I love Tuesday with Morrie best. For One More Day is good too. It is about a broken man, Chick Benetto, who lost his job and family, and was destroyed by alcohol and regret. He took a midnight drive to his hometown to end his life. But as he staggered into his old house, his mother--who died eight years ago--was there, and spent the one day with him. Secrets were revealed. Love was felt. Forgiveness was offered. It is a ghost story. You may totally not buy it. But just as the writer puts it, have you ever lost someone you love and wanted one more conversation, one more chance to make up for the time when you thought they would be here forever? Well, I haven't, but I knew I soon will. I hardly had any idea of death until a few months ago, when my granpa had a stroke and lost his abilities to speak and move. I was reading Tuesday with Morrie and I couldn't help but relate myself to the author of the book, Mitch. I could do nothing but stand by granpa's bed watching him withering away, just as Mitch did his professor Morrie. The only difference was that Mitch got to talk to Morrie and received fatherly advice in return, while I tried hard to come up with broken sentences and ended up in silent tears. Back then I cried to myself constantly. Thanks to Tuesday, now I'm calm and ready. I like Mitch Albom because he's such a good comfortor. All his books are short stories you can finish reading within a day. They are beautiful, moving you to tears first and smiles eventually. "When someone is in your heart, they're never truly gone. They can come back to you, even at unlikely times." The idea is so comforting that it has to be true. A few words about the wrtiting technique. The way the writer puts the story together, segment by segment, can be called "Collage", or "Montage", shifting between the "the one more day"(which is in past tense) and the memories of past days(which is in present tense, excerpted from Chick Benetto's papers) with inermittent repeat of similar subtitles. This kind of non-linear account adds to the effect of the "ghost" story. Blurred are the bounderies between life and death, reality and dream, present and past, as if in limbo. Finally, my understanding of the key message of the book: Love cures all. Simple as that.
