The Five People You Meet In Heaven

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-3

Chapters 4-5

Chapters 6-7

Chapters 8-9

Chapters 10-11

Chapters 12-13 and Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Chapters 10-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 10 Summary: “The Fourth Person Eddie Meets in Heaven”

Eddie is in a room with multiple doors. Each door opens onto a different wedding, each with different languages and traditions. After stumbling through many weddings, he finds himself in an Italian village where a wedding is taking place. A woman is giving out candies. He recognizes her quickly as his wife, Marguerite.

Eddie and Marguerite’s wedding took place in an upstairs room at a Chinese restaurant. Eddie spent the last of his pay from the army to get an accordion player and a proper dinner. Afterward, he and Marguerite walked to their new home in the rain. Marguerite would joke years later that the only thing missing from the wedding was “the bingo cards” (155).

Eddie tells Marguerite about his life after she died, focusing mostly on Ruby Pier. He cries and tells her how much he missed her.

Due to the accident, Marguerite and Eddie miss out on a child they’d been set to adopt. Marguerite gives up on being a mother and a ghost of blame begins to live between them. Over time, they find their way back to each other. When Marguerite is 47, she is diagnosed with a brain tumor. When the doctors tell them nothing else can be done, Marguerite insists on going home, but the pain becomes unbearable.

Eddie and Marguerite spend a lot of time talking, but Eddie cannot gauge how much time because time is different in heaven. He tells her about the changes at Ruby Pier and she asks him about the war. He refuses to answer other than to say he lost himself.

Snapshot 10 Summary: “Today is Eddie’s Birthday”

Eddie celebrates his 38th birthday at work with Marguerite and a group of children she has gathered.

Snapshot 11 Summary: “Today is Eddie’s Birthday”

Eddie goes to the racetrack with his friend, Noel, and wins several big bets on his 39th birthday. He calls Marguerite to share the good news and she asks him to come home. Eddie refuses, so Marguerite drives toward the track to find him and bring him home. Just before she arrives, Marguerite passes under an overpass where a couple of teens are dropping bottles from above. One of the bottles hits Marguerite’s windshield causing her to crash. She is seriously injured resulting in a six-month recovering period.

Chapter 11 Summary: “The Fourth Lesson”

Marguerite tells Eddie that love never dies, even if the person you love dies. Then they dance.

Dominquez visits Eddie’s apartment with the estate attorney. The attorney finds a box filled with what he considers junk, but it contains mementos from the big moments in Eddie’s life. The attorney considers Eddie’s life pointless because all he must show for it is a clean kitchen.

Chapters 10-11 Analysis

Weddings are a motif of these chapters because weddings are Marguerite’s chosen heaven. She is surrounded by weddings of all types, with many different traditions and languages. Marguerite surrounds herself with the promise of love, illustrating the deep love that Marguerite and Eddie have for one another. Eddie’s affection for Marguerite has already been displayed in his memories of her that begin in Chapter 1 and follow him through the rest of the novel.

Eddie felt stuck in his life because he was plagued by depression after the war and then his father died, making him feel forced into living his father’s life by taking over his job at Ruby Pier and living in his childhood apartment. Eddie carries a lot of guilt for bringing Marguerite into this stagnant life. However, this is not the only trouble Marguerite and Eddie experienced in their marriage. Eddie blames himself for losing Marguerite’s one chance to be a mother by going to the racetrack on his birthday, leading to her accident. Although Eddie is not directly to blame for any of these things, Eddie allows his guilt to come between him and Marguerite for a time.

Death is another theme of the novel that is introduced at the very beginning of Chapter 1. Death has touched Eddie’s life multiple times, but the two that impacted him the most were his father’s death and Marguerite’s death. Eddie allowed his anger at his father and his sense of responsibility toward his mother to draw him back into a life he once dreamed of escaping. Eddie allowed his grief in losing Marguerite to take the joy out of his days and allow him to settle into a mundane, unsatisfying life. When he dies, Eddie sees his life as unfulfilling, and this is the same opinion an estate attorney has after a cursory glance into Eddie’s possessions. However, Eddie is learning in heaven that life is more than accomplishment and material belongings. The few trinkets the attorney sees in Eddie’s drawer seem mundane and unimportant, but they are mementos of a life lived.