author's Purpose
The book The Five People You Meet in Heaven was written in 2003 by Mitch Albom. The idea of the book is to portray the meaning of life—and death, and his personal concept of the afterlife in heaven. The book was truly inspired by his uncle Edward Beitchman, whom the main character Eddie is based on. The story was inspired by a similar story, told by his uncle, at the table on Thanksgiving. The story told by his uncle is about how one night he spent in the hospital, he awoke to see the souls of his departed loved ones, sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting for him. (Dedication page of TFPYMIH)
The spin, which the author puts on it, is his concept of heaven. Albom, shortly after hearing the story, ponders upon the endless ideas of what heaven is like.... What it is really meant to be. To him, heaven is a place where you go after you die, to get a better understanding of your life, the impact of others on your life, and whoever else's life you have had a significant impact on; even though most of the time, you feel as though your presence goes relatively unknown. throughout your time on earth; this also had a major influence on the story, because all of our ideas of heaven —or another afterlife, if any at all, are all very different.
The connection between the author and his main character, is the fact that Eddie was was based on his uncle, whom he acknowledged as the "real" Eddie, on his blog (mitchalbom.com). He also acknowledged him as being "a pretty gritty guy"
making connections between the personalities of the "real" Eddie, and the fictional Eddie; whose many traits are also quite an exaggeration of Edward Beitchman.