A book review ontuesdays with Morrie

an old man, a young man, and life’s greatest lesson

Submitted by:

Muskan

16CE028

Submitted to:

Dr. S. N. Singh

1

About the Author:

Mitch Albom

Mitchell David "Mitch" Albom (born May

23, 1958) is an American author,

journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, radio

and television broadcaster, and

musician. His books have sold over 35

million copies. Having achieved national

recognition for sports writing in the

earlier part of his career, he is perhaps

best known for the inspirational stories

and themes that weave through his

books, plays, and films.

He is the author of the international

best-sellers The Five People You Meet

in Heaven and For One More Day, as

well as eight other books. He works as a

newspaper columnist and a broadcaster,

and serves on numerous charitable

boards. He lives with his wife Janine, in

Michigan.

About the Book

Schwartz's and Albom's conversations canvas acceptance,

communication, love, values, openness, and happiness. Albom

emphasizes the importance of forging a culture of one's own to

transcend the tyranny of popular culture, suggesting that the media

are preoccupied with death, hatred, violence and depression.

Misquoting his favorite poet, W. H. Auden, Schwartz insists we must

"love each other or perish”.

Throughout the text Albom's character changes as Schwartz's

stories inspire him. Albom brings food to Schwartz at every visit, an

affirmation of life and health. It is the only gift besides company that

Albom is able to provide to Schwartz in his suffering.

Storyline of the Book

Morrie Schwartz was Mitch Albom’s favorite college professor. At the start of the novel

Albom recalls a memory from his college graduation day: he is saying goodbye to Morrie

and gives him a tan briefcase with his initials on it. They hug and when Mitch steps back

he sees that Morrie is crying. Mitch promises to stay in touch with Morrie but he never

does after college.

Since his graduation, Mitch has become a newspaper reporter and husband. He leads a

very fast paced life and is constantly working and traveling. He has become so engrossed

in his work that it consumes his life.

The novel recommences about sixteen years after Mitch’s graduation day; Morrie has

since been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Since Morrie’s diagnosis,

he began jotting down ideas and thoughts onto scrap paper, yellow pads or even

envelopes. He also wrote philosophies about living knowing death was very near. One of

his friends was so taken with his writing, he sent them to the Boston Globe reporter, who

wrote a feature story about Morrie. The story intrigued one of the producers of the show,

“Nightline”, who then did a feature story about Morrie. Mitch happened to see the

“Nightline” show and recognized his old professor. He called him to set up a visit.

Mitch began visiting Morrie every Tuesday. Their discussions ranged from the world,

regrets, death, love and money; the purpose of their meetings was to discuss Morrie’s

view on the meaning of life. Mitch became so intrigued by Morrie’s philosophies that he

began taking notes and even recording Morrie.

Morrie’s philosophies included rejecting popular culture morals and following self-

created values, loving others, and learning to accept death.

With each lesson, Morrie becomes increasingly sick; during their last meeting, Morrie

was bed ridden and near death. As he and Mitch hugged for one last time, Morrie

notices Mitch is finally crying.

Morrie dies a short time after. At his funeral Mitch tries having a conversation with

Morrie, as he had wanted. Mitch feels a certain naturalness and comfort to this

conversation and realizes that it happens to be Tuesday.

After Morrie’s death Mitch regains contact with his brother who lives in Spain and is

battling cancer.

Targeted Audience

Irrespective of age, maturity, advancement, mentality any one

read “tuesdays with Morrie”. It’s a emotionally complex story

which the reader can’t help but fall in love.

My Opinion As you approach your own death you learn a lot of things you couldn’t see previously. We see

things from a completely different perspective that we couldn’t see otherwise, and realise

what really matters in the end. With Tuesdays with Morrie, we have as much insight as we

can possibly have to the true meaning of life without having the full blown experience.

Although some concepts may not be expressed fully, we still get a glimpse of whats to come

and it can help us prepare for the inevitable.One of my favourite quotes from the book

was”Don’t let go to soon, but don’t hang on too long”. This quote implies that Morrie felt he

had a certain control over his fate, and choose when it was truly time to leave this earth. I feel

like you should stay long enough to make things right with everyone, seal the deal, and say

good bye. But you should not hang on when it’s clear its time to go. Meaning don’t let other

people suffer for you, and don’t make yourself suffer more than what is needed. Another part

of the book I like is when Morrie referred to our culture as something we create ourselves and

choose to live in. In todays times It’s hard to think of someone making there own “rules” and

social standards and doing what makes them happy. But Morrie teaches us to be truly happy

it’s necessary to detach, and do what our hearts tell us. Not what the money says. Money is

an illusion and a replacement for the true things that matter, love, and family, and friends.

And Until we realise that money can’t feel that gap in the end, we will never be truly happy.

This book does the best job possible in waking up people before it’s to late. It’s helps people

see what is truly important in the end.

“Type a quote here.”

–Johnny Appleseed

Conclusion/Lesson Learned:

“The culture we have does not make people feel good about

themselves. We’re teaching the wrong things. And you have to be

strong enough to say if the culture doesn’t work, don’t buy it.

Create your own.”This advice that Morrie gives Mitch stands true in many situations,

especially where culture is given more importance than the lives of the

people it impacts. The culture is not perfect. It has been created by

people and people can be wrong. If things are not going as they should,

they need to be corrected.

“Everyone knows they are going to die, but nobody believes it. If

we did, we would do things differently.”Everybody knows death is inevitable but yet people fail to take out time

for things that really matter. We think we know that death is a part of life

but we fail in living our lives accordingly. Living in fear of death is not the

answer; the answer is living life to the fullest and accepting that it shall

end.

“I thought about all the people I knew who spent many of their

waking hours feeling sorry for themselves. How useful it would

be to put a daily limit on self-pity. Just a few tearful minutes,

then on with the day.”It is OKAY to be sad but one need not dwell upon the sad part. In the

book, Morrie had been diagnosed with ALS and had just a few months to

live yet he didn’t stop living his life with the same zeal. He believed that it

is important to look at the positive side of life instead of brooding over the

sad side of it. “Why me?” is not the solution to any problem, it is a whole

new problem altogether.

“We need to forgive ourselves. For all the things we didn’t do.

All the things we should have done. You can’t get stuck on the

regrets of what should have happened”

Yes, you could have done so much had a certain thing not happened or

you could have been so much better had you not made that one decision

but here’s the thing, not everything is within control. Thinking about it

won’t change a thing but a better attitude and outlook for future might do

the trick.