For One More Day by Mitch Albom (2006, Hardcover)

More Than Just A Good Read
Book Review
By James Myers


http://www.morebeautifulw​oman.com/more_than_a_good_read
http://www.myspace.com/ja​meswmyers
http://stores.ebay.com/Bi​g-Jims-New-Store_W0QQssPageNam​eZl2QQtZkm





For One More Day
By Mitch Albom

Rating:



Mitch Albom, the author of Tuesdays with Morrie, and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, has written another provocative, insightful, sentimental book, the causes us to explore the possibility that we could have one more day in time with a parent. Perhaps long enough to see things from their point of view, and in the process to alter our life. Albom has been called the “fearless explorer of the wishful and the magical”, and this book is no exception. The result is a transcendent, sentimental and profound work that has the power to stir the reader.

For One More Day is the story of a mother and son, and the epiphany that comes with the experience of spending one more day with a loved one. Charley Benetto as a child favors his father. But suddenly, the father leaves, and the 11 year old Charley and his mother are forced to fend for themselves. Charley’s embarrassment and yearning for a complete family goes unanswered during the remainder of his childhood.

Years later, Charley is a broken man. Alcohol and depression have left him without a job, a family, and any semblance of a normal life. He reaches his limit when he learns that his only daughter has not invited him to her wedding. He decides to take his own life.
The book turns Capraesque, when Charley decides to return to his hometown. He fails in his attempt to end his life. He decides to go to his old home, where he once lived with his mother. To his amazement, he finds his mother, who died eight years before, is still inhabiting the old house, and takes him in as if nothing has ever happened. Charley drifts back in time, to spend one more ordinary day with his mother. What follows is a series of eye-opening revelations that cause him to come to terms with his mother, an explanation family secretes, and ultimately forgiveness. Charley learns things about his mother he never knew, including the pain and sacrifices she made for him. Drifting back and forth between the past and the present, Charley and his mother put back together the pieces of his broken life.

This book could have been a smoltzy throw away, but Albom’s masterful storytelling, inspiring characters, and biting insights make this a must read. This is wonderful books that spend many weeks on the best sellers list. For One More Day is a book of life and love lost, and then found. This book is more than just a good read, but a masterpiece of study of the existential condition of all of us. I highly recommend this fine book.

This is the story of Charley, a child of divorce who is always forced to choose between his mother and his father. He grows into a man and starts a family of his own. But one fateful weekend, he leaves his mother to secretly be with his father - and she dies while he is gone. This haunts him for years. It unravels his own young family. It leads him to depression and drunkenness. One night, he decides to take his life. But somewhere between this world and the next, he encounters his mother again, in their hometown as he visits his old home, and gets to spend one last day with her - the day he missed and always wished he'd had. He asks the questions many of us yearn to ask, the questions we never ask while our parents are alive. By the end of this magical day, Charley discovers how little he really knew about his mother, the secret of how her love saved their family, and how deeply he wants the second chance to save his own.
I highly receommend this and the author's other books as well.

I have read several books by Mitch Albom. His writing style is wonderful. He makes you feel like he's an old friend and he's recounting a story on the front porch over some lemonade on a warm summer night. His stories are easy reads, but still manage to have colorful characters that we can all relate to on some level. "For One More Day" is written in the first person & recounts a near death experience of an old, could-have-been baseball player who was planning to commit suicide, until his near death gave him the chance to spend a day tagging along with his long dead mother as she visited old friends who were getting ready to die themselves. Through the course of this day, he discovers all of the things about his mother that he never noticed or appreciated when she was alive, and realizes that his mostly absent father was not worthy of all the adoration bestowed upon him by his only son.
This book is the story of a man who chased a dream for most of his life and ultimately discovered what was really important in life.

Charles "Chick" Benetto, an aging,wantabe, almost hasbeen, baseball player,turned alcoholic,goes on a sucide mission. After a drunk driving accident he is teetering between life and death,and gets to spend One More Day with his deceased mother, who helps him to gain understanding as to why and how his life got so messed up and he finds that he does have some reasons to go on living.

A very good story. A book about family relationships, a quick read, an easy book to read.Has been made into a movie as well.

I have read Mitch Albom's books, Tuesdays With Morrie and The Five People You Meet In Heaven, both of which I liked. I liked this latest book by Albom, too. It is written in his simple, easy style that pulls you into the story despite yourself. I felt I knew where the story was going, and yet, I couldn't put it down. In his other books, Albom hits a personal nerve for most people and this book is no different. For One More Day may not drasticly change your life, but it will probably make you stop for a moment, look around and wonder at the choices you make. Its that kind of book.