For One More Day

“You can’t lose your mother, Charlie.”

I struggled to pick which book to write my first Honeycomb review. In the past few months I’ve flipped madly through the pages of books varying so differently in context, character and plot. Picking one book from the handful of new stories I have fallen in love with was no easy task. I had spent a week rereading the final candidates when I came across Mitch Albom’s novel, for one more day. I had forgotten all about this book and I knew the second I saw the cover that it would be my first review.

From the very first page of For One More Day I was enthralled with the life story of Charlie “Chick” Bennito. Until the day his father left, Chicks childhood was just like any other kid on the block. Divorce in those days was taboo, and so Chicks mother Posey became a single mother who had to struggle to raise her two children. Her beauty and divorce status isolated their family from the friends they used to have. Chick threw himself into the only thing that connected him to his father, Baseball. He played through college and had a small stint in the major’s before a minor injury took him off the plate, and he was never able to catch his streak as a pro again. Chicks drinking and money problems caused his family to fall apart. His wife walked away from their marriage, and his daughter denied their affiliation completely. It was a mix of depression, alcoholism and realization of his broken relationships that pushes Charlie over the edge. Packing nothing but alcohol and a gun, Charlie leaves to visit his childhood home one last time. Suicide becomes his only saviour.

You could say that for one more day is a ghost story of sorts, although it feels nothing but real when you read about Posey (who had been dead in the ground for eight years) showing up to spend one last day with her son. Although the story is centered on Chick Bennito, his mother Posey’s presence makes her stand out as a secondary main character. Acting like a Jiminy Cricket to her son, Posey brings Chick around to other souls to show them comfort in their last living minutes. Throughout their last day together Posey reflects on her life and reveals secrets and sorrows to Chick about why his father really left, and what sacrifices she made to ensure her children were happy. As the day progresses, Charlie grows to understand why he is the person he is, and how to become the person that he wants to be. Clinging between life and death, Charlie has to pick whither he wants to end his life, or begin a new chapter in the life he’s been dealt.

Posey Bennito is my undoubtedly my favourite character in this book. I love her not only because her humour reminds me of my own mother, but also because her strength and sacrifice as a woman and a mother are reflected by women everywhere in society as we speak. She sheds light on what it means to be a wife, to be unappreciated, and to still love those who hurt her the most with every cell in her body.

I would recommend any of Mitch Albom’s books as all of his literature is easy to read and is full of natural, real emotion. For One More Day is a wonderful novel that reminds us to appreciate and love our mothers the way they do for us.

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Kelsey