For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Grade: C+ or B (depending on how you look at it)

Maybe I'm being hard on this book, I don't know. I did devour 75% of it in a couple hours, but I don't know if that was because it was that good, or because I was that much in want of another book to finish. I finished it the day after I finished Never Let Me Go. That being said, I STARTED the book back in... May. I think I had it on my trip to Boston with Buddy. I tried to read it on my flight back, but I'm pretty sure sleep took over. [Again, not sure if that is indicative of my true feelings of this book.]

Maybe after reading Tuesdays with Morrie, and then after that, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, another book surrounding themes of death and mortality and legacies and stories left behind... I don't know, I felt a little blah. Maybe if this was the first one I read, I'd have felt like it taught me a more profound message (Hence, the B)... but it was a little too much like Five People and I guess the semi-mini-twist at the end felt like an afterthought... a "I'm gonna throw this in here just to wow the reader." Kind of like a singer deciding at the last second to hold a note longer and maybe even try to go up a half step or so... but instead of the intended effect of "Oh shit, she's awesome," it was just awkward and made her miss her next entrance.

It follows the story of Charley "Chick" Benetto and his life--but not really. Essentially, it's his story of an extra special day he had with his mother. Maybe if I thought about the book more, I'll like it more, but where I stand right now, a few days after reading it, I'm underwhelmed. I actually can't even really think of what happens in it. So maybe if I remembered, I'll go "OH YEAH THE BOOK WAS AWESOME," but I think it's definitely is a sign that I DON'T remember any of it, because--and most of my friends can attest to this--I REMEMBER EVERYTHING!

Oh, I did just remember one thing that I really liked about the novel. Much like Tuesdays, the story itself is peppered with mini stories that help facilitate the telling of the main story. In this novel, Chick gives examples of "Times My Mother Stood Up for Me" and then, in contrast, "Times I Did Not Stand Up for My Mother." These are all examples of how mothers (parents) will do big and little things for the sake of their child, and the child... is at the time oblivious to this and is kind of a dick. Yes... I loved these stories so much, I'll go ahead and bump up my original grade. And I'll go ahead and give it an endorsement of "read it if you have time because it's good and it's short, so it won't be a time consumer."

Final Grade: B-

P.S. They apparently made a tv movie out of this. Oprah produced it I guess, but according to wikipedia, it got some bad reviews.