Book Critique
Tuesdays with Morrie

Tuesdays with Morrie is a book about a middle-aged sports writer who has a very busy life and the realizations he comes to as an old friend reminds him what is truly important. At the beginning of the book Mitch Albom is very focused on success and his career as a newspaper sports columnist. As the book progresses, the reader watches Mitch’s priorities change. One night while Mitch was watching television he saw Ted Kopel interviewing Morrie on Night Line. Morrie was Mitch’s favorite college professor. Morrie served as a mentor for Mitch and the two spent many hours together taking about life. Morrie was the type of professor that truly loved to teach. He and Mitch developed a strong friendship and after Mitch finished school they promised to stay in touch. As time passed, Mitch worried about his career and focused solely on being successful. He lost contact with Morrie and soon forgot about his promise to keep in touch. The night that Mitch saw Morrie on Night Line he was surprised to see his old college professor and remembered his failed promise to keep in touch. Morrie was now retired and was dying with amyotrphic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease). Mitch decided to visit Morrie. Once Mitch made contact with his old friend and college professor he started to see Morrie once a week on Tuesdays. On Mitch’s Tuesday visits, he and Morrie began to work on “Morrie’s final project”. During their visits Mitch and Morrie would talk about life and the things that Morrie was learning as he was dying from his disease. This book is a result of their Tuesday visits and is what they called “Morrie’s Final Project”. Mitch Albom’s purpose in writing this book was to give people the opportunity to get to know Morrie. This would give others a portion of the opportunity he had enjoyed in learning some of the great things that Morrie had to teach people. One of the most important things that this book teaches is the significance of investing time in the things that are of greatest consequence in life. Oftentimes, people get caught up in the pursuit of money and their careers. Families and friends are not the main focus and they get pushed to the side. This was the kind of life that Mitch was caught up in when he renewed his relationship with Morrie. Mitch had lost contact with his family, his main focus was his career. This type of situation is the reality for many Americans; part of Mitch’s objective may have been for them to see their own behaviors in him and make the same positive changes he had. This adds to the credibility and applicability of the book. Another thing that made this book credible was the concepts that it taught about aging. We live in a society where aging is looked at as a negative thing, and death is to be avoided at all costs. Seniors are often left to the wayside, especially if they become debilitated. Morrie taught readers of the importance of taking a unpleasant situation and making it a wonderful learning opportunity. Morrie showed that learning never stops; as Morrie got sicker and sicker he was able to take each situation and turn it into a positive learning experience. Mitch was able to show a real world scenario in this book. Aging is something that all will face in this life. Many people with have experiences where they or a loved one will get a disease that will take their life. They will see themselves or a loved one go through the process of dying. Reading this book could help people in the aforementioned situations understand and deal with the process of dying and learn how to better cope with tough situations. Before reading this book, I was reluctant to think about my own mortality or situations in which I could become debilitated. I think most people approach disability and death with apprehension, even though death is inevitable and having to rely on others for basic care is the reality for many seniors. Even Morrie had plans for an active retirement and worked hard to remain healthy. Morrie had the courage to address his disease and death that he knew would result from his diagnosis of ALS. He provides his “students” with lessons on this subject, so even though I am not more comfortable with death now than I was before reading the book I at least am progressing in that direction. I don’t know that I would consider this book life-altering, but I think it is good to come across things of this nature occasionally to help me try to keep my life in the proper perspective. I don’t know how much this book will influence me professionally. Perhaps it will help me become more compassionate to those I may encounter in similar situations, but other than that I don’t foresee any changes. However, I am not a very Type-A person, so I may not experience the change in priorities that someone of that nature might after reading this book. I felt the biggest strength of this book was Mitch Albom’s ability to use himself as an example. He includes in the book several instances where he was not proud of his behavior. Some authors might have left out the part about taking a phone call in Morrie’s driveway before the first visit, but Mitch included this information, noting his embarrassment at his own actions. Including information like this allows the readers to relate better to the author because the author is showing weaknesses that are common to all of us. One feature of the book that I did not enjoy was the jumping back and forth from Mitch’s college days to his current life. I can understand why the author used this technique, but I felt it interrupted the flow of the story. Overall, I enjoyed reading Tuesdays with Morrie, but I did not feel that it was a life-changing experience. However, if I knew somebody who might benefit from the ideas in this book, I would definitely recommend it.