Ryan ChartrandThe much-anticipated new release by “Tuesdays With Morrie” author Mitch Albom, “For One More Day,” takes an unconventional approach to answering one of life’s most pondered questions: What would you do if you had the chance to spend one more day with a lost loved one? Based on an interview with the story’s real-life protagonist, Albom gives his readers a subtle yet powerful narrative that shows what it means to come to terms with a turbulent past, to forgive ourselves, and to move on.
Chick Benetto, a salesman, former baseball player, ex-husband, distant father, and alcoholic, decides one day that he’s had enough of his life. His mother is dead, his family gone, and his grand dreams are long crushed and forgotten about. He decides to end it all by traveling back to his childhood town and jumping off the old water tank. However, things don’t go exactly as planned: he jumps off, but isn’t killed like he wished for. Instead, he ends up unconscious, hanging somewhere between life and death.
In his precarious state, Chick is reunited with his mother (who died ten years earlier) who helps him along in his journey to self-forgiveness. Intermittently placed in between their dialogue are stories from Chick’s past that illuminate the reader’s understanding of the troubled adult he has become. These stories give clear examples of his deepest regrets, hurts, and issues from the past that have brought him to this point of such deep despair. There’s his father who left when he was a child, the ruined relationship with his daughter that’s eating him apart, and the reconciliation that never occurred with his mother. As we go back in time, we come to see Chick as a man who is the product of his unresolved past.
While reuiniting with dead relatives isn’t exactly an everyday experience, and isn’t what one would expect to find in a novel that is based on a true story, Albom presents the plot in a way that is not at all far-fetched. There is no sci-fi, spiritual, or “this could happen to you” focus. Instead, the story is revealed in a careful, genuine way that emphasizes coming to peace with the past, instead of sensationalizing someone’s personal experience.
An easy read, the book will only take the reader an hour or two to get through, but will leave him/her with much more than a nice story. Albom is like a poet in that his deceptively simple wording expresses much more than the letters on the page. Like his other books, For One More Day takes an almost nostalgic look at what it means to live life to the fullest. Don’t get turned off by the profound subject matter though; the message isn’t forced or too deep, and the storyline isn’t too sappy to digest. The book is presented as one person’s experience and the lessons he learned from it; the author subtly encourages the reader to take from it what they will.
For One More Day is a good midterm-week book. You can finish it between your English test and your Calculus exam, and not have to worry about wasting too much time away from studying. Plus, you can walk away with a life lesson or two without feeling preached at. Starbucks was onto something when they made it the first book they advertised in all of their national stores. It’s the perfect coffee break book that busy people everywhere are sure to enjoy.