‘Tuesdays with Morrie’ Movie Review

Image via Movie Poster Shop

This is another case of me being completely unaware that the book I was reading was turned into a movie. Thankfully, many of the amazing participants in WWW Wednesday let me know and I was able to grab this from the library to enjoy as a mid-week break from school. Oh, and I totally cried. It’s a good thing my husband was at work when I finished this.

Things I Thought Were Awesome

The casting. Lemmon and Azaria were both amazing. I can’t help think of Azaria from his role in Friends when he played Phoebe’s physicist boyfriend, but I still liked him in this. He even sounded a bit like Albom which was a nice touch. Lemmon was a great pick for Morrie and I think he really brought the character to life. It was very close to what I pictured when listening to the book.

Changes That Didn’t Really Bother Me

Mitch working. In the book, there’s a newspaper strike going on while he’s visiting Morrie so he’s not working and things are slow. Getting to see Morrie isn’t a scheduling conflict and Mitch has a lot of time to think about the lessons Morrie is teaching him. I think having him busy with work built a lot of suspense and helped with Mitch’s plot line which wasn’t present in the book.

 

Cover image via Goodreads

Things That Were Taken Out and I’m Still Wondering Why

Visiting Morrie’s grave. I thought this was how the movie was going to end. Morrie wanted Mitch to visit his grave and keep the conversation going, keep talking to him. In the book, Mitch talks about doing this and it made for a good ending. I wonder why the movie didn’t end the same.

Things That Changed Too Much

Mitch and Janine’s relationship. This one really upset me. Mitch and Janine were happily married in the book and I hated the implication that he was a bad boyfriend or husband. I felt Janine was a good support for Mitch in the book and viewing her any other way was hard for me.

The focus on Mitch. The book doesn’t focus much on Mitch. The story is about Morrie and how he’s dying and the lessons he wants to impart before he does. Switching the focus to Mitch and how he as changed by Morrie made for a good movie, but it wasn’t true to the book.

Like I said, this made me cry. It was well done and I grew to care a lot about Mitch and Morrie’s characters. I didn’t think such a short book could make a good movie, but I was wrong. Reader, have you seen the Tuesdays with Morrie movie? What did you think?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

WWW Wednesday, 1-November-2017

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison is still my ebook and I’m really enjoying this during my lunch breaks. It jumps around a bit more than I like, but the short snippets of the story make for good lunchtime reading.
I started a new audiobook, The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer. I’ve read a few Meltzer books before so I’m pretty sure of what I’m getting into with this one. It’s fun to see how similar an author’s books can be and yet how different. This is a long audio so I suspect this will be on here for a while.
I also started a new physical book, My Jesus Year by Benyamin Cohen. I love memoirs and memoirs about travel and religious understanding are always top in my book. Especially when my favorite non-fiction writer, A.J. Jacobs, has a blurb on the cover.

Recently finished: I finished Rules of Civility by Amor Towles on Friday and really enjoyed it. The characters were very real people and Towles writes amazing little details about them. My book club met to discuss this on Monday so I’ll have a summary of that up next week. You can take a look at my review, posted earlier this week, in the meantime.
As I expected, I flew through Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. It was short and sweet and I understand why this one is consistently on the bestseller lists. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much time and money went into Mitch visiting Morrie for all of those weeks but I think what both men got out of it was more than worth what was put into it. I posted a review earlier this week so please check it out.

Reading Next: I got my next book club pick, which is going to be Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf. I’ve seen a lot of positive reviews for Haruf’s novels but this will be my first. I’ll pick it up as soon as I finish Cohen’s book.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom (5/5)

I felt like a bad Detroiter when I’d say I hadn’t read this classic. Albom is a sports and literary staple in our town and not having read one of his biggest books felt bad. I even met the guy and hadn’t read it. I wanted a nice, short audiobook and this seemed to be just what the doctor ordered so I decided to cross it off my ‘eventually’ list and read it.

Cover image via Goodreads

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Other books by Mitch Albom reviewed on this blog:

The First Phone Call from Heaven (4/5)

Summary from Goodreads:

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago.

Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn’t you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you?

Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man’s life. Knowing he was dying of ALS – or motor neurone disease – Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final ‘class’: lessons in how to live.

Having read The Last Lecture, I thought this book would be pretty similar and on some levels, it was. I liked Mitch’s approach to his time with Morrie. Even as the disease took his body, Mitch knew his old friend’s mind was still sharp and capable of answering some of the tough questions Mitch had. I think Morrie was well poised to answer these questions. His life’s work had led him to analyze human interactions and behavior so he was able to look at his own behavior and history and identify what he needed to pass on.

I think Mitch portrayed Morrie in a very realistic way. I’m not sure if any of it was altered to make Morrie more likable, but I’d like to think none of it was. I remember professors from my own undergrad that I’d love to reconnect with and hear more about them and their lives. I’m thinking of one Spanish professor in particular. If something had happened to her and she was sick, I’d like to think I’d fly to see her. Maybe I would, but I’m not Mitch and I can’t say for sure what I’d do. But I remember her like Morrie: full of wisdom and always willing to share.

Morrie was easily my favorite character. It’s hard to see someone you love in pain and I appreciated that Morrie didn’t try to hide his pain from Mitch. He was straightforward with how and where he was hurting and while he asked for help, he never asked for pity. He wanted to remember loving his family, not being pitied by them and I think that’s a very noble, though difficult, thing to strive for.

In February, I’m going to fly to California to celebrate my Grandpa’s 100th birthday. While he hasn’t been diagnosed with anything specific, old age is getting to him and he frequently gets confused and disoriented. Like Mitch, I live far away from my grandpa and because of the distance, I lost contact with him for a long time. Unlike Mitch, it’s hard to establish it when dementia is setting in. I was jealous of what Mitch and Morrie were able to share. I wish I could do something similar with my grandfather.

As much as the life lessons were useful and heartfelt, I loved hearing Mitch describe Morrie and how he became so animated when Mitch would walk into the house. Knowing that when things were that dire and that painful, seeing an old friend could animate Morrie so much was heartwarming.

There wasn’t a part of this book I really disliked. If anything, it was the 20th Anniversary note at the end of my recording, but that’s only because it felt tacked on (which, of course, it was).

The audiobook was narrated by Mitch Albom. He narrates many of his own books so I wasn’t at all surprised. I think it added a lot because toward the end, he was able to imitate Morrie’s labored speech. It wasn’t disrespectful in any way, but it gave a good indication of how hard it was for Morrie to get out the words.

Morrie preached love. He loved his family, his wife, his job, and his life. It’s hard not to remember the things that make you happy when you read this book. I think it can be a good reminder. It’s very lucky for Mitch and Morrie that a newspaper strike and a national television spot timed up and worked out perfectly for this to happen. I’m glad it did. I can see why this book continues to be popular long after its publication.

Writer’s Takeaway: Books are so frequently about famous people: queens, presidents, athletes, actors, etc. Sometimes, you just need a book about a retired teacher. I like the Morrie wasn’t someone big and famous talking about life and dishing out advice. He really lived a great life and wanted to share everything he could. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t know him from Adam before this book. Now, everyone knows Morrie and the great lessons he imparted.

There’s nothing to dislike about this book. It’s short, sweet, and heartfelt. Five out of Five Stars.

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!

Related Posts:
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom | Young Adult Lit Reviews
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom | FuzzyRants
Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom | Black Plume

WWW Wednesday, 25-October-2017

Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at A Daily Rhythm and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Note: For users of Blogspot blogs, I’m unable to comment on your posts as a WordPress blogger unless you’ve enabled Name/URL comments. This is a known WordPress/Blogspot issue. Please consider enabling this to participate more fully in the community.

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Currently reading: I’m getting close to half-way in The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison but a few busy weeks at work is likely going to make for slow going. I will endure!
I’m really enjoying Rules of Civility by Amor Towles and I think I’ll finish it this week, time permitting. It’s hard to put my finger on what makes his writing so great but this story is amazing.
I started a new audiobook and it’s a quick one! I’m embarrassed to admit I’m a Detroiter who’s never read Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom. I know this is going to be a quick one so I expect it will be on my finished list next week. Fingers crossed!

Recently finished: I finished Year of Wonder by Geraldine Brooks on Friday during a run. I wish it had ended without an epilogue! I think the story was really good but the epilogue ruined it. I wrote a review and posted it Monday if you want to check out some more of my feelings on the book.

Reading Next: I had another book club selection here, but I might not be going to book club now. I know, I’m a terrible person having missed the last three for this group! I’ve had good reasons each time, I promise. In my defense, it’s an annual meet-the-players night for the Detroit Red Wings. I’ve gone the last two years and loved it and I think I’m going to have to go again in the new arena! TBD still, so I’m saying I don’t know what I’ll read next.

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Leave a comment with your link and a comment (if you’re so inclined). Take a look at the other participant links in the comments and look at what others are reading.

Have any opinions on these choices?

Until next time, write on.

You can follow me on Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. I’m available via email at SamAStevensWriter@gmail.com. And as always, feel free to leave a comment!