The first book I read by Mitch Albom was The Five People You Will Meet In Heaven. My memory of it is fuzzy; I think I read it back as a teenager, and I have a vague memory of my stepfather or stepbrother recommending it to me when I could make this up entirely. I can better remember Tuesdays with Morrie – I’m booking the film I enjoyed almost as much as the novel that inspired her. Suffice it to say, it has been well over a decade since I last read about Albom, and when my friend David Wade posted a copy of For One More Day at the Bought beautiful bouquiniste Book Café I borrowed it soon afterwards.
Book review for another day
The type of book you know will be a flow of tears from the start. For One More Day tells the story of Charley ‘Chick’ Benetto, whose life is in ruins. After a failed suicide attempt, he can spend another day with his late mother, and through a series of flashbacks and a wistful journey that encounters a strange and enigmatic tryst with the ghost of the past, the heartbreaking story unfolds.
Partly ghost story, partly exploring the complexity of a mother-child relationship. For One More Day asks the question, what if you could spend another day with a lost loved one?
A simple but multi-layered story that is powerful, moving, tender and touching and, above all, redeeming. For One More Day is a wonderful story about the power of love and the importance of forgiveness. Mitch Albom wonderfully captures the spirit of what it means to live as a flawed person in a flawed and imperfect world, and delivers a memorable story that will make his readers want to keep their loved ones a little closer than ever.
For another day of Mitch Albom’s summary
For One More Day is the story of a mother and son and a relationship that will last a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question, what would you do if you could spend another day with a lost loved one?
As a child, Charley “Chick” Benetto was told by his father, “You can be a boy from mom or a boy from dad, but you can’t be both.” So he chooses his father only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of puberty.
Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life collapsed from alcohol and regret. He’s losing his job. He is leaving his family. He hits the ground after discovering that his only daughter excluded him from their wedding. And he decides to take his own life.
He’s taking a midnight drive to his little hometown, with a plan to do himself. But if he doesn’t even do that, he stumbles back to his old house only to make an amazing discovery. His mother, who died eight years ago, still lives there and welcomes him home as if nothing had ever happened.
What follows is the one “ordinary” day so many of us long for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, explain family secrets, and ask for forgiveness. Sometime between this life and the next, Charley learns the amazing things he never knew about his mother and her victims. And with her tender guidance he tries to put the crumbled parts of his life back together.
Through Albom’s inspirational characters and masterful storytelling, readers will re-appreciate those they love and who they may have lost in their own lives. For One More Day is a book for all family members and is loved by Albom’s millions of fans worldwide.
Buy for another day at Bookshop.org, Book Depository, Waterstones, Amazon, or Amazon AU.
further reading
Mitch Albom’s website has a wealth of resources – from reading group guides to finding out more about his charity work – and is well worth a visit.
Mitch Albom author bio
Mitchell David Albom is a writer, journalist, screenwriter, playwright, radio and television broadcaster, and musician. His books have been sold over 35 million times worldwide. were published in forty-one territories and forty-two languages around the world; and have been made into Emmy Award-winning and critically acclaimed television films.
More Mitch Albom books
Mitch Albom’s other books include Tuesdays with Morrie, The Five People Who Are In Heaven Who Have Little Faith.
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