestseller The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom tells the story of Eddie’s heavenly reunion with Annie—the little girl he saved on earth—in an unforgettable novel of how our lives and losses intersect.

Fifteen years ago, in Mitch Albom’s beloved novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the world fell in love with Eddie, a grizzled war veteran- turned-amusement park mechanic who died saving the life of a young girl named Annie. Eddie’s journey to heaven taught him that every life matters. Now, in this magical sequel, Mitch Albom reveals Annie’s story.

The accident that killed Eddie left an indelible mark on Annie. It took her left hand, which needed to be surgically reattached. Injured, scarred, and unable to remember why, Annie’s life is forever changed by a guilt-ravaged mother who whisks her away from the world she knew. Bullied by her peers and haunted by something she cannot recall, Annie struggles to find acceptance as she grows. When, as a young woman, she reconnects with Paulo, her childhood love, she believes she has finally found happiness.

As the novel opens, Annie is marrying Paulo. But when her wedding night day ends in an unimaginable accident, Annie finds herself on her own heavenly journey—and an inevitable reunion with Eddie, one of the five people who will show her how her life mattered in ways she could not have fathomed.

Poignant and beautiful, filled with unexpected twists, The Next Person You Meet in Heaven reminds us that not only does every life matter, but that every ending is also a beginning—we only need to open our eyes to see it."

Goodreads - The Next Person You Meet in Heaven

I've had this book hanging out on my bookshelf and collecting dust since it was released.  After rereading The Five People You Meet in Heaven I decided I should definitely read this book.  Once I realized that it was about Annie, the little girl that Eddie saved, I was beyond excited. 

Annie's life was changed when an old man named Eddie pushed her out of the way and saved her life as a child.  Annie suffered some trauma to her hand and an empty memory of the accident.  Annie's mom quickly moved her away to start fresh.  Annie meets a boy named Paulo at her new school, but soon life takes them down different paths.  As adults, they reconnect and immediately fall in love.  Annie and Paulo get married, but Annie keeps seeing Eddie.  She knows that isn't possible because he died years ago.  After the wedding, Annie and Paulo prepare to leave for their honeymoon, but there is a constant barrage of choices that are made that impact lives.  This leads to a major accident that sends Annie on her own heavenly journey to meet her five people. 

Favorite quote from The Next Person You Meet in Heaven

"The tale of your life is written second by second, as shifting as the flip of a pencil to an eraser.  There are so many times our lives are altered invisibly.  The flip of a pencil, from written to erased."

I was so excited that this book followed Annie.  I really enjoyed getting to learn where life led her and the PTSD from the accident.  Even moreso I enjoyed reading about Annie's five people.  As I mentioned last week, this series leads you to inquire what five people impacted you and what five people you've impacted.  But honestly, this book had a plot twist and a half in it.  There are spoilers from this point forward, so go ahead and buckle up.  First thing is that there was this insane storyline of Annie and Paulo being in a hot air balloon accident.  They end up in the hospital and Annie says she will do whatever to save Paulo.  And the next thing we know Annie is in heaven meeting her five people.  This was an insane concept for me because it ends up that Annie doesn't die!  Which this entire concept that you meet five people when you die is crazy enough and there is absolutely no way to ever prove this happens.  But the premise that if you flatline and they revive you, you will still meet your five people is crazy.  Paulo ends up dying in the book and is Annie's final person.  He explains that she needs to save someone else much like she was saved years earlier.  Annie eventually finds out that she is pregnant and that the baby is the person she is supposed to save.  I just think it is a wild concept that you would meet your five people even though you aren't officially dead.  

I also really liked the entire concept of choices impacting our lives second by second.  By choosing to go left instead of right while driving could mean the difference between life or death in some instances.  It makes you really think about all the choices and decisions that we make in a day.  Some seem so small and trivial, but they are a drop that can cause a major ripple and change the outcomes of so many different things.  There were a ton of examples of this after 9/11.  There was a story about a man whose child got sick on 9/10.  So he called in the next morning and in turn it saved his life.  Something so small can change the lives of those around you.  This idea of small changes makes me reflect and think about the things that I have said or done and how things would be different.  The first thing that comes to mind on this is when I left a long term relationship in February.  He snapped at me a couple different times one Sunday.  The next day it felt like there were a thousand different things building up and I couldn't handle it and the way I was being treated.  So I "snapped" and broke up with him.  I told him he needed to take over our lease or move out.  One small moment changed life for me.  I think at where I would be now if we were still together.  I wasn't happy then, would I be happy now?  Probably not.  Things weren't going to get any better.  I went through a month of complete chaos because I had no idea where I was going to live, how I was going to pay for utilities and rent, or how I would manage being on my own again.  There were good days and there were bad.  But I am so much better off and way happier by making that decision to be done.  One small decision can impact your life in wonderful and magical ways, but it can also end in disaster.  

This book was really good, but it didn't have the same magic and flow that The Five People You Meet in Heaven had.  Fans of Mitch Albom will absolutely love this book and if you've read The Five People You Meet in Heaven then this is a must read.  I give this 3 out of 5 stars.  

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

From Goodreads, 

"From the author of the phenomenal #1 New York Times bestseller Tuesdays with Morrie, a novel that explores the unexpected connections of our lives, and the idea that heaven is more than a place; it's an answer.

Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who has lived, in his mind, an uninspired life. His job is fixing rides at a seaside amusement park. On his 83rd birthday, a tragic accident kills him as he tries to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife, where he learns that heaven is not a destination. It's a place where your life is explained to you by five people, some of whom you knew, others who may have been strangers. One by one, from childhood to soldier to old age, Eddie's five people revisit their connections to him on earth, illuminating the mysteries of his "meaningless" life, and revealing the haunting secret behind the eternal question: "Why was I here?""

Goodreads - The Five People You Meet in Heaven

Awards and Nominations: 

• Lincoln Award Nominee (2008)

I will forever and always be a huge fan of Mitch Albom's books.  The first book I read of his was Tuesdays with Morrie and I was absolutely in love.  So many of his books are moving works of literature that should be reread every few years.  You're guaranteed to get some kind of new and moving advice on every reread.  

Eddie is just a maintenance man who works at Ruby Pier.  He has lived what seems like his whole life working at the pier.  But on his 83rd birthday, he changes the course of his life and of a little girl when he attempts to save her life when a ride comes crashing down.  The next thing Eddie is aware of is that he is on an empty Ruby Pier from decades earlier.  He soon learns that he is dead and that he is going to meet 5 people from his life.  Along the way, he will learn the role and purpose he had on Earth.  

There is no way for me to sit here and act like I didn't get emotional at times over this book.  In February I decided to flip life upside down.  I got out of a long-term relationship, moved, and had to figure out how I was going to financially cover all the changes happening.  It was a lot.  So as I reread this book I found myself asking "What is my purpose?"  I question what impact I've had on those I've encountered.  This book will make you take a deep dive into yourself and make you think of who your 5 people would be.  Who are 5 people that have either dramatically impacted my life or who I've impacted?  As a teacher, I like to think that I've impacted hundreds of lives, but then I stop and ask myself who I've made a difference with.  There have been 1 or 2 kids every year that I feel like I had a special connection with and that I made an impact on them during that school year.  I remember their names and the experience I had with them.  This book also leads me to ask have I made an impact on any of my family or friends?  Are there strangers that I've impacted unknowingly?  I love Albom's concept that when we die we will meet 5 people who have impacted us or who we have impacted.  It makes death seem a little less scary. 

This book is formatted so that you get slivers of the story that will piece together to form the entire story.  There are pieces of present-day, pieces of Eddie's past, pieces of the lessons to be learned, and pieces of the people that Eddie meets.  The unique writing style keeps just enough mystery to the story itself.  I have no complaints about this book.  I did watch the movie shortly after finishing this and there were almost no differences between the two. 

I really enjoyed this reread.  It made me question what my purpose is and what impact I've had and what impact people have had on me.  Since reading it I feel like I've sort of realigned my goals and purpose.  I've been working on myself for the last few months and I'm so glad that this book just further fueled my fire.   

Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton

 

From Goodreads, 

"Soon to be a major motion picture starring Charlie Plummer, AnnaSophia Robb, and Taylor Russell!

Fans of More Happy Than Not and The Perks of Being a Wallflower will cheer for Adam in this uplifting and surprisingly funny story of a boy living with schizophrenia.

When you can't trust your mind, trust your heart.

Adam is a pretty regular teen, except he's navigating high school life while living with paranoid schizophrenia. His hallucinations include a cast of characters that range from the good (beautiful Rebecca) to the bad (angry Mob Boss) to the just plain weird (polite naked guy). An experimental drug promises to help him hide his illness from the world. When Adam meets Maya, a fiercely intelligent girl, he desperately wants to be the normal, great guy that she thinks he is. But as the miracle drug begins to fail, how long can he keep this secret from the girl of his dreams?"

Goodreads - Words on Bathroom Walls

Awards and Nominations: 

• Rhode Island Teen Book Award Nominee (2019)

I've recently been drawn to books that have a movie adaptation.  I really enjoy reading the book and then watching the movie and determining which is better.  After a summer stroll through Books-A-Million, I noticed this book with the large print across the top reading "NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE".  I immediately snatched the book up and knew I would find the movie somehow, somewhere.  

Adam is just a normal teenager, except that he has schizophrenia.  He is transferring to a new school and is part of a new drug study to hopefully help relieve him of some of his hallucinations.  Adam struggles to ignore the cast of characters that appear to only him.  Things become even trickier once he starts making friends and meets a girl that he really likes.  Will the drug work and will Adam get away with his secret?

This book was really dry and kind of boring.  I felt like it let me get a glimpse inside the mind of someone who has schizophrenia, but it wasn't very exciting.  I didn't like that the entire book is in a journal format because Adam is supposed to be talking to his therapist, but he refuses to talk.  The therapist decides to have him write in a journal so that there is some form of communication going on between them.  There were conversations in the book, but I felt like all of the characters were flat.  Even Adam with his multiple character hallucinations was boring.  There wasn't a real plot and there was nothing exciting until prom happened.  And even then the book fizzled after the situation at prom.  I was also kind of confused by the title of the book.  I thought that the words on the bathroom walls would be some big and moving piece in the book and it most definitely wasn't.  They were just words on a wall.  

I was able to rent this movie from Redbox.  I watched part of it one evening and was fairly bored by it.  I finished it the next day and tried my hardest not to rage over the movie.  The movie was NOTHING like the book.  Adam was of course the main character and sure he had schizophrenia, but that was about the only thing that was the same.  Adam's hallucinations were different than they were in the book.  Dwight, Adam's friend from the book, didn't even exist in the movie.  Maya had a tragic life and story in the movie because she didn't have a mom and they were basically in a financial crisis.  Maya was also way more abrasive in the movie than she was in the book.  Ian, who was a jerk and a bully in the book didn't have a role in the movie, which was kind of a big deal considering he was a pivotal breaking point in the book.  There were just so many big differences between the two that it didn't even feel like I was watching the movie adaptation of the book.  

Overall, I wasn't impressed with the book or the movie.  The book was better than the movie, but it still lacked the pizazz that I thought it would have.  This obviously isn't a book I can put in my classroom library.  I think that people who enjoy books about mental illnesses would like this, but know that it is a bit of a struggle to get through in my opinion.  I give this 2 stars.  

Dear Evan Hansen by Val Emmich, Justin Paul, Steven Levenson, and Benj Pasek

 

From Goodreads, 

"From the show's creators comes the groundbreaking novel inspired by the Broadway smash hit Dear Evan Hansen.

Dear Evan Hansen,

Today's going to be an amazing day and here's why...

When a letter that was never meant to be seen by anyone draws high school senior Evan Hansen into a family's grief over the loss of their son, he is given the chance of a lifetime: to belong. He just has to stick to a lie he never meant to tell, that the notoriously troubled Connor Murphy was his secret best friend.

Suddenly, Evan isn't invisible anymore--even to the girl of his dreams. And Connor Murphy's parents, with their beautiful home on the other side of town, have taken him in like he was their own, desperate to know more about their enigmatic son from his closest friend. As Evan gets pulled deeper into their swirl of anger, regret, and confusion, he knows that what he's doing can't be right, but if he's helping people, how wrong can it be?

No longer tangled in his once-incapacitating anxiety, this new Evan has a purpose. And a website. He's confident. He's a viral phenomenon. Every day is amazing. Until everything is in danger of unraveling and he comes face to face with his greatest obstacle: himself.

A simple lie leads to complicated truths in this big-hearted coming-of-age story of grief, authenticity and the struggle to belong in an age of instant connectivity and profound isolation."

Goodreads - Dear Evan Hansen

I'm one of those people that are either reading all the trending books or reading none of them.  A few months back a trailer was released for the movie Dear Evan Hansen.  I did a little research and realized there was a book that the movie was based on (and the book is based on a play).  Once I recognized the cover I realized I had seen the book on Scholastic before.  I did a little digging and searching but was unable to find it.  I ended up finding a copy at Books-A-Million on the CLEARANCE AISLE.  I'm not mad about it being on sale, but I was definitely shocked considering there's a movie being released in September. 

Dear Evan Hansen is the story of two boys.  Evan Hansen has a broken arm, social anxiety, and an assignment from his therapist to write a letter to himself.  Connor Murphy is a loner and an outsider who decides to sign Evan's cast and steal his letter to himself.  But the next day at school Connor doesn't show up.  Or the day after that.  Evan gets called to the office and meets Connor's parents.  They return Evan's letter saying that it Connor wrote it for Evan before he took his life.  Evan's social anxiety is at an insanely high level and he goes along with the lie that he was friends with Connor.  Will Evan ever tell the truth about his friendship, or lack thereof, with Connor?

It has been a long time since I have read a book as quickly as I read this one.  I felt like I couldn't put it down.  I absolutely loved the two viewpoints that were present in this book.  For the majority of the book we get to read Evan's point of view, but we periodically get a glimpse from Connor who is basically hanging out as a ghost.  I thought it was so unique to have that glimpse from Connor because it told just a piece of his narrative.  Connor took his own life, but he doesn't have a real voice in the book.  Unfortunately, Evan creates an entire narrative of his relationship with Connor and paints a picture of who Connor was, even though that's not at all who Connor was.  I had very mixed emotions throughout the entire book concerning the characters.  I almost sympathized with Connor.  I felt so sorry for him that he didn't have a voice and that he wasn't ever able to be the real him.  And at times I sympathized with Evan.  When he finally admits how he broke his arm and the struggles he has with his anxiety I was hoping that he would get the help that he needed.  But when Evan was being a conniving human that was trying to be popular and get with Connor's sister Zoe I was livid and frustrated at this character.  For the majority of the book I felt angry at Evan and his actions.  I kept waiting for a redemption arc, but honestly, it never came.  The ending tried to smooth things over, but at that point I was over it and I was over Evan. 

I kind of went on a negative rant there for a minute, but I want to talk about what I want after reading this book.  I want a prequel.  I want a book that tells Connor's side.  I want the events leading up to where Dear Evan Hansen starts.  Connor is painted as the loner or the "school shooter" type.  I want to know what kind of person Connor really was.  I want to learn about his experiences with his family and Miguel.  This book left so many unanswered questions for Connor and I think that it would be fantastic to get answers.  There is so much potential with a prequel and I would purchase it in a heartbeat. 

I enjoyed this book.  My neighbor's mom almost spoiled the entire thing one day while I was reading on my porch.  I basically had to shut her down and be like I'M NOT FINISHED WITH THE BOOK PLEASE DON'T SPOIL IT.  I give this 4 stars.  This is a great young adult book and I definitely can't wait to watch the movie.