Book Description

This is the story of a man named Charley who loses his job, leaves his family, and decides, one night, to end his life. Somewhere between this world and the next, he encounters his mother, who died years ago, and he spends one last day with her - a day he never had on earth. This 'ordinary' day covers the whole of their existence, and reveals how Charley, like many children, was constantly forced to choose between his mother and his father. He gets the chance many of us yearn for - to ask the questions never asked while our parents are alive. In the end, Charley learns how little he really knew about his mother, how her love saved their family, and how deeply he wants the chance to save his own.

From Publishers Weekly

In this second novel from Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven author Albom, grief-stricken Charles "Chick" Benetto goes into an alcoholic tailspin when his always-attentive mother, Pauline, dies. Framed as an "as told to" story, Chick quickly narrates her funeral; his drink-fueled loss of savings, job ("sales") and family; and his descent into loneliness and isolation. After a suicide attempt, Chick encounters Pauline's ghost. Together, the two revisit Pauline's travails raising her children alone after his father abandons them: she braves the town's disapproval of her divorce and works at a beauty parlor, taking an extra job to put money aside for the children's education. Pauline cringes at the heartache Chick inflicted as a demanding child, obnoxious teen and brusque, oblivious adult chasing the will-o'-the-wisp of a baseball career. Through their story, Albom foregrounds family sanctity, maternal self-sacrifice and the destructive power of personal ambition and male self-involvement. He wields pathos as if it were a Louisville Slugger—shoveling dirt into Pauline's grave, Chick hears her spirit cry out, " 'Oh, Charley. How could you?' "—but Albom often strikes a nerve on his way to the heart. (Sept. 26)

From AudioFile

Charlie's been drunk so often and disappointed his daughter so many times that she doesn't invite him to her wedding. He even fails at his suicide. Or does he? When his deceased mother returns to love him unconditionally for one more day, he's not quite sure what's going on. The author reads his book with a deep, resonant voice that matches the sentimental sermonizing in the story. Albom's narration singsongs as Charlie reflects on his mother's past support, his own failings, and the events of a confusing present in which he relishes his mother's care and sees his own life clearly for the first time. S.W.

Book Dimension :

length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6