Tuesdays with Morrie
- Jan 13, 2021
- 2 min read
★★★☆☆
Published in 1997, Tuesdays with Morrie topped the New York Times Non-Fiction Best Sellers List for a whopping 55 weeks between 1998 and 2000. In 1999, it was turned into an Oprah Winfrey-produced made-for-TV movie starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria that won four Emmys. It had a well-received off-Broadway production in 2002. It received 10th- and 20th-anniversary editions. It is, as the back cover of the 20th Anniversary Edition states, “… the runaway bestseller that changed millions of lives.”
Unfortunately, popularity does not mean quality. Though Mitch Albom’s tribute to his dear old friend and former professor, Morrie Schwartz, has its heart in the right place, is full of tenderness, love, and compassion, and contains a multitude of touching pieces of advice—“Love is the only rational act,” “Once you learn how to die, you learn how to live,” “Learn to detach,” “Money is not a substitute for tenderness,” “When you’re in bed, you’re dead”, “Death ends a life, not a relationship”—its impact is largely superficial. It’s not because we don’t care about Morrie as he slowly succumbs to, and ultimately dies from, ALS. It’s not because we don’t believe in Morrie’s words or in his approach to life in the face of looming death. On the contrary, only the most hardened, jaded, cynical soul could be left unfeeling for his plight or find his zest for life to be anything less than inspiring.
No, it’s because Albom never provides any insight into why Morrie has it right, why the rest of us have it wrong, and why it’s important, even necessary, that each of us—all of us, everywhere—live lives more emblematic of his. Morrie’s words may be true, but in Albom’s hands, they lack wisdom, landing with all the force of a Hallmark card. Nearly 25 years later, millions of people may have read Tuesdays with Morrie, but I question the assertion that it has changed many of them. I would argue that it has touched people and provided them with comfort, even hope. And maybe, like a well-timed greeting card, that’s enough. After all, neither Morrie nor Mitch intended to change the world but they certainly succeeded in putting some good into it.
Comments