for one more day
Written by: Mitch Albom
Published 2006 by Hyperion
For One More Day is the story of a mother and a son, and a relationship that covers a lifetime and beyond. It explores the question: What would you do if you could spend one more day with a lost loved one?
As a child, Charley "Chick" Benetto was told by his father, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy, but you can't be both." So he chooses his father, only to see the man disappear when Charley is on the verge of adolescence.
Decades later, Charley is a broken man. His life has been crumbled by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits bottom after discovering his only daughter has shut him out of her wedding. And he decides to take his own life.
He makes a midnight ride to his small hometown, with plans to do himself in. But upon failing even to do that, he staggers back to his old house, only to make an astonishing discovery. His mother�who died eight years earlier�is still living there, and welcomes him home as if nothing ever happened.
What follows is the one "ordinary" day so many of us yearn for, a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family secrets, and to seek forgiveness. Somewhere between this life and the next, Charley learns the astonishing things he never knew about his mother and her sacrifices. And he tries, with her tender guidance, to put the crumbled pieces of his life back together. (Synopsis Brought Over From goodreads)
This was a book I picked up on impulse at a second hand store just the other day. I confess I have heard of Tuesday's with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven and they never appealed to me,in fact they seemed like they might be a bit corny. However, I watch a YouTube channel called 1 book 1 review (check it out here ) and she speaks often of Mitch Albom and his books and how much she loves them, so I saw this and decided to give it a try. Much to my surprise and delight I loved this book! It was a bit sentimental but not in a corny way.The synopsis above gives enough info about the plot so I will instead talk about the main characters. Chick could at times be frustrating and spent so much time feeling sorry for himself that he neglected almost everyone around him. He spends most of his time wishing for what could have been and idolizing a father that quite frankly doesn't seem to care about him. Chick's father was a truly unlikable character he didn't seem to care about Chick unless he was playing baseball. Chick's father is in and out of his life while his mother remains there for him and Chick can't seem to see that.His mother was the kind of character you sympathize with one moment and want to yell at in the next. She made some questionable decisions that while I didn't agree with were understandable given the situation her husband put her in. I have never been one who needed to love every character in order to love a book and this was the case in this book. I didn't truly love any of the characters and Chick was down right irritating throughout but I really loved this book. The message is not a new one in fact it's a really old one. We all know the life is short tell the people you love that you love them before it's too late thing and that I believe is ultimately what this book is about. I have to mention the ghost aspect of this book . I don't read paranormal books of any kind. No vampires, witches, ghosts, goblins, fairies, werewolf's, nothing! Because of that I was reluctant to pick this book up but it's not "that" kind of ghost. I was unsure about this book and normally I wouldn't have even picked it up but I am glad that I did. So even if you don't like paranormal books you can still read this one and be OK.
Until Next Time
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