Setting

The main setting is in heaven, although Ruby Pier is a recurring setting throughout the whole novel.
In heaven, Eddie meets the five people whose lives he had impacted greatly. The majority of the story takes place in heaven. The significance of heaven is that heaven was the place where Eddie learned valuable, important lessons.
The importance of Ruby Pier is greatly stressed in the novel. Eddie spends almost his entire life growing up alongside Ruby Pier. Eddie's father worked as a maintenance worker as Ruby Pier, but after he died, Eddie took over his father's job. As a result, Eddie felt angry and confined to Ruby Pier; he was angry with his father for dying, which forced Eddie to work at Ruby Pier, to help support his mother in place of his father.
Eddie moved back to his family's apartment, to take care of his mother, who didn't react well and seemed unable to take care of herself after Eddie's father died. Eddie permanently moved back into the place he had grown up in, and continued his work at Ruby Pier, which was exactly what he had been doing before he went off to war.