Sunday, August 22, 2010

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Tuesdays with Morrie is a gorgeous book about life, love and teaching.

Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson

It is based on the true story of a professor who is dying of ALS, and in his final days makes a difference in the lives of many, many people - including his old and favourite student. The student is shown as an idealist in college, ready to dream big and follow those dreams, and the story goes on to show you how the guy becomes more and more disillusioned - his idealism crushed by the bills and the attitude of those around him. And then one day he rediscovers the professor who taught him the meaning of the life, and goes to him every Tuesday for his Professor's final lectures, which help him to reassess his own life and relations.

The book is peppered with interesting stuff - quotes and stories come in the middle of every chapter, and therefore make the book more fun to read as well as more inspiring. The chapter names are also masterful. But the real beauty of this story is in how well the author takes a very sensitive topic like death and portrays it simply but effectively. He does not use any hard words, he does not bother with long paragraphs. This story requires no stylistic help to put its point across. Basically the story just has so much substance, and is so inspiring in itself that I feel like I want to memorize the book so that I will remember it forever.

In the story, Morrie, the professor, says, "Learning how to die helps you learn how to live."

And that is exactly what he tries to teach you. With sayings ranging from, "Love each other or die," and "When you're in bed, you're dead," Morrie will teach you about the many things that assail the generation of today - answer questions about life, death, about marriage, about family, about the importance of having someone to fall back on, the importance of connecting with people, the eventual unimportance of material things, and the fact that no matter what happens, love will live on. This book will fill your heart with joy and sorrow, and I am pretty sure you will not leave this book without feeling inspired and refreshed and ready to re-think you life and your goals.

I was very, very glad that I got the chance to read this book. (It was actually suggested by one of my teachers, who I was reminded of frequently as I read the book.) I don't agree with all the things Morrie believed in, but I do think that this a book everyone should read once (or perhaps at every stage in their life) in order to assess themselves whether they are not simply wasting their life pursuing someone else's goals.

Final thoughts: This has been a short and simple review for a short and simple book, but here is what I think - this is a book for all those kids with inspiring teachers, all those people who once had them, and all the people who never got the chance to meet their inspiring teachers. Definitely a must-read.

Other thoughts: Finishing up with Chandru Bhojwani's Journey of Om, should post a review soon. Also, one of my book reviews on Eva Ibbotson's Star of Kazan, came in Teen Ink here. Please read and vote if you like it.

Readers question: Did you ever feel like you had a teacher who truly understood you? Did you end up losing touch with them? Share your stories.

17 comments:

  1. This book is in a must read list for me. There is also a movie based on this non-fiction novel[same name].

    Till now I never came across a teacher who understood me! All are/were pakka professionals !!

    I would suggest u to read the book, The Leader Who Had No Title by Robin sharma if enjoyed reading this one !!

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  2. Hmmm.. the premise of the book sounds interesting. THough there is a huge queue , I think i can push this book up in my list, simply to add variety to the books i read :)

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  3. Ingmar: Thanks for visiting my blog. :) And I don't generally prefer to see movies based on books...they're often horrible and spoil the book itself. :( I will definitely look out for the book you suggested.

    Muddasir: Yes, that was one of the things that attracted me too. :) I also put it on top of my reading list when I got it from that particular teacher, and I was really happy that I did that.

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  4. A lovely lovely book!! I remember reading it last year.
    It took three hours to read, and three days to ponder about. The language employed by the writer allowed me to connect instantly, and the message was delivered in a very powerful manner. The quotes were simply fantastic.
    An immemorable read!
    And a review that does justice to the beautiful work!

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  5. hey sakhi... It's really amazing you can turn out so much reviews. btw why don't u make a post on how u get ur books and where u read them ?

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  6. Piyush: Hi, I totally agree with your assessment of the book. I still sit sometimes and the quotes of the book come back to me. :) And thank you so much for the compliment. :)

    Gautham: Thanks so much. Your suggestion seems interesting but its just that I don't know how much I would write about this. I mean, I generally get books either at my school library, or borrow them from friends, or buy them from the local landmark/crossword. Normally I read them in the bus (to and from school) or in bed?

    Or did you have something different in mind?

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  7. Naa ... that's exactly what I do too. Except the library at my college lacks quality books.

    You just seem to have a very high level of efficiency :)

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  8. My school is owned by the same people who own the local crossword...so our library is just out of the world... :)

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  9. sakhi! nice reveiw!! i haven't read this one yet...read "5 people u meet in heaven" by the same author its awesomee!!! :D
    btw who was the teacher u remembered while reading this?? anyone from our school?? :)

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  10. Hey Aanal,
    Yes, this guy is good at writing so I'm sure its nice. :)
    And it was Vidya Ma'am. :)
    This book is in the library and I'm returning it tomorrow if you want it.

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  11. ah...vidya mam......thought so :) naah..i'll read it aftr UTs! :D

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  12. I'm currently reading this book, lets see what I get out of it :)

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  13. Well...I hope you'll like it as much as I did.

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  14. Oh this was an excellent book.. I read it long back but it was amazing!

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  15. Hi Sakhi,
    This is Faraaz here, a friend of Chandru Bhojwani, one of the authors you have reviewed. I liked ur posts. Wud u be interested in doing a review of my upcoming novel? Please let me know on kazi.faraaz@gmail.com

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  16. Hi, I am Pranjal, from India. Firstly, after reading this review I want to go buy this book and read it. I wonder from where you get to read so many books - both the time and the money. I love reading and writing. I wish I could read all the books I want to read! But anyways, wonderful review! Great!

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