When someone passes, Benjamin, people always ask ‘why did God take them?’ A better question would be why did God give them to us? ‘What did we do to deserve their love, their joy, the sweet memories we share?’” May you never find yourself in a situation so dire as being stranded on a life raft in the middle of the ocean. If you do, “The Stranger in the Lifeboat” has a key piece of advice: Believe, and you will be saved. While Albom has never been a firm favourite of mine as such, there is still something in his writing that keeps me reading his books and liking them enough. ( This is based on the four books of his I have read: two fiction and two nonfiction.) He has an ability to make one think about a common occurrence from a different angle. I guess I was looking for the same to happen with this latest work too. But all I ended up thinking about was: what is the point he is trying to make? Maybe I am too dense because the story didn’t make much sense to me at all. The mysterious character that supposedly found the lifeboat, Rom Rosh, was actually Benji. He had survived and washed up on Montserrat. I thought that character might have been god. Rum Rosh is Hebrew from Psalms, and means "God lifted my head."

In turmoil, strife, and just trying to survive, who do you turn to? Do you believe there is a God that will save you? Do you believe that if there is God why would He let all these bad things happen? However you think, this story will put both of those sides into perspective. What would you do, if a man claiming to be God came to you and offered you safety if only you believe in Him? Stranger” is told in three parts; land (narrated by a police officer who, with the help of a passer-by, finds the abandoned lifeboat on shore), sea (the passengers story as told by Benji, a crewman from the sunken ship, through letters to his love) and news (news reports about the boat crash and its infamous passengers). Told this way, the reader gets to know all the details of the before, during and after, of both the event and each passenger. It’s not Albom’s most emotionally moving book, despite its lofty material, but it is a well-paced mystery that considers important theological questions. Albom cites a handful of people in his life for inspiring parts of the answers to these questions, including his late Detroit pastor. In short, Mitch Albom is a wonderful human being. Read his earlier works to support him. Donate to his charities. But you can safely stay away from this book. I can’t advocate this one to anyone except maybe to readers with a highly philosophical bent of mind. When someone passes ... people always ask, 'Why would God take them?' A better question would be 'Why did God give them to us?' What did we do to deserve their love, their joy, the sweet moments we shared? ... Those moments are a gift. But their end is not a punishment ... My plans for you are not defined by this world ... Beginnings and endings are earthly ideas. I go on. And because I go on, you go on with me. Feeling loss is part of why you are on Earth. Through it, you appreciate the brief gift of human existence, and you learn to cherish the world I created for you. But the human form is not permanent. It was never meant to be. That gift belongs to the soul.”

Mitch has greatly written this masterpiece in a way that forces readers to feel the themes in the story. Why do people believe in god? When do people believe in god? Is it only when people are in trouble they ask god for help? Grief, empathy, love, and guilt, among many others, are the main themes of this book. Mitch has written this story so that it is up to the readers to decide what is right and what is wrong. The connection of human emotions through various life incidents of people is what the story is about. Mitch wants you to connect to all of it, feel it, and then say how you see the world. Because when the lifeboat was found at the end of the shore, there was not a single person present except Benji’s notebook. We meet these imperiled castaways drifting at sea. They were all guests or workers on a massive yacht owned by billionaire Jason Lambert. He had gathered technology pioneers, corporate leaders, glitzy celebrities and even former presidents for a week-long adventure to “spur each other to change the world” — a cruise version of Davos. Jason Lambert- older Billionaire businessman, owns yacht. Obese, glutton, likes getting his way. Represents Benjis abhorrence for this type of person.

Nine people have been adrift for three days in a lifeboat without food or water. The luxury yacht they had been on had exploded, and now they have lost all sense of hope. When they spot another man floating in the water, they pull him in. He says he is the Lord. But is he? What would we do if, after crying out for help, God appeared before us? What might the Lord look like, and how would he act?The last paragraph: “In the end, there is the sea and the land and the news that happens between them. To spread that news, we tell each other stories. Sometimes the stories are about survival and sometimes those stories, like the prescence of the Lord, are hard to believe. Unless believing is what makes them true.” I listened to the audiobook performed by the author. The narration performance was solid. Albom gives rhythm, emphasis, and heart to the story. Hearing the story in the author’s voice as intended is a beautiful gift. Adrift for three days after a shipboard explosion and running low on food and water, nine people on a raft pull a floundering man on board, with one proclaiming, "Thank the Lord we found you." "I am the Lord," responds the rescued man, launching the mega-best-selling Albom's newest excursion into spiritual questions. The story is pieced together a year later from a notebook found on an empty raft that's drifted ashore on the island of Montserrat. With a one-million-copy first printing. Library Journal The story is broken into three sections with different timelines and points of view. Sea is told while the survivors are on the lifeboat, land is told a year and a half after the Galaxy sank, and News is told before the yacht set sail.