My review of "One More Day" by Mitch Albom

For One More Day by Mitch Albom
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had a hard time rating this book. Here's why...

On the one hand, this is a beautifully told story. The voice of Chick Bennetto sounds authentic and is consistent through the story. In his voice, you can hear the nostalgia. You can hear the admiration he had for his mother. You can hear the longing he had for a relationship with and approval from his father. You can hear the dismay & regret over the choices he'd made and the negative turn of events in his own life. You also walk away with some beautiful "lessons learned". And you get to triumph with him in the end. Most importantly, you are reminded to reach out and make your relationships right TODAY...don't wait, because we don't always get one more day to right those wrongs.

The problem I had with this story is that it felt contrived. See, the author had a ton of success with "Tuesdays with Morrie"...which was based on a true story. And I think he tried to repeat that here with his journalistic-style telling of this story, even though this particular story was not true. Which just made this story seem annoying, inauthentic and made the author seem like he was trying to hard. The thing is, this author clearly has an ear for a good tale, and he also expresses himself beautifully. But his tale lost something when he tried to make it seem true with the journalistic method of storytelling.

I would have rather read a real account of an inspiring person (which is out there, and which I think Mitch Albom could tell beautifully) or one that is not written posing as a real story.

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