The Stranger in the Lifeboat: The uplifting new novel from the bestselling author of Tuesdays with Morrie

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Billionaire James Lambert decides to set sail on his luxury yacht called the Galaxy with some of the richest and famous and influential people in the world. But something goes wrong, and the yacht explodes. The stranger in the lifeboat is story of the 9 of the survivors on a life raft when they see a person in a water. They bring if onto the raft and they find out that this person is GOD. What might Alice mean when she explains to Benji that “feeling loss is part of why you are on Earth”? What harm is done to the body, mind, and heart when we lose something valuable? What is the potential value of losing things or people we love? What are healthy ways to respond to great loss? My first exposure to this author was Five People You Meet in Heaven. This story deeply touched and moved my heart for a variety of reasons.

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.Money - paper from a tree, or, now, a typed number in an online bank account - determines your worth in this world. Money is power. Power ultimately corrupts and oppresses those who "have not." The Oppressed eventually overthrow the Oppressors, there are bloody revolutions, etc., etc., etc..... We humans repeat this vicious cycle endlessly, because we can't seem to focus on anything else other than conflict and personal gain. I read because books are a form of transportation, of teaching, and of connection! Books take us to places we’ve never been, they teach us about our world, and they help us to understand human experience.” 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. Mitch Albom’s writing is simple, skillful, and captivating. His dialogue is even sprinkled with a touch of humor. I laughed when the passenger ask the Lord why he is there and he answered: “Haven’t you been calling me?” I also loved the structure and the labeling of the chapters: Sea, Land, and News. Confession: I try to avoid philosophical or spiritual content because it mostly goes over my head. This one, I read only because of the author.)

In the raft, Benji and the passengers — most of whom are not religious from the start, or who have fallen away from faith — are distrustful of the man who calls himself the Lord. Yet the only way they can be saved is if they believe. What might Benji mean when he expresses to Annabelle the paradoxical idea that “beauty and anguish can share the same moment”? For those less smitten by Albom, your reception will depend on your views about religious faith. Let’s just say that, if you’re moved by this concluding paragraph, you’ll love the rest of Stranger: “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 presence of the Lord, are hard to believe. Unless believing is what makes them true.”

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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. Adrift n a raft after a deadly ship explosion, nine people struggle to survive at sea. Three days pass. Short on water, food and hope. they spot a man floating in the waves. They pull him in. "Thank the Lord we found you," a passenger says. "I am the Lord," the man whispers.