Book review: Sincere but syrupy, Albom’s familiar premise won’t get a second chance
Mitch Albom: Former sports writer made his name with a 1997 memoir, ‘Tuesdays with Morrie’. Picture: Getty
- Twice
- Mitch Albom
- Sphere, £16.99
Is it possible to fully appreciate Mitch Albom’s books without being American?
A former sports writer, he made his name with a 1997 memoir, , which movingly charted the final days of his college mentor.
It sold by the truckload, and launched Mr Albom on a stellar publishing career. He is also a noted philanthropist.
His novels, brisk and whimsical, contain elements of magic realism and Frank Capra-style redemption which have proved a little rich for jaded European palates.
Many involve visits to, and phone calls from heaven. But Mitch has shifted more than 40m units, so he must be doing something right.
In , a shabby 50-something man called Alfie Logan is arrested in Nassau for having done suspiciously well on the roulette tables.
And under interrogation by Vincent LaPorta, an incredulous casino detective, he reveals the secret of his success.
Alfie hands LaPorta a copious, hand-written diary, and asks the detective to read it if he wishes to understand the evening’s events.
Born in the late 1950s, Alfie is raised for a time in Kenya, where his mother is a missionary, and forms a close bond with a girl his age called Gianna, whose black hair and shimmering green eyes entrance him.
Then, Alfie’s mother dies, and in his grief the boy discovers that if he taps his thigh and whispers ‘twice’, he can disappear back to the moment of his choosing and set his mistakes right.
It is a talent he has inherited from his mother, and she warns him about overusing it, but might as well be talking to the wall.
Back in America, Alfie is raised by his melancholy father, and uses his gift to fix school tests, win basketball games, and stage manage his early experiences with girls.
But he is still fixated on Gianna, and when they meet by chance at a Philadelphia zoo (this book is full of Dickensian coincidences), Alfie decides she is the love of his life.
Through trial and error, and lots of do-overs, he engineers his way into a relationship with her, and for a time they live a blissful life in New York.
But Gianna’s desire for a child, and Alfie’s tendency to second-guess and overthink everything prove an impediment to happiness, and then Alfie uses his powers to make a terrible mistake.
whimsical premise is not exactly new — one thinks of , or Richard Curtis’s 2013 film — but neither is it difficult to go along with.
And for a time we are amused by the dimwitted teenage goals Alfie wastes his power on.
But Alfie himself is a bit of cypher, an empty shell, Gianna an idealised perfect female, and the book’s best characters — his overwhelmed father, and formidable Greek grandmother — are wasted in minor roles.
Mr Albom’s writing style is sincere but syrupy, flat, linguistically incurious, and peppered with clumsy dollops of cookie-cutter wisdom.
‘Destiny is patient,’ Gianna assures Alfie at one point — not last time I checked. ‘What is it about love,’ Alfie muses elsewhere, ‘that turns us from red with desire to pale with familiarity.’
And ‘secrecy is a loan against your better judgement — you pay the interest in regret’.
As for love, it’s the only rational act. Actually, starting a pension is a rational act, so is not voting for Donald Trump, or driving the wrong way up a motorway.
Mitch Albom’s commitment to his story is commendable, but comes at the expense of style and clarity. is perfectly readable, but being American might help.
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