Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom
I. Introduction of the book
Tuesdays with Morrie is book which was written by one of the subject’s favorite students, Mitch Albom. Mitch is an American author, journalist, screenwriter, dramatist, radio and television broadcaster, and musician. It was dedicated to a Sociology Professor named Morrie Schwartz. The book was mainly Morrie’s idea and he even called it their last thesis. The book contains Mitch Albom's memoir of his days spent with his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz. The memories they made at the phase where Morrie knew he will die soon.
The title of the book, “Tuesdays with Morrie” was based on their moments together. They met every Tuesdays. Morrie’s classes were on Tuesdays. They’d sit by Morrie’s desk and in the cafeteria just to talk about stuff. As Morrie said in the book, they’re Tuesday people. And when Morrie got sick, he suggested that they should meet every Tuesday. Since Morrie liked naming things, he has several suggestions for the title of the book but Mitch is the one who gave the title of this book.
This book teaches us on how to be a person; it tells us that you're never too old to learn and to change. The book also tells us that we can learn from ourselves as well as from others. Morrie uses his illness as an opportunity to grow and to show his affection to his loved ones before he die. The book tells the world that dying isn’t that bad. One can use it as a motivation on becoming a greater person. This book also shows that love is the most important thing in this world. Also it tells what friendship is and how powerful it is.
The book presented issues. The first one is Morrie’s illness. He got ALS or the so-called Lou Gehrig's disease. As I’ve read in the book, this disease was taking over Morrie. It made him stop dancing, walking, and even wiping his own buttocks. It also prevented him to eat solid foods. This said disease took his life. The other issue is on Mitch’s point of view. It is like having a war with himself. He got so engrossed with his life for sixteen years that he didn’t made his promise to stay in touch with his professor. He then made time for Morrie and that changed his life forever.
II. Setting & Characters
Setting:
The setting took place in Morrie’s home in Massachusetts. Morrie had a study room with a window where he could see the trees outside, a hibiscus plant that shed its pink flowers and filled with books from Morrie's years of teaching.
Characters:
Morrie Schwartz- Sociology professor at Brandeis University. He is a loving and compassionate old man who is battling his life to a disease called ALS. He was best known for his wisdom and aphorisms. He connects with his student, Mitch while he was battling with his disease. They met every Tuesdays to talk about stuff.
Mitch Albom- Morrie’s student who is absorbed with the demand of the world– work, money, etc. After abandoning his dream of being a pianist, he has become consumed with his fast-paced life and constant strive for materialistic possessions. He struggles to find the meaning of his life. He fled 700 miles every Tuesday just to be with his dying professor to learn about life.
Charlotte Schwartz- Morrie’s wife. She has been married with Morrie for forty-four years. She was a private person; very different from Morrie but he respects her for that. She has been very loving and always caring for Morrie.
Ted Koppel- ABC journalist and a host of Nightline who interviewed Morrie. His interview with Morrie became a way for Mitch to get in touch with his coach. Ted and Morrie became friends after the interview.
Connie- One of Morrie’s nurse who had been a great help ever since Morrie got the disease.
Peter- Mitch’s brother who had cancer. He dethatched himself while he fights for his disease. On the end, Mitch realizes that he should reach out and reconnect with his brother.
Rob and Jon Schwartz - Morrie’s two adult sons who are loving and very close to Morrie.
III. Plot
Mitch Albom graduated on college on 1979. He then finds his favorite professor, Morrie Schwartz. Morrie is a small man, has sparkling blue-green eyes, thinning silver hair, big ears, triangular nose, and tufts of graying eyebrows. Morrie had always been a dancer. He would dance to whatever music there will be. Be it Rock, Big Band or Blues. He danced by himself, no one knowing that he was a Doctor of Sociology and a professor. Morrie told Mitch’s parents that he’s a special boy then Mitch gave Morrie a briefcase with Morrie’s initials on it. Morrie then asked Mitch if he would stay in touch. He said of course then Morrie cried.
In 1994, Morrie was diagnosed with Amyotropic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The disease made him weak and limited his movements. He could no longer dance, drive, unclothe himself, and even pee by himself. Nonetheless, he taught his final college course setting aside the idea of quitting. The doctors said he had two years; he knew it was less. He and his wife prepared for this new life. Morrie started opening up his home to visitors, reaching out to everyone he knows. He wasn’t afraid of dying. He attended a funeral and noticed that people only say good things about you when you’ve died so he created the “living funeral” where you say good things on a person while he’s still living.
Mitch didn’t stay in touch. Since Mitch’s graduation, he has become a newspaper reporter and a lover. 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.
Mitch thinks of Morrie every now and then but he never did approach his favorite professor. He even ignored all mails from his past school thinking that they’re only after the money. One night, something caught Mitch’s ears. While Mitch was flipping the channels, he heard someone say “Who is Morrie Schwartz?” then he went numb. On March 1995, Morrie was interviewed by Ted Koppel. They’re talking about death, afterlife, and Morrie’s dependency.
Having heard Morrie on the television, he went to visit his dying professor. He hadn’t seen him for 16 years. Morrie has thinner hair and withered. Morrie was then hugging him and Mitch was surprised for the affection he got. At first he was a bit taken aback by how frail Morrie was and worried that he had made the wrong decision by visiting, but that fear began to melt pretty quickly. They ended up chatting for hours, as if no time had passed between them. That day, their last class began. Morrie was able to convince Mitch to come back and visit next week.
Every Tuesdays they would meet. Their discussions are about life stuff– marriage, death, friends, family, regrets, love, money etc. The purpose of their class was to discuss Morrie’s view of life. Since Mitch wanted to remember Morrie and being so intrigued, he began to record every class they took.
These meetings went well and affected Mitch and Morrie so much. They met for the next fourteen consecutive Tuesdays. Morrie's body was weaker. Mitch started reaching out to help take care of Morrie in an effort to show his love for his friend.
On their fourteenth Tuesday together, they made farewell to each other. Morrie can now barely speak. He gave Mitch a hug and told him he loves Mitch. Mitch said it too. It's a tearjerker moment. For a long time, Morrie wanted to make Mitch cry and that day, he finally made him cry.
Morrie passed away a few days later. It was Saturday. He died having none of them on the room and Mitch thought it had a purpose. He wanted to go serenely and he got what he wanted. He got buried in a nice spot. It had trees, grass and a sloping hill.
Morrie’s last class took in his home, by a window in his study room with a hibiscus plant beside it. It was always on Tuesdays. The subject was the meaning of life and it was taught from experience.
IV. Psychological Impact
Having read it for the second time, Tuesdays with Morrie still made me shed tears. It made me feel as if I was there, talking to Morrie about life. It is one of the books that took a strong hold on my heart. My emotions ranged from bliss to melancholy. The book made me question things and ponder about life.
Some aphorisms made by Morrie really touched me. Morrie teaches that the culture is distracting us by being materialistic from the things that really matter. Each of us should reject popular cultural values and develop one’s own. Morrie created his own culture with love, acceptance and communication and not with materialistic things. This is very relevant nowadays. People focus on material things than on things that would really make us happy–offer what one has to other people. Open yourself up to other people, talk to them and give them love. Morrie said that the best way to do that is to offer companionship.
The other aphorism I love is “The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” He knew he is going to die soon but that didn’t make him miserable. Instead, he used his time left by hearing other people’s stories that made him happy.
He had several aphorisms about love. Those are the ones that really appealed to me. Many people have been afraid to love, afraid to give in. This book justifies that love is the most important thing in life. “The most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come in. Let it come in. We think we don’t deserve love, we think if we let it in we’ll become too soft. But a wise man named Levin said it right. He said, “Love is the only rational act.” Life without love is really meaningless, sorrowful and painful. If love comes into our life, we’ll be filled with happiness.
Tuesdays with Morrie taught me a lot of lessons. It has affected my life so much. Lately I’ve been facing problems and by reading Tuesdays with Morrie, I got inspired to continue living my life. Every time I would feel hopeless, I would always think of the lessons I’ve learned from this book to keep me motivated.
V. Analysis Critique
Tuesdays with Morrie is a simply-written book that has depth and meaning. Usually, when I read a book I would have a handy dictionary beside me; I needed none when I read this. This book is universal–anyone can read this even a child. The book is very casual and it made me think that I was involved in the story.
In the book, the author provided flashbacks that made us realize and understand the relationship of the two. This is Mitch’s way of adding meaning to his story. The book mainly tackles about the lessons that Morrie taught and the impact it made to Mitch.
This book is autobiographical and biographical. It talks about Mitch’s life as well as Morrie’s and how they interact with each other. The book’s content is very significant. There are no sugar-coating and everything happened in real life which made it very interesting.
If I were to change anything in the book, I would choose none. Everything seemed to fall into their perfect places. Morrie’s death was fine. He got what he wanted– to die peacefully. He also got to be buried at the place he wanted.
Tuesdays with Morrie is very well-written. It is recommended for people who wanted to know the meaning of life, to know their purpose, and how to be a better person. This book inspired a lot of people including me. All thanks to Mitch and of course, to coach Morrie Schwartz.