Best-selling author Mitch Albom (“Tuesdays With Morrie”) chats about his new book, “The Stranger in the Lifeboat.”
Mitch explains the premise of his new book, “Friends are gathered on a yacht owned by one of the richest men in the world. He invites all of his fancy, rich friends on it. Suddenly and inexplicably, the yacht explodes, and only 10 people survive. Five of them are the rich guests, and five are the staff who serve them on the boat…They are stranded and desperate, and crying out in every which way. Suddenly, they see someone floating in the water and they pull him into the lifeboat. It’s a young, nondescript, average-looking guy. They pepper him with questions, and he doesn’t say anything. Finally, one of the passengers says, ‘Well, thank the Lord we found you.’ And he replies, ‘I am the Lord.’ And that the story takes off from there.”
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Mitch explains that, at its crux, the book is about asking for help. “I’ve had to ask for help in my life. Especially recently – we experienced the loss of a child that we adopted from our orphanage in Haiti. She died of a brain tumor… I was very angry with God. I couldn’t understand how there could be a benevolent God, and not be benevolent to a 7-year-old. I had to come to grips with that because I had been asking for help. I was asking God to save our little girl, and it didn’t come. So, I wanted to write a book about what happens when we ask for help and it doesn’t come when we want it, or when we expect it. Does that mean God’s not listening to us? Does that mean God’s not answering our prayers? ‘The Stranger in the Lifeboat’ is about that”
The book also addresses the question of death. “A character in the book asks why people have to die. In his case, his wife had died. He asks God, ‘Why did you take my wife?’ Maybe a better question would be, ‘Why did God give them to us? What did we do to deserve them?‘ All of those memories are a gift, but their absence is not a punishment.”