I love Mitch Albom, but apparently I love him best as a sports and non-fiction writer.
I went to the University of Michigan during the Fab 5 era, and when Albom’s book, The Fab 5 came out, I read the entire thing within 24 hours. I loved reading his columns in the Detroit Free Press.
A few years ago, I was touched by his non-fiction book, Tuesdays with Morrie, about time he spent with his mentor as his mentor was dying of Lou Gherig’s disease, ALS.
So when I say I wanted to like The Time Keeper, I really mean that.
But I didn’t care for it much, honestly.
The story seemed so simple. Father Time spends thousands of years learning the power of time and in the end must step in to help both a teenage girl and an old man who is dying of cancer.
I was hoping, as I was reading the book, that I would feel good and feel better about time passing in my own life. I wanted to get a feel good message that everything happens for a reason, and I wanted the reinforcing message that you should take advantage of every minute because time will pass no matter what you are doing.
Instead, the overreaching message seemed to be that there is only value in something that is limited. If we are given endless time, we don’t value it. Life is precious because we know we only have limited time.
In the end, the book just went too far sci-fi for me and the story lost all credibility.
This was a short read, and I finished in two days. While I wanted to really like this book, it just didn’t happen.
On the Mom’s Plans scale, I give this book 3 stars out of 5. ***
I live in the Detroit area so I’ve been very familiar with Mitch Albom for practically my entire life. When I was a kid, in junior high, I used to live for his columns. I’d go out, grab the paper every morning, and hope he had written something. He was the best in the business.
Then, he started getting into other stuff. He got a radio show and became preachy. He started writing books that were immensely popular, but I always felt were preachy and self-gratifying. He started writing about non-sports stuff that was tied to his interests, and again self-serving. And, worst of all, he cut back on his sports columns, which actually was a good thing because he started completely mailing it in. They all follow the same format.
He opens up with a phrase. He writes a paragraph, repeats the phrase, does another paragraph, throws in the phrase again, and repeats this a few more times until he’s got enough space.
In other words, Mitch Albom (in my mind) hit his peak in the late 1980’s, early 1990’s, and is now a shell of his former self. But don’t tell him that, because he’s a legend in his own mind.
Yes, I do agree his best work seemed to be his sports columns in the 90s.
You went to UofM? Woot! Go Blue!! Sorry you didn’t like the book as much as you wanted. 🙁
I loved U of M! I had such a good time there. We’d love to go live around Ann Arbor, but I don’t know if that will happen. It depends where my husband finds his job.
Tuesdays with Morrie is one of my favorite books ever, I started reading it again, for the first time in about 5 yrs but had to stop since my best friends father has ALS and it’s touching too close to home right now. I was thinking about picking this new one up, thanks for yhe review.
I’ve read a couple of Mitch Albom’s books myself and like his style!