Book Review – For One More Day

For One More Day is about Charles “Chick” Benetto, a product of a divorce, forced to choose between his mom and dad. His thirst for his father’s love leads him to baseball where he has a very short, very successful stint before getting injured, falling into a deep depression, surrendering to alcoholism and, eventually, attempting to end his life. Within the attempt, he enters the space between life and death where he spends one more day with his deceased mother and gets the chance to tie up loose ends and make wrongs right before living to tell about his experience.

For One More Day

Book 22 was one I snatched up at a little free library simply because I knew the author was at least decent. I generally follow a typical reading schedule between Book of the Month and book club, and I wasn’t planning on reading this one at this point, but I needed a quick read to fill in some space while waiting on the arrival of a book. So I grabbed this 200 pager off my shelf and devoured it in two days.

Book 22:
For One More Day
by Mitch Albom

Genre:
Fiction

Published:
September 2006

Synopsis According to Mandi:
Without spoilers, For One More Day is about Charles “Chick” Benetto, a product of a divorce, forced to choose between his mom and dad. His thirst for his father’s love leads him to baseball where he has a very short, very successful stint before getting injured, falling into a deep depression, surrendering to alcoholism and, eventually, attempting to end his life. Within the attempt, he enters the space between life and death where he spends one more day with his deceased mother and gets the chance to tie up loose ends and make wrongs right before living to tell about his experience.

Favorite Quote(s):

“But there’s a story behind everything. How a picture got on a wall. How a scar got on your face. Sometimes the stories are simple, and sometimes they are hard and heartbreaking. But behind all your stories is always your mother’s story, because hers is where yours begin.” 

-Mitch Albom, For One More Day

Awards (based upon my brief research):
New York Times Best Seller

Pages:
197

My Overall Rating:
4 – This book was a surprise to me. I’d read Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie (which I gave a 3), and expected this book to be similar. In so many ways, it was, and in so many ways, it wasn’t. I don’t understand Albom’s fascination with the dying, but I really appreciated what he drew from Chick’s experience in the story. It was hard and heart-warming at the same time, and the ending was not at all what I expected.