56 pages • 1 hour read
Mitch AlbomThe Next Person You Meet in Heaven
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-4Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “The End”
Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of child abuse and graphic violence.
The narrator explains that the novel is a story about Annie, who, because of her youth, “never thought about endings” before her death (1). The story begins as Annie dies, though the narrator promises that “all endings are also beginnings” (1).
In life, Annie was a strong woman who worked as a nurse at a local hospital. She was saved by Eddie (of The Five People You Meet in Heaven) at Ruby Pier as a child and just before her death, marries her best friend from grade school, a man named Paulo. The following sequence is a countdown of the final 14 hours of Annie’s life, in which she walks down the aisle and sees an old man in the crowd who seems familiar but whom she cannot place, as well as a hot air balloon in the sky; dances with her new husband; and thinks back on how they came in and out of each other’s lives since they met as children. She remembers the doubts she felt as her wedding approached because “[w]henever [she] plan[s] things, they don’t work out” (6). After the dance, Paulo gifts Annie one of his usual strange creations, this time a rabbit made of pipe cleaners. The gift startles Annie for some reason. She looks around and spots the old man again, but she still cannot place who the man is. In fact, the man is Eddie, a worker at Ruby Pier who used to make pipe cleaner animals for the children. Eddie died saving an eight-year-old Annie when the cart of a drop ride fell loose from its tracks. The cart plummeted to the ground with Annie beneath it, and Eddie dove to push her aside, sacrificing his own life to save hers. Annie lost her hand in the process, which was painstakingly reattached, and was dubbed “The Little Miracle of Ruby Pier” (9).
With 10 hours left to live, Annie leaves the wedding with Paulo in a limousine. As they drive away, Eddie waves goodbye from the crowd. The narrator explains that “[a]t certain moments, when death is close, the veils pull back between this world and the next” (14), allowing people to glimpse the dead.
On the freeway, the limousine driver misses the exit. They end up driving past a man named Tolbert, who is stranded because of a flat tire. Annie insists on stopping to help, and Paulo gets out to do so. As they talk, Paulo is almost hit by a car, but Tolbert pulls him out of the way. After giving Annie and Paulo a card for his hot air balloon business, Tolbert decides to drive home and leave his assistant in charge. The next morning, Annie feels impulsive and full of vigor and suggests going for a balloon ride. Paulo is reluctant but agrees, and soon enough they are ascending in a hot air balloon with a novice balloonist. The ride is smooth for a while, but the balloon soon encounters strong winds and is blown into a set of power lines. It catches on fire and crashes to the ground as the balloonist hops out of the basket. The balloon begins to rise again, and as it does so, Paulo tosses Annie to the ground, where she lands on her back. Paulo jumps down moments later and hits the ground hard.
At the hospital, Annie is bruised but fine, and Paulo is severely injured. Both of his lungs are bleeding, and he will need a transplant to live. Annie insists on giving him one of her own lungs. She is desperate to make up for what she believes is her fault and does not want to live without Paulo. After much arguing, the doctors finally agree, and Annie is put under anesthesia.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Annie Makes a Mistake”
A memory from when Annie was two years old shows her sitting in her highchair and drinking apple juice from a straw. Her mother is proud of this achievement and tries to get Annie’s father’s attention. He angrily dismisses the moment and then storms off as Annie accidentally knocks the juice over. Annie’s father yells at Annie’s mother from another room, asking her what she did to make Annie cry. Annie’s mother ignores him and goes back to lovingly talking to her daughter.
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Journey”
Annie ascends into the afterlife as the world and memories—both hers and other people’s—rush past her. A stream of color surrounds her and she tries to keep herself grounded in the idea of saving Paulo, but the forces pulling her in the other direction are too strong. She wonders where she is and what has happened to her as the final moments of her life flood her mind.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Annie Makes a Mistake”
Another memory of Annie’s shows her at four years old. Her parents are arguing loudly about her father’s cheating, and she asks them repeatedly for a Creamsicle. Both parents try to tell her to occupy herself, remaining engaged in their own problems. When they leave the room, Annie is left alone and goes to grab a Creamsicle from the freezer by herself. In the freezer, she sees a frozen chocolate bar and plans to offer it to her parents to make them happy. Her father catches her and snaps her up, then begins violently slapping her. Annie’s mother rushes in, screaming, and when Annie’s father moves out the next day, Annie blames herself for her parents’ failed relationship.
Chapters 1-4 Analysis
The exposition of The Next Person You Meet in Heaven introduces the novel’s protagonist and her main inner conflict, which she must resolve through the wisdom she gains on her journey through the afterlife. The story “begins at the end” (2), a statement that introduces the theme of Death as a Part of the Life Cycle and establishes the idea that death is a process of resolution, connection, and healing. Annie feels as if almost everything in her life has been a mistake, and that everything good will eventually turn wrong. On her wedding day, she continues to worry, and small moments along the way hint at the possibility of a tragedy: Annie is given a pipe cleaner rabbit, just as she was the day of her accident at Ruby Pier, and she sees an older man in the crowd who seems vaguely familiar. Both of these clues hint toward Eddie, the man who saved Annie’s life the day of the accident. The narrator comments that “certain souls already departed […] can see you coming” before you die (14), which implies that Eddie’s presence signifies impending death. Annie also sees a hot air balloon during her wedding, which foreshadows the method of her death; Paulo’s close brush with a car is also rendered ironic later, as the man who saves Paulo from the car—Tolbert—runs the hot air balloon business that costs Paulo and Annie their lives.
This series of events seems, on the surface, inconsequential and unrelated. This emphasizes the fact that deep, Interwoven Human Connections exist between all people and do not know the boundaries of time or place. Annie’s death is the result of not only her own decision to go for a balloon ride, but also the decision of the assistant to fly despite bad weather and Paulo’s agreement: “It all seemed so serendipitous: a business card, a phone call, a pilot named Teddy, a launching spot not far from the hotel” (21). One simple choice—stopping to help a stranger with a flat tire—plays a major role in a catastrophic tragedy. In this way, Annie’s experiences up to the moment of her and Paulo’s death illustrate how life is “written second by second” (12), and one small moment like receiving a business card from a man on the freeway can change everything forever.
The reader is also given glimpses into Annie’s childhood, showing the abuse that she and her mother experienced at the hands of Annie’s father. Each time “Annie makes a mistake” (33), her life changes; her parents’ divorce, she moves, her hand is permanently injured, and more. After decades of attaching her actions to the consequences she experienced, Annie becomes convinced that everything is her fault. Annie’s journey through the afterlife will teach her The Purpose of People, Suffering, and Life, so that she may return with a changed perspective.
The hot air balloon accident is symbolic in a number of ways. A hot air balloon ride is a recreational activity that brings one closer to a world outside their own. In the novel, the firmament, or “heaven,” is a place that surrounds Earth, and Annie and Paulo slowly draw closer to it as the balloon ascends. The moment symbolizes how both of them are about to die, although neither of them is aware of this. The hot air balloon is illustrated underneath the titles of the chapters that take place in the afterlife, further adding to the idea of the balloon as a symbol for ascending toward heaven. When the winds sweep the balloon toward the power lines, it signifies the significant changes that Annie is about to go through.
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By Mitch Albom
