Amazon.com This true story about the love between a spiritual mentor and his pupil has soared to the bestseller list for many reasons. For starters: it reminds us of the affection and gratitude that many of us still feel for the significant mentors of our past. It also plays out a fantasy many of us have entertained: what would it be like to look those people up again, tell them how much they meant to us, maybe even resume the mentorship? Plus, we meet Morrie Schwartz--a one of a kind professor, whom the author describes as looking like a cross between a biblical prophet and Christmas elf. And finally we are privy to intimate moments of Morrie's final days as he lies dying from a terminal illness. Even on his deathbed, this twinkling-eyed mensch manages to teach us all about living robustly and fully. Kudos to author and acclaimed sports columnist Mitch Albom for telling this universally touching story with such grace and humility. --Gail Hudson--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal A Detroit Free Press journalist and best-selling author recounts his weekly visits with a dying teacher who years before had set him straight. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
I read this book after hearing so many good things about it and the TV movie based on it. It's a very quick read - I finished it in two days, which is unheard of for me! The book is basically about Morrie Schwartz, a history professor at Brandeis University, who has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and is dying. A former student, Mitch Albom, who had become a fairly well known sports writer, heard about his teacher from an interview with Ted Koppel on Nightline and decided to pay a visit. This visit soon turned into regular meetings - on Tuesdays - since at the time there was a strike at Albom's newspaper. Albom plots Morrie's declining health, which is quite depressing, but at the same time imparts Morrie's wisdom. One definitely can get a sense of what the important things in life are from someone who has little left, but Morrie is particularly eloquent and seems to carry an upbeat dignity to the end. Sometimes it takes the wisdom of a dying man to jog us enough to realize that human relationships and health are more important than all the gadgets, modern conveniences, pressures to get ahead professionally and monetarily combined. This is just the main point that Morrie starts "teaching" Albom and getting through to someone who, like many of us from time to time, have gotten obsessed with the real trivialities of life. The only complaint I have about this book is that it wasn't longer. I wanted to take more time and savor the wisdom and sweetness of this old man, but, like his illness's swiftness, reading the book seemed to go by all too quickly.
This book has had more impact on my life than anything else I've ever read, by far. It's a reminder to appreciate the simple, little things in life. It's a reminder that when you're dead, the things you've accumulated and the things you've done will disappear. What will remain is the ways that you've affected or touched other people.
This is a simple book with simple messages.
Live fully and in the moment. Treat others with respect, kindness, love, and dignity. Seek joy.
However, these messages are easily lost given the constantly increasing pressures we all face. This book is a guide to a way that you can live your life where you'll be able to look back at the end and feel peace and contentment.
I've given copies of this book to many people that I know. I encourage you to read this book and do so with an open mind and heart.
It feels like you're being force-fed Mitch's thoughts on Morrie's death. And Morrie didn't even feel genuine. His words were moving, granted, but he said the kinds of things you should have realized for yourself anyway. And he also seemed more like a character in a novel than a real person as Mitch turned him into a caraciture through the hefty use of simplistic literary devices. Morrie became Mitch's vehicle. Which is strange to me. Throughout the book you get the impression that Mitch is some sort of blockhead not to realize Morrie's advice, but at the same time you have to consider he must be pretty smart to have manipulated the contents of the book so well, to make so many people love Morrie and think that Mitch had absorbed something substantial.
Tuesdays with Morrie is a good book for many. It's easy to read and contains a powerful message about the importance of what's important in life. I was looking forward to delving in and discovering for myself what many others were praising.
However, about half-way through, I realized that there really wasn't much here. Just one man's journalistic perspective of another man's waning days. Yes, there is a message, and it's powerful--that we should be living each day with the acknowledgement that our days are limited--but, it's not a message unknown or unexplored. Here, however, it's done so predictably and without any heartfelt passion (get rid of the tape recorder . . . please!), that what you are left with is "Okay, next."
Also, you get the sense that there is more of the author than should be, and that's not a good thing for this book. Here's an excerpt toward the end of the book:
"The oxygen tube was up his nose now. I hated the sight of it. To me, it symbolized helplessness. I wanted to pull it out."
First of all, the fact that he even focuses on the oxygen tube is strangely unsettling in a moment like this, but not necessarily incongruous to the rest of author's analyses in the book; he does a thorough job of presenting himself as the masculine, hard-driven, sports-minded male perhaps in search of some small measure of meaning, sensitivity, emotion, nostalgia, etc. Morrie, of course, does get Albom to cry a few tears in the end.
In addition, notice the simplistic prose of the passage. It's typical of the rest of the book. Albom does, however, aspire toward the literary with overworked and uninventive analogies, but ultimately fails.
I gave Tuesdays With Morrie two stars because I did like Morrie and some of the things he had to say. I guess the tape recorder was then good for something.
This book is easy to read and avoids the usual preachiness that I find in "inspirational" type books. Those two reasons alone would have been enough for me to give this book a positive review. But beyond the general aesthetic reasons, I found myself thinking about things in this book during normal, every day chores. I would wake up the next morning, to remember that I had been dreaming about a particular thought that Morrie had discussed with Mitch. A book that can have this type of lasting effect on me is something special in my opinion.
Morrie talked with Mitch about a lot of things that I know are troubling to me. Dying is something that I've always been afraid of. It's an unknown entity in which I am entirely powerless over. This combined with my confusion of the entire God/Religion thing is enough to keep me wondering. Mitch captured Morrie's thoughts perfectly and most importantly, succinctly. Everybody knows we're going to die, but nobody believes it. If we did, we would do things differently. Although Morrie was born a Jew, seldom did religion or the God thing come into conversation. Instead, he said things that just seemed to ring true for me. Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live. This particular quote sounded good but it wasn't until I heard Morrie's logic that the little bell went off in my head. Accepting that today is my last day of life, might make me less "ambitious," make me less caring about things that are pretty superficial like money, labels, and materialistic items. I thought about all of the stuff I would cut out of my life if I only had that one precious day left.
Each chapter (each visit) had a similar look and feel to them with Morrie sharing words of wisdom that seemed practical and common sense like. Both Mitch and I would take the time to reflect on his words, not because it was required but the thoughts invaded our consciousness, seeming to uncover many of those things that we wanted to bury for one purpose or another.
If you know anything about ALS, then you know that it is terminal and that Morrie dies. I wasn't expecting to be so sucked in by Morrie. I wasn't expecting the sadness I experienced during Mitch's last visit with Morrie. I think I was sad about how often we don't understand things until it's too late. Such is folly of human experience, of life.
This book is recommended for those who are on a soul-searching journey about (dare I say?) the meaning of life. It will definitely raise important questions. Another oddly compelling book I recently purchased off Amazon -- that I need to recommend is: "The Losers Club: Complete Restored Edition" by Richard Perez, a very entertaining soulful book, funny and sad -- another book I can't stop thinking about -- about the search of love and meaning in life.
"Tuesdays with Morrie" was an amazing book. We read the book as a class At Portsmouth High, English 10. The book was read a loud to a class full of 15-17 year olds and I think that made the book that much better. The book is a great book for those who have ever lost a loved one or are going thru an experiance of losing a loved one. The book brought a tear to my eyes by the end. The book now holds a special spot in my heart because it's really true to life, that sounds dumb because its based on truth but its and very moving book. This book is great for all ages, probably better for those above 10, 10 if they are a very good reader, and has a good understanding of the feeling that come with loosing sone lone you love. This book is amazing dont miss you on it.
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See all Editorial Reviews
Great book to remind you of what really matters in life, February 8, 2000
This Is The Most Powerful Book I've Ever Read, December 9, 1999
Crap, June 26, 2005
I really wanted to like this, but . . . , June 25, 2005