“This is a story about family and, as there is a ghost involved you might call it a ghost story. But every family is a ghost story. The dead sit at our tables long after they have gone.” (For One More Day)
Chick Benetto is a man who tried to kill himself. This is the story about his attempted suicide and the one day it gave him with his deceased mother. Through the book we see bits of his childhood; Chick’s absentee father, nurse mother, and Roberta, his sister. We see his parents fighting over dinner, his father claiming that it just isn’t right. The father turns to him and asks him what he thinks of the food. Chick sides with his father because his father always says, “You can be a momma’s boy or a daddy’s boy, but you can’t be both.”
When Chick’s mother dies of a massive heart attack his life crumbles. He feels as if suddenly he is alone, no one backing him, no one on his side. The family he has built, a wife and daughter, quickly falls apart with his drinking.
He leaves them, just like once upon a time his father left him, turning his life over to alcohol. One day he receives a letter from his daughter with pictures of her wedding. He suddenly realizes that he has been exactly what he never wanted to be. He gives up then and decides to kill himself. All he wants is to have someone on his side again; he wishes that he still had his mother, the one person who always believed in him.
Chick drives out to his home town, full of alcohol and memories of his past. We see through the mind's eye the house he grew up in, the school he went to, and the unhappy or happy memories attached to each. On the off ramp to his small town Chick causes a car accident, but he walks away from it. Walking the rest of the way to his home he passes the familiar, aching and hurting he climbs the water tower he once climbed as a teenager and throws himself off of it. At the bottom he opens his eyes and a little way in the distance he sees his long-dead mother, standing in a lavender dress waiting for him.
Article comments
1 - Mel Odom
Hey Katie,
Great job!
2 - tink
Mitch always seems to get it right in these 'small' books of his...by small I mean not a lot of pages. His ideas and ideals are huge. Thanks for reminding me to put this on my list.
3 - Val
I think this book review is totaly off. The orders of the events are wrong and some of this stuff has nothing to do with the book.
4 - Katie McNeill
Well. I'm sorry you didn't like the review. This was how I saw it and everyone see's things differently.
5 - Val
Well i know that!!! But it is still total off
6 - Val
Also the whole friken story isnt about him trying to kill himself!! There is more important parts than just that!
7 - Katie McNeill
your right that the whole book isn't about killing himself. the book is about what he learned when he tried to kill himself. that is a huge part of the book and you can not over look that.
like I said. I'm sorry that you didn't like it. Sorry that you believe that it's 'off' but this is how I saw it.
8 - Becky
I think that the review was very well done. To keep it short and simple, Katie shrunk it very well. If you read it carefully, it is true that he usually took his mother for granted because of what his father said, "You can be a mama's boy or a daddy's boy but you can't be both. " However, i do think that you should stress on the fact that when he so-called "walked back to the water tower and all," it should be that he did it in his mentally not physically as readers of the review might sometimes get confused.
other than that, it is a job well done. (:
9 - EAC
There are many ways of viewing this book and I believe everyone has different views. Mitch Albom did a very great job with this book that should touch everyone in some sort of way.
10 - Virgie
I don't see any problem with the review. If that's how the reviewer sees the novel, then fine. I read the book and I was again inspired by the way Mitch Albom touches readers' heart. It's just that it's not better than Tuesdays With Morrie. But I still love Albom's writing style and his choice of topics in his novel. I'm hoping for more novels from Mitch Albom.
11 - matt
calm down Val
12 - darrenelle
hi! i love all your books...can you send me a copy of your latest books,....i can't afford to buy,,,i just borrow your books from my friends..... I'm from the Philippines,..specifically from,oriental mindoro,calapan city,lazareto...thank you very much..
13 - katie mcneill
This is just a review of the book. The author doesn't have anything to do with it.
14 - chenier
hi katie,, your review gives justice to the book.. great job! can you also give other reviews from the books of John Grisham,and Sydney Shelldon,, because i also like their crafts like mitch.... thank you....
15 - caris
great review!!keep it up...
16 - laura
I read this book shortly after my brother did take his life. If you have been there, on the other side, this is a real verison of "A WONDERFUL FIFE". I loved this book!!
17 - Mike
I think Val hs got some problems!
18 - Darren
I have been afraid to read this book. Five people you meet in Heaven is my all time favorite book, it touched me deeply, and I don't see how Mitch could equal it, but maybe he has. Thankyou for the review, I will read it now.
19 - leana
this book is wonderful i always preview a book before i buy it and i am definetly buying this book
20 - Tweety
Don't worry, If u liked Five people you meet in Heaven u will definitely like this.
21 - Taylor
i have the book but i havent read it yet. but ahah i need to do a report on it..what r the main events in it
??
22 - ednalyn
cool review..yeah I have a book report too...are there figures of speech in the novel? I can't find some..I nid 10 lines that have figures of speech. Plz help me....can any1 help me?
I'm from philippines
:)