For One More Day

I've read "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "Five People You Meet in Heaven", so when I found out that Mitch Albom had a new book, I had to buy it. I just finished it - only took 2 days. As with the other 2 books, it's an easy read, but mostly it's a compelling story. As a person who lost a parent at a relatively young age, the stories and images in "For One More Day" really touched me on so many levels. It was heart-warming as well as heart-breaking. I guess that's the story of so many families. I highly recommend this book. If it doesn't make you want to kiss your mother and buy her some flowers, I don't know what will!

I haven't finished this book, I just bought it yesterday, but I am already half way through. This is one of the best stories I have ever read. It really made me think about my relationship with my mother, and how much I will miss her when she "goes home". It also reminded me of the sacrifices my mother has made for me and my siblings, and how we don't appreciate the life she gave up, the stuggles she has lived thru and how really she gave her life for us. Why do we leave so many things left unsaid? Chick has struggled all his life, and when it's almost too late he finally begins to really "see" his mother. So much pain and heartache could have been avoided in his life and in all of ours if we just took the time.

Albom, who previously grabbed us by our hearts in "Tuesdays with Morrie" and "The Five People You Meet in Heaven", does it again in "For One More Day". Masterfully playing with time (moving back and forth between the story's present time and the character's past), surprising the reader along the way and tactfully relating to emotions most of us are bound to experience at some point in our lives, he tells the tale of Charley Benetto, a retired baseball player left to rot outside the sport of his dreams, and his one-day reunion with his mom... who had passed away years before. The book doesn't score as high as "Tuesdays with Morrie", arguably Albom's best, but it does match his accomplishment with "The Five People..." by forcing us to contemplate our lives from the standpoint of forks in the road, what ifs, the choices we make in life and the consequences they carry along. In doing so Albom earns the book a solid five stars and my personal recommendation as one of 2006's most inspiring reads.

Unlike some other reviewers here, I actually think this is Albom's best yet - and that's saying something as his previous two (The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie) were best-sellers. Here Albom is more grounded, perhaps because the story really happened, is well-constructed, and, while fantastic, is not so abstract. Instead, one gets almost practical advice for living and much good food for thought. I bought this book yesterday and have already read it - and I don't do that often! It's extremely well-written and thoughtfully composed. It's the kind of book I will now have to buy several copies of to give as gifts - and it's the kind of book that you can give as a gift and it will be sincerely appreciated. Congrats to Mitch Albom for another winner.