Tuesdays with Morrie~Book review.

Mitch Albom, who is famous for his books “The five people you meet in heaven” and “For one more day,” had written this biographical book on the life of his former professor, Morrie Schwartz, and, after his death, published it in the year 1997. The book got its name in lieu of their almost meeting ritual on Tuesdays. The main locational setting for this book is Morrie's house, which is located in West Newtown, Massachusetts. Mitch, who has a busy and progressive life, used to fly to Morrie from Michigan every other Tuesday to get all his questions answered.

The leading theme in the book is how the acceptance of death enables one to live life exclusively. As to quote Morrie, “The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn how to live.” Morrie literally lived his life as if there is no tomorrow.

It is a first person narration by the author who recites the instances of their meetings, switching his lives during his college days and their present circumstances to give us some background details while advancing with the book. Their meetings were not like formal teacher-student meetings, but more like two friends interacting years after their University graduation. To quote lines from the book, as the author speaks, “The last class of my old professor’s life took place once a week in his house, by a window in the study where he could watch a small hibiscus plant shed its pink leaves. The class met on Tuesdays. It began after breakfast. The subject was the meaning of Life. It was taught from experience.” And the only student this professor taught was Mitch. He even used to record their conversations so that he could listen to them after Morrie’s death. Morrie knew he would die soon. Everybody knew about it. And that made his life even more significant. He cherished every moment of it, valued everyone and everything involved in it.

In the most natural language and manner, this book has been successful in persuading innumerable people, of varying age, to get a new view point and acknowledge teachings from life experiences of an old, dying professor. In the words of Morrie’s last student, “No books were required, yet many topics were covered, including love, work, community, family, aging, forgiveness, and, finally, death.”