Customer Reviews

The Last Day of My Life

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3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I received this book in the mail. But I was intrigued by the description on the back cover. So I decided to order it through Amazon Vine. I'm really glad I did. This little book is a very fast read.

The author has fallen into a deep depression and begins to question his life. He is no longer sure if he even wants to go on living. Planning a suicide in his mind triggers a time of intense soul-searching and introspection. He looks back over the course of his life and zeros on on the things that really matter. The stories in this book are intimate. Most of them are about close friends, family and other personal experiences. The author finally realizes that it's the people in our lives who truly matter most. Some of them may only be in our lives for a short time, but can leave a long-lasting impact on the heart and life. The author also comes to believe that it's not status, money, or possessions that lead to lasting happiness. It is possible to have all these things and still be miserable. This book is chocked full of practical wisdom and is peppered with quotes from famous people through out. I could definitely relate to a lot of what the author shared and struggled with. The struggles the author discusses in this book are universal to all people. This is a very thought-provoking book and it will show you how to be grateful for the little things in life. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is going through a difficult time or has given up hope. Life is too short to waste what little time we have on things that ultimately won't matter. Ultimately, this is a book of hope.

I was very interested in reading this book. I have never heard of the author but the subject matter piqued my interest. I think many people have found themselves at one point and time thinking their life would be better if they just ended it. I think we all suffer from depression at one point in time such as the author has. But what one chooses to do with life when faced with those thoughts is up to each of us. Jim Moret was brave enough to write about his experiences and how he dealt with them. I think you have to be connected with such issues and I found it very inspiring rather than depressing.

I was very drawn to this book and could not put it down. From reading it you would think the author has everything one could want in his life -- a great job, life, family, home, you name it. From the outside looking in, people probably did not think there were any problems. However that changed. He lets you know that from the inside looking out his life was not going the way he wanted it to. He had plans to end his life. It was not just a thought he had once but battled with for some time. Instead of asking himself what if he had never lived he asked himself what if he had one day left to life? With that he took an appreciation for life and everything around it.

While the author shares his life with you in a way you can actually visualize it, I felt the same thoughts and emotions at times he had running through his mind. Rather than ending his life and deciding to actually live it he still faced and dealt with a lot of problems. But in the end he found different ways to deal with the life he was given. If you ever felt life was not worth living, please pick this up. Truly a very brave man!

This book is supposed to be an inspirational read about living like it's the last day of your life, but instead it is filled with depressing stories that lead to few lessons and much despair. The author, who is a very good TV reporter, has some serious family issues and suffered much in life. He was forced to choose his mother over his famous father James Darren at age 13, his childhood best friend died at 18, his famous father refused to attend his wedding and caused a huge rift, his adult best friend died at when Moret was 38, his co-worker dies in a helicopter crash, etc., etc., etc.

It's story after story of tragedy. Just when you think things will get positive, things turn bad again. He had marriage problems, quits his CNN job instead of moving to Atlanta, then stays in his multimillion dollar house even though he can't afford it and spends years out of work and in deep debt. He makes a lot of bad choices and the lessons he claims to learn are more internal than external. It's good that he has learned to forgive and that he needs redemption, but the specific examples he gives of what he does externally continue to prolong his negative spin on his life.

Other than a couple of interesting pages about famous people he interviewed, there is little to recommend in this book.

It's great that he chose not to end his life and turn it into a desire to tell others to live like it's their last day. But the book is incredibly depressing to read. Thankfully it's a short 159 half-pages and takes only a couple hours to read--if you can make it past all the tragedy to get to his supposedly inspiring advice at the end. I really feel for this guy--but he still doesn't seem to have found the peace he is looking for.

Jim Moret, an entertainment professional who works for 'Inside Edition', refinanced and overextended his mortgage during the real estate boom when home prices were inflated, to pay for a lavish life style. Then the real estate market collapsed, home values dropped and the monthly payment on his adjustable rate mortgage bumped, and he lost his job. Mr. Moret could not make the monthly mortgage payment and was in financial crisis. Instead of selling the house, luxury possessions, moving into a smaller hose and put his children into a public school (as another reviewer pointed out) he contemplates suicide and FANTASIZES what he would do on the last day of his life. But then he decides to cash-out his name recognition, for dollars from suckers, by writing what he IMAGINED to be important on the last day of his life!

This is that semi-autobiographical book or memoir.

If you have not already heard of what is important to people in or at the end of their life, then Mr. Moret informs us that things important to him on the envisaged last day of his life were: love, forgiveness, commitment, compassion, tenacity, legacy, miracles, redemption and a long list of others. Then there are his irrelevant musings on possessions, sacrifice, purpose, acceptance etc. But now that his IMAGINED last day of life is long past, he does not tell us if he is living by all those things that were important to him on the last day of life. After all, what we see him doing in public, is making money off trivial stuff on 'Inside Edition', not by practicing sacrifice, understanding, apology, forgiveness, and compassion etc. But on his conceived last day of life, he sure FANTASIZED living like Mother Teresa!

Nice preaching Mr. Moret. Where is the practice?

This is just another celebrity trading on his name recognition. Fallacy of human mind is to think that if I know this guy from 'Inside Edition', he must have something important to say about life: like if he is president's son he must know how to run the country and make a good president!

In reality, most people do not even know about their last day. They are hooked to monitors, IV's, respirators etc. or it is like any other day of life and death comes unannounced. Metaphorically, of course, the last day of life refers to the last chapter of your life when you reflect on what has been important and how you would do it differently if you were to live it all over again. If you really want to find out what actually dying people think then then you are better off spending money on If I Live to Be 100: Lessons from the Centenarians, On Being 100: 31 Centenarians Share Their Extraordinary Lives and Wisdom, Letters to Sam: A Grandfather's Lessons on Love, Loss, and the Gifts of Life, Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson and The Last Lecture. Not on some memoir about imagined end of life by a guy looking to make a quick buck.


UPDATE FEBRUARY 13, 2010: To me it appears that someone may be manipulating the review process on this book. As of February 13, 2010 there are 41 reviews on this book and for 10 of those 41, this is the first review they have posted. Mr. Moret seems to have inspired lot of people to start posting positive reviews of his book! There also appears to be a disproportionately large number of reviewers from Los Angeles area. My suspicion first arose when there were 3 negative votes on my review within 4 hours of posting this review, when this book was not even publicly available! I had received "UNCORRECTED PROOF*NOT FOR SALE" copy of the book through the Amazon Vine program. In my more than hundred reviews on Amazon, I had never received 3 votes within the first day. As you will see all negative reviews have lot of not helpful votes pushing them way down the list.

When I ordered this book, based on the description, I thought it would be about the last day of a man's life. I thought he would talk about what he did, who he talked to, etc. Turns out, the book is actually about the author's life and the people in it and what he would take from these people if he only had one day to live.

The author, Jim Moret, is actually a news reporter (although I had never heard of him). He decided to write this book after he almost killed himself. And in this book, he talks about the people who have made an impact on his life. At the end of each chapter, he asks you questions about your own life.

What I didn't like about this book is that, although it's a bit obvious that a news reporter that works for CNN is going to have more money than the average Joe, much of the book talked about the big house the author had, the amount of money he had, the amazing items he owned, how highly people thought of him. It left a bad taste in my mouth. This book also read more like a will meant for his family's eyes, not for the general public. I'm sure to his family, this book is heart-wrenching but in my opinion, it's not that interesting to those who don't know him.

I do like that this book made me think about my own life and it actually got me to start talking more regularly to people who've made an impact in my life. This book wasn't horrible but I don't think I'd recommend it either.

Jim Moret had a great idea for a book but, unfortunately, he was unable to make good on it. This small volume is chock full of Hallmark quality quotes and aphorisms, name dropping, family joy and pain and advice column wisdom. It's painful to read too much of the syrupy sappiness at once, so, in fairness to the author, I set it aside repeatedly to read more interesting and challenging fare. It never improved.

Please note that I feel nothing but sympathy for the personal vicissitudes Moret has endured, and am not in the least jealous of his phenomenal professional and financial success. He's evidently a fine newscaster. He just might want to reconsider his leap into journalism.

Jim Moret's "The Last Day of My Life" is an odd mixture of autobiography, philosophy, and self-help guide, with just a dash of Twelve Step program thrown in for good measure. Mr. Moret, a highly paid television personality, reveals that he was once on the brink of suicide, and reflects back on his life and what was really important to him. Although the author's intentions are undoubtedly pure, the entire enterprise is too narrowly personal to appeal to a large segment of the book-reading public.

For example, Mr. Moret, the son of Hollywood actor James Darren ("Gidget", "The Guns of Navarone"), was adopted by his mother's second husband following his parent's divorce, with his father's tacit approval. This act resonated with Moret throughout his life, understandably causing him feelings of abandonment, resentment, and confusion. He draws on this experience throughout the book to illustrate points he wishes to make about the human condition ... and yet not many of us have been put into the exact same situation as Moret. When he then offers generalized advice to his readers based on his very specific circumstances, his words often fall flat. It's not that Moret doesn't have something valuable to say, it's that his life is too specific to relate to.

Mr. Moret at one point compares himself to George Bailey, the character portrayed by James Stewart in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life". The comparison is not apt. George Bailey represented a mythical "Everyman"; Moret is unmistakably a unique and highly rarefied case. An "A" for effort, but Moret might have resonated more had he told his story simply, and not used it as a springboard to preach to his readership.

This is not a book; it is an outline for a book. At around 150 pages it barely makes a scratch on the possibly profound and
riveting life of Jim Moret. But lest we forget, Moret spent much of his life being an entertainment reporter and interviewer, so his take on life's scenes comes in sound bytes and quick, somewhat facile appraisals.

The wee manuscript is divided into names of people and Moret gives us just enough about them to qualify for the description that is usually found under photographs in the newspaper. Except in this case, no last names. So many questions, too little information.

I will say his prose is simple and easily followed with the one flaw in it being a tendency to repeat himself. We really only need to be told once that he is the son of James Darren and was legally adopted by Gery in childhood, which caused a world of trouble. He says he loves his "father" (Darren) and his "dad" (Gery) equally, but he gives far more words to Darren.

He had two best friends who died. This made a huge impact upon him, but he never traces for us the real reasons why. He throws a few darts at a psychological chart, but does not get deep into it. It does seem clear that Moret is a nice guy, generous and patient, with aspirations to growth and learning. I would think he'd be a great co-worker. He wins and he loses, but even his losses are wins.

Each chapter is headed with quotes. Unfortunately, some of these quotes show up the paucity of depth in Moret's outlook. This book promises a full course meal, but when you finally sit down to ingest it, all you find are a few banana peels of past mistakes that are never explained and a few crumbs of what might have been a delicious cake -- but you'll never know. Unfulfilling.

Overall, let me end with a quote from Maurice Sendak (P. 106) that sums up what I perceive Moret's life to have been as told in this book: "There must be more to life than having everything." The regret is, I know there had to have been so much more than the cliched, feel-good soundbytes he gives us here.

I'm glad it's acceptable these days for members of the media to write with sincerity and evidence of personal spirituality. I just finished Byron Pitts's Step Out on Nothing: How Faith and Family Helped Me Conquer Life's Challenges and was amazed at how openly the CBS 60 Minutes correspondent wrote of his faith and gratitude.

Jim Moret writes in much the same vein of humble self-discovery. He jumps right in to his moment of crisis -- a moment when he considers suicide -- and builds on the conceit of having just one day to live. (The book's focus is a little hazy, as Moret uses the last-day metaphor to suggest both how to live each day as though it were your last, and how to live ON your last day.)

As you might expect from an author nurtured in the television industry, the book jumps around in episodic vignettes. I would have preferred a straight narrative memoir, as the author's life experiences are dramatic. He has experienced some deep personal tragedies and his share of dark-nights-of-the-soul. But the reader isn't allowed to become deeply involved, as he jumps in and out of stories. The tone of the book becomes almost maudlin, as every person he has ever met or loved seems to have died an untimely and tragic death.

It was also difficult to relate to what the author considers his personal financial crisis. Even though he has a sub-prime mortgage, he has a multi-million-dollar house, a high-paying job, sports cars, a vintage guitar collection and countless other assets. To read about his joy at finding $1,500 in a jacket pocket and using it for his child's private-school tuition payment is hardly a heart-warming story for those of us of modest means. His 20th anniversary bash wasn't a trip to MacDonald's, either. Personal finances may have been the catalyst for his suicidal thoughts, but I was left thinking... couldn't he just sell all his stuff, stay home, and put the kids in public school???

Still, Moret has some valuable things to say about compassion, gratitude, forgiveness, acceptance and more. The publisher seems to be riding on the coattails of Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture) but that's what the book industry is known to do. At least this likeable author gets a chance to have his say.

I'll come right out and say it- I did not care for this book. I kept looking on the spine expecting to see the words "Self Help". It reminds me of the awful 90's self help series of books called Chicken Soup For The Soul. I think that Jim Moret's book, The Last Day of My Life, is well intentioned but it comes across as preachy and so saccharine that I had to put the book away a lot because it was just too much. Apparently Mr Moret feels he has found the fountain of wisdom and feels compelled to share it with the rest of us- the uninformed. For the right person, this might be an enjoyable book. For me this was just so self serving and self absorbed that reading each page was torture- I just wanted the book to end. With the release of this book, I guess we can look forward to seeing Mr. Moret sharing his message with even more of the uninformed as he hawks this book on TV,etc.. I didn't enjoy this book but anyone who does likes this book shouldn't feel insulted- I don't like self help books. Thank you.