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Book Summary and Reviews of Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

Have a Little Faith

A True Story

by Mitch Albom

  • Readers' Rating (3):
  • Published:
  • Sep 2009, 272 pages
  • Rate this book

About this book

Book Summary

What if our beliefs were not what divided us, but what pulled us together?

In Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds - two men, two faiths, two communities - that will inspire readers everywhere.

Albom's first nonfiction book since Tuesdays with Morrie, Have a Little Faith begins with an unusual request: an eighty-two-year-old rabbi from Albom's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy.

Feeling unworthy, Albom insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Albom becomes involved with a Detroit pastor--a reformed drug dealer and convict--who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.

Moving between their worlds, Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and well-to-do, Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat.

As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times. Although the texts, prayers, and histories are different, Albom begins to recognize a striking unity between the two worlds--and indeed, between beliefs everywhere.

In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Albom sadly fulfills the rabbi's last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.

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Reviews

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This information about Have a Little Faith was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Nicole

Have A Little Faith
This story is actually a true story and the main character in the book is the author Mitch Albom. The book starts off with Mitch Albom having to go back to his childhood town because his childhood rabbi Albert Louis requested that he wrote his eulogy for him because he knows he will soon die. Mitch and his Rabbi(who he calls eRb) have meeting with each other and talk about their faith and their life. You than get to see the background of a another man, Paster Henry Covington who is an African American and use to be a past drug-addict, dealer and ex-convict. He is trying to make a church for the homeless and poor. Soon Paster Henry Covington life and Mitch life intersect when he helps Paster Henry Covington with his church’s roof. In the end of the book Mitch learns that even thought these two people are completely different and have different past, they all share one thing in common which is they have absolute faith and trust in something greater than themselves, which in the end helps draw Mitch back into his religions which he had kind of abounded. What I think was amazing about in this book was the faith that was shown not only by these two spiritual leader but also by the follower. Even when the church was freezing and leaking, poor homeless people still had faith and came back no matter what challenges were in front of them. It relates to me because I also am getting busy and have stopped going to church and kind of turned my back on religion. But this book showed that you have to still keep on believing even though the hard times and don’t stop no matter how chaotic your life can get. In the end I thought this book was really interesting and would recommend it to everyone.

Ehtasham Bhatti

ebhatti12@yahoo.com
Amazing Book - A must read, a life changer, a true inspiration!

Rev. Lori Schafer

Albom does it again!
Excellent book--thought provoking and timely! A must read for anyone who struggles with the theodicy question.

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Author Information

Mitch Albom Author Biography

Mitch Albom is the author of numerous books of fiction and nonfiction, which have collectively sold more than forty million copies in forty-seven languages worldwide. He has written seven number-one New York Times bestsellers – including Tuesdays with Morrie, the bestselling memoir of all time, which topped the list for four straight years – award-winning TV films, stage plays, screenplays, a nationally syndicated newspaper column, and a musical. Through his work at the Detroit Free Press, he was inducted into both the National Sports Media Association and Michigan Sports halls of fame and is the recipient of the 2010 Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement. After bestselling memoir Finding Chika and "Human Touch," the weekly serial written and published online in real-time to...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Mitch Albom's Website

Name Pronunciation
Mitch Albom: al-bum (as in record album)

Other books by Mitch Albom at BookBrowse
  • Tuesdays With Morrie jacket

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