Reviews : Books
Facing regret head-on
Albom's latest novel revists opportunities for healing


By Chelsea Joy,
Staff writer
October 12, 2006

If you were given one day, from morning to night, to revisit your regrets and heal your wounds, would you take it? If you could see the one person you miss most in life and tell them the things that were never said, would you be brave enough to face them?

In his latest novel, For One More Day, Mitch Albom raises these ideas to our conscience. He gives reason behind these questions, and with a meager two hundred pages, he makes you believe that there is no such thing as impossible.

For One More Day is the story of Charles "Chick" Benetto, a man whose life began to fall apart piece by piece when his mother died of a heart attack.

Chick turns to alcohol for comfort and begins to neglect giving his family the devotion that they need. Soon, his wife divorces him and his daughter discards him completely. After his daughter is married and does not invite her father to her wedding, Chick finally gives up.

He decides to kill himself.

Chick drives to his old hometown of Pepperville Beach in a drunken stupor and attempts to end his life by flinging himself from a water tower. When he awakes, he sees the impossible: his mother, alive, standing before him.

From then on, the story is a whirlwind of simply written chapters and stories filled with the relationship between Chick and his mother from when he was just a child. Through memories of baseball, tears, and Chick's father, Chick and his mother rebuild their relationship again.

The most memorable scene is really a series of notes written by Chick, telling of the times that he did not stand up for his mother. In turn, he has collected all of the moments that his mother stood firmly behind him.

The very question whether or not Chick's mother is alive is present throughout the book. Chick saw her body in the casket, and he honored her wishes by shoveling the dirt over her coffin. Chick wonders whether he has succeeded in ending his life, and eventually, so will the reader.

Albom aimed high with his novel, and whatever he had planned, the result was ten times better. For One More Day is a profound read with bold truths wound within the pages. Albom takes a daring look into the relationship of a mother and her child, and the unbreakable bond they create.

The story itself gives off a Capraesque sensation. It sends the reader back to the moments they cherish most, and even those times in life when you just wanted to disappear.

Albom's first novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, was the most successful first book that an author has ever written in the U.S. selling over 8 million copies. I believe For One More Day has the potential to eclipse or equal the success of his first novel.

Albom puts his heart of gold on display within the words he writes. This book is one that should be among everyone's most treasured collection and should be read when one has been lost in gloom.

For One More Day can be purchased at any local bookseller for $21 or less. For more information on Mitch Albom and his works, visit www.albom.com.