For One More Day

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Published in 2006. 208 pages.

Amazon link

Author's website

Genre: Fiction

My Overall score: 3/5

What its about (taken from amazon.com): Grief-stricken Charles "Chick" Benetto goes into an alcoholic tailspin when his always-attentive mother, Pauline, dies. Framed as an "as told to" story, Chick quickly narrates her funeral; his drink-fueled loss of savings, job and family; and his descent into loneliness and isolation. After a suicide attempt, Chick encounters Pauline's ghost. Together, the two revisit Pauline's travails raising her children alone after his father abandons them: she braves the town's disapproval of her divorce and works at a beauty parlor, taking an extra job to put money aside for the children's education. Pauline cringes at the heartache Chick inflicted as a demanding child, obnoxious teen and brusque, oblivious adult chasing a baseball career. Through their story, Albom foregrounds family sanctity, maternal self-sacrifice and the destructive power of personal ambition and male self-involvement.

What I thought: I had mixed feelings about this book. In fact, it was difficult for me to come up with the score above. The main character (Chick) is not a very likeable guy. It was hard for me to relate or even comprehend his decisions and lifestyle. However, I could relate to his mother in many ways. As the story goes along, you can truly appreciate the unconditional love a mother has for her child. The acts of selflessness to improve your children's well being. It was difficult to grasp the whole 'ghost' aspect, but I do believe each of us has lost someone with whom we would love to have just one more day. So overall, it was a nice story. It took me a long time to read such a short book, because most times I would find something else to do rather then read it. So, mixed reviews here on this one.

There were a few quotes that touched me in this book, here are two of them:

"Behind all your stories is always your mothers story, because hers is where yours begins." page 194
"Sharing tales of those we've lost is how we keep from really losing them." page 197

Date finished: June 30, 2008

What I'm reading now: Sundays at Tiffany's