Book Review on “Tuesdays with Morrie” by “Mitch Albom”

Mitch Albom’s “Tuesdays with Morrie” is a memoir of his college professor and mentor,
Morrie Schwartz. The book revolves around a series of events from the author’s graduation to his
reunion with Morrie after seeing him on TV and finally having one last course with him on the
subject of life, once a week, on Tuesdays and hence the title Tuesdays with Morrie. Mitch
graduated from Brandeis University back in 1979 and promised Morrie, his sociology professor,
that he would keep in touch which he didn’t do. Years went by and Morrie got diagnosed with
ALS in 1994 which changed the way he spent the next few years of his life. His disease got him
to abandon dancing, swimming, driving, walking freely and, eventually led him to be dependent
on others for almost everything. Mitch, on the other hand, gave up his aspiration of pursuing
music and took up the job of a sports writer. Morrie, who was decaying slowly, instead of being
ashamed of death, became a lightning rod of ideas that got published in a newspaper. The article
caught the eyes of a famous TV show producer and the team came over to Morrie’s house for an
interview. Mitch, on the other hand, had no idea of what happened to his favourite professor of
all times until one day, while flipping TV channels casually, he heard “Who is Morrie
Schwartz?”. These words reminded him of all the affection Morrie showered on him during his
college days. And, hence, sixteen years after his graduation, Mitch reunited with Morrie. Morrie
hugged Mitch and his happiness knew no bounds on seeing his long-lost student, his pal. Mitch
was surprised at such affection after all these years. They kept talking for hours and there were
calls of friends, meditation teachers, discussion groups for Morrie. After this meeting with
Morrie, Mitch could not stop thinking about him so he called Morrie and they decided that they
would meet on Tuesday. So Mitch went to see him. They had lunch together and Morrie talked
about the world, his increasing dependency on others and, how his suffering made him feel
closer to the people who were suffering than he ever was. The next Tuesday, they talked about
self-pity, and then every Tuesday, they would talk about something new, something they’d never
talked about before, including regrets, death, family, marriage, fear of aging and so much more.
Day by day, week by week, Morrie’s health worsened. He now needed oxygen tubes to breathe,
was unable to sit and his cough spell had made his sleep extremely disturbed. During his last few
days, he was in a coma so everyone was always around him. One day, when for the first time
since he was in a coma, there was no one with him, he breathed his last peacefully just like he
had always wanted to die. This book has all the pieces of advice that Morrie had given to Mitch
in the last few months of his life and the answers to so many of the questions that Mitch would
have not got from anywhere else.
In conclusion, Tuesdays with Morrie is a heartfelt tribute by Mitch Albom to Morrie. The book
has the answers to the questions that the youth of today is often struggling to find the answers to,
all the words of wisdom that make us humane, motivation for all those who are suffering from
such disease that death is not something to be ashamed of, that they can still cherish their life
with their loved ones, that they can still give to the people in their community even when they
are the ones who need the most. However, the only thing that a reader will find a bit difficult to
grasp are the medical terms used in this book but on the whole, this book will surely remind of
all the cherished moments that one has spent with one’s teachers.