Bestselling author Mitch Albom talks to Club Calvi about his new novel "Twice"
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Club Calvi has one of the most anticipated books for fall. Author Mitch Albom has written some of the most beloved books of our time, from "Tuesdays with Morrie," to "The Little Liar," which was a Club Calvi Readers' Choice in 2024. Mary Calvi talked to Albom about his new book, "Twice," a story about love and second chances.
The main character, Alfie, has the ability to get a second chance at everything. Albom told Mary, that gift comes with a cost.
"The kicker is that he has to live with the consequences of his second try," Albom says. "So whatever happens the second time, he can't go back to the first. He doesn't get a third. He goes through his life kind of fixing his mistakes and his adolescent embarassments. But then he discovers, when he becomes a man and falls in love, that there's one caveat with the power: it doesn't work with love."
Alfie has to make a fateful choice. Albom says conversations inspired him to write the story.
"As I get older, I meet a lot of people who seem to have reached an age where they say, 'I should have done this or I should have done that. I should have married that person,''' Albom explained. "We always wonder if life would have been better if we took the alternate route. So I said let me write a book with a guy that can actually do that."
Mary asked Albom is there's a moment in his life that he would have liked to have a second chance.
"There's probably 30 of them," Albom answered. "But here's the thing: if you ask me could I get to do them over again with all the knowledge I have now, sure. But if you said, you get to do them over again but you don't learn any of the lessons that you learned from making the mistake the first time, I'd say no because every mistake that I've made, every false move, or everything that I didn't think worked out taught me to do something else. That has led me to where I am."
In "Twice," Alfie is writing to a character he calls the boss.
"I think all my books probably from "Tuesdays with Morrie," "Five People You Meet in Heaven," the character is seeking forgiveness for something or seeking redemption," Albom says. "I don't know if that's part of my personality or just because I think everybody does. I wanted to show that the second time is not always necessarily better than the first, particularly with love. We all want 'the new car smell.' There's nothing like a new relationship. But love takes a lot of forms. There is the ignition of the flame and then there's keeping the flame going. You can't last on the ignition. You can't last on the new car smell. So I wanted to show what happens when you do that. And Alfie needs to be forgiven for that before the book is over."
Albom says his wife was an inspiration for the book.
"I've had love stories in all of my books as a backstory. But this really is the first one where love, romance, is the focus. I've had books that focused on truth. Books that focused on belief. Books that focused on forgiving. So why not a book that focuses on love. It's universal. And it's also a kind of valentine to my wife who is sort of the female character, Gianna, in this book."
Albom also a message for Club Calvi: "Thank you to all your readers who helped "The Little Liar" become what it was. I appreciate the book pick that time."
You can read an excerpt from "Twice" and buy the book below.
The CBS New York Book Club focuses on books connected to the Tri-State Area in their plots and/or authors. The books may contain adult themes.
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"Twice" by Mitch Albom
From the publisher: When he is eight years old, Alfie Logan discovers the magical ability to get a second chance at everything. He can undo any moment and live it again. The one catch: he must accept the consequences of his second try—for better or worse.
He grows up correcting his mistakes and saving himself from adolescent embarrassments. He even takes foolishly dangerous risks, just to see what it's like to come close to death, before tapping back to safety.
Eventually, Alfie turns his gift to his love life, studying his crushes and going back to make himself more appealing. In time, he falls deeply in love with Gianna, the woman he believes is the one. He seems to find contentment.
But as the years pass, Alfie's eye begins to wander. Which is when he learns a lone caveat to his power: once he undoes a love, that person can never fall in love with him again. Knowing if he gives into to temptation, he will risk losing what he has with Gianna, Alfie makes a choice that changes his life forever.
The book begins many years later, after an ailing Alfie is arrested for allegedly cheating and winning millions at a casino roulette wheel. As a curious detective interrogates him, he slowly uncovers Alfie's incredible story, and its most unlikely conclusion.
Mitch Albom lives in Michigan
"Twice" By Mitch Albom (ThriftBooks) $21
Excerpt: "Twice" by Mitch Albom
"Take the Desk Job, Wesley."
A young man with the ability to flip back in time gets a second chance at trying to save his best friend's life.
Wesley, no surprise, excelled at basic training and was already on an officer track three months into his stay. In early 1975, he came home for a weekend. He looked so much older. His hair was shaved, and his body was as thickly muscled as a gymnast. We went for some Italian panzerottis, and he told me a story about his drill instructor.
"They're not supposed to hit the new guys, right? But this DI, he's a mean bastard. He didn't like the way one private was looking at him so he told him to stand up straight—'Like this!' he goes—and then he bangs him in the face with the butt of his rifle! And he got away with it!"
Wesley shook his head. "These military guys are crazy."
He told me he was up for two positions, one on a ship and one at a training center, which sounded kind of boring.
"More fun to be on a ship," I said.
"Yeah," Wesley said. Then he looked at me and said, "None of it is really fun, you know?"
He flew to San Diego the next morning. He took the ship job. I didn't hear from him for months. Then, in May, just a few weeks after the fall of Saigon, there was an incident with an American merchant vessel that was seized in international waters by Cambodia's Khmer Rouge. The Marines were sent to try and rescue it. That night at the supermarket I ran into Wesley's mother. She looked exhausted. She told me Wesley was in the unit attempting the rescue.
"We're just praying so hard," she said. "Please pray for him, Alfie."
I said I would, but when I read the news two days later that several helicopters had been destroyed in that incident and dozens of Marines had been killed, I left prayer behind and ran to my bedroom. I flipped back through my notebooks until I found the day when Wesley had come home and, not even thinking about having to relive the last five months, I flipped myself back to our meal at the panzerotti shop. I was so happy to see him, it must have shown on my face.
"What are you all smiles about?" he asked.
"Listen," I said. "I want to tell you something. It's a secret I've been keeping."
He pushed his glasses back on his nose.
"What?"
"I can do something other people can't."
"Drive like an idiot?"
"No."
Then, for the first time in my life, I blurted it out.
"I get to do things twice."
"What are you talking about?"
"Just what I said. I get to do things twice. If I don't like the way it first happened, I can go back and do it again. Like time travel. But only one trip."
Wesley grinned, as if trying to unwrap a riddle. "OK, go back and make Pittsburgh lose the Super Bowl. I hate those guys."
"It doesn't work like that. I can't change things I wasn't involved in."
"Oh, right." He nodded. "In that case, get Jo Ann Donnigan back as your girlfriend."
"Wes." I exhaled. "That's how I got her in the first place."
I tried explaining. The second summer of basketball. The sideburns. The information from Lizzie.
"Man," he said, marveling, "you really thought this one out, didn't you?"
I dropped my head. I wasn't selling it, and he wasn't buying it. I realized this whole thing is a lot harder to explain face-to-face than it is to write down.
"Look, the reason I'm telling you this is to save your life."
"Come on, Alf—"
"I'm serious. You have a choice coming up between two jobs, a ship or a training center, right?"
He paused, then grinned.
"You got that from my mom. Nice try."
"Take the training center job."
"Alfie, stop screwing around—"
"You have a drill sergeant. He's an a******. You hate him. He hit one of your guys in the face with a rifle butt."
Wesley's mouth dropped.
"How do you know that?"
"Because we've been here before, Wes. We've sat at this table. We've had this talk. When the panzerotti comes, you're gonna burn the roof of your mouth with the first bite.
And about five months from now, if you don't take the training center job, you're gonna get sent to rescue an American cargo vessel on the island of Koh Tang and a lot of people are going to die."
"Where the hell is Koh Tang?"
"Cambodia."
I saw him swallow. His voice dropped to a whisper.
"What happens to me?"
"I don't know. All I know is it's really dangerous. I came back to warn you."
I looked at Wes's hands. They were trembling. I leaned in closer.
"Just take the training center job, OK?"