In this second novel from
Tuesdays with Morrie and
The Five People You Meet in Heaven
author Albom, grief-stricken Charles "Chick" Benetto goes into an
alcoholic tailspin when his always-attentive mother, Pauline, dies.
Framed as an "as told to" story, Chick quickly narrates her funeral; his
drink-fueled loss of savings, job ("sales") and family; and his
descent into loneliness and isolation. After a suicide attempt, Chick
encounters Pauline's ghost. Together, the two revisit Pauline's travails
raising her children alone after his father abandons them: she braves
the town's disapproval of her divorce and works at a beauty parlor,
taking an extra job to put money aside for the children's education.
Pauline cringes at the heartache Chick inflicted as a demanding child,
obnoxious teen and brusque, oblivious adult chasing the will-o'-the-wisp
of a baseball career. Through their story, Albom foregrounds family
sanctity, maternal self-sacrifice and the destructive power of personal
ambition and male self-involvement. He wields pathos as if it were a
Louisville Slugger—shoveling dirt into Pauline's grave, Chick hears her
spirit cry out, " 'Oh, Charley. How could you?' "—but Albom often
strikes a nerve on his way to the heart.
(Sept. 26)
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