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ap2009's review
4.0
I read a quote once, and I had to look it up again to put it here:
"The best moments in reading are when you come across something- a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things- which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else. A person you have never met, someone even who is long dead, and it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours." Alan Bennett
That is how I felt while reading McCarthy's The Longest Way Home.
I don't know why I picked up this book. Maybe it was the idea of knowing more about the man behind the movies I'd watched and loved as a teenager. Maybe it was having read (and enjoyed) an article he once wrote about "The Magic Road" in Ireland. Maybe it was the day after St. Patrick's day and this book sat on the Irish Culture appreciation rack. I don't know. But I picked up this book and I am so grateful I did.
I connected with him on his journeys, I felt myself nodding my head and thinking "yes, oh yes" when he'd comment on an emotion or feature or just the way the wind felt. It was a strange feeling.
I've never met him, I've never gone to the Amazon or Africa or even Ireland and yet, with his fluid light descriptions, I felt I was there.
I also felt somewhat embarrassed at the personal side of the story (and it is the reason I rarely read memoirs or autobiographies). I felt I was peering through the window of someone's house. Even if he wrote it, to be shared, it was so personal, and sometimes so intimate, it was shocking. But I will also admit to feeling much of the same feelings as he went along. Much of his thoughts on life and the way he lived it leading up until his wedding, sat with me.
I really, really enjoyed this book. His prose flow, they create a picture, an image, a mental film. His descriptions are short but sweet and his travels were exciting and heartrending. Many times, it had me wishing I could hop a plane the next day and see what he'd seen. And after reading, I have added a few new places to my list of places I'd like to travel.
The connection you have with a book and through the book with an author is always different. Sometimes you just enjoy the story. Sometimes you feel as if you're in the story. Sometimes you feel as if the author is speaking directly to you. Rarely, you feel as if you could have written exactly the same thing, felt exactly the same thing. It is a connection that doesn't come often enough and is riveting when it does.
"The best moments in reading are when you come across something- a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things- which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else. A person you have never met, someone even who is long dead, and it is as if a hand has come out and taken yours." Alan Bennett
That is how I felt while reading McCarthy's The Longest Way Home.
I don't know why I picked up this book. Maybe it was the idea of knowing more about the man behind the movies I'd watched and loved as a teenager. Maybe it was having read (and enjoyed) an article he once wrote about "The Magic Road" in Ireland. Maybe it was the day after St. Patrick's day and this book sat on the Irish Culture appreciation rack. I don't know. But I picked up this book and I am so grateful I did.
I connected with him on his journeys, I felt myself nodding my head and thinking "yes, oh yes" when he'd comment on an emotion or feature or just the way the wind felt. It was a strange feeling.
I've never met him, I've never gone to the Amazon or Africa or even Ireland and yet, with his fluid light descriptions, I felt I was there.
I also felt somewhat embarrassed at the personal side of the story (and it is the reason I rarely read memoirs or autobiographies). I felt I was peering through the window of someone's house. Even if he wrote it, to be shared, it was so personal, and sometimes so intimate, it was shocking. But I will also admit to feeling much of the same feelings as he went along. Much of his thoughts on life and the way he lived it leading up until his wedding, sat with me.
I really, really enjoyed this book. His prose flow, they create a picture, an image, a mental film. His descriptions are short but sweet and his travels were exciting and heartrending. Many times, it had me wishing I could hop a plane the next day and see what he'd seen. And after reading, I have added a few new places to my list of places I'd like to travel.
The connection you have with a book and through the book with an author is always different. Sometimes you just enjoy the story. Sometimes you feel as if you're in the story. Sometimes you feel as if the author is speaking directly to you. Rarely, you feel as if you could have written exactly the same thing, felt exactly the same thing. It is a connection that doesn't come often enough and is riveting when it does.
bmpicc's review
3.0
This was a decent read. I enjoyed the travel aspect, but honestly wished there was more about his relationship with D. I found her to be wise, patient and interesting. After reading his memoir about his life and acting... I was grateful to know that he found this peace in his life.
"D would say that what is most important in life is family, connection, and community. Loving someone, she will say, is the only thing that matters and is worth the price of relinquishing control."
"D would say that what is most important in life is family, connection, and community. Loving someone, she will say, is the only thing that matters and is worth the price of relinquishing control."
shaughnp26's review
4.0
I loved this guy's movies back in the day so I was eager to read about his transition to travel writer. This book was a good mix of personal biography and travel writing. I was very satisfied with the result. I loved how he mixed travelling with what was going on his own personal life. What a gifted writer!
clairereviews's review
5.0
This book intrigued me, as I'd been somewhat of a fan of the author in the 80's, and I thought it sounded interesting and different. Hearing that he had a book out renewed my interest, so I looked him up and found that he was now a travel writer. The book promised to be the story of McCarthy's twofold journey, to visit some very far flung places and to also discover himself. I was really hoping that this was not going to be an actor's self-indulgent trip down memory lane combined with a few holiday memoirs thrown in for good measure...and it wasn't.
The places that Andrew visited are so far off the beaten track that no ordinary tourist would have a hope in hell of finding them, not to mention that I needed to look them up on a map!
His clever use of vocabulary described these places so vividly that I felt I could really get a sense of each place, he made them come alive! The characters he met along the way sounded so colourful and full of life, such was the extent of his descriptive words.
The anecdotes offered about Andrew's personal life were succinct - descriptive enough so that you had all the facts, but without one iota of self indulgence. I was really impressed. So impressed that I found myself wanting to visit Patagonia if only to experience what he described so well. This may not sound like a big deal, but I'm a sunbed + pool + book kind of holidaymaker as a rule.
I was also so impressed that I decided to tweet Mr McCarthy to tell him how much I had enjoyed this book, and that he had made me want to visit those places. I'm sure only a fellow ex-obsessive-fan will understand my shock at not only receiving a reply, but telling me that I had better pack my bags! I'm sure I'll be forgiven (if only by Jenny Colgan!) for thinking for one second that he would whisk me off...(yes, I was also a size 10 in the clip that played in my mind!)
I'm so pleased that while he was on his journey he found within him the courage to settle down with D. That woman deserves a medal!
The places that Andrew visited are so far off the beaten track that no ordinary tourist would have a hope in hell of finding them, not to mention that I needed to look them up on a map!
His clever use of vocabulary described these places so vividly that I felt I could really get a sense of each place, he made them come alive! The characters he met along the way sounded so colourful and full of life, such was the extent of his descriptive words.
The anecdotes offered about Andrew's personal life were succinct - descriptive enough so that you had all the facts, but without one iota of self indulgence. I was really impressed. So impressed that I found myself wanting to visit Patagonia if only to experience what he described so well. This may not sound like a big deal, but I'm a sunbed + pool + book kind of holidaymaker as a rule.
I was also so impressed that I decided to tweet Mr McCarthy to tell him how much I had enjoyed this book, and that he had made me want to visit those places. I'm sure only a fellow ex-obsessive-fan will understand my shock at not only receiving a reply, but telling me that I had better pack my bags! I'm sure I'll be forgiven (if only by Jenny Colgan!) for thinking for one second that he would whisk me off...(yes, I was also a size 10 in the clip that played in my mind!)
I'm so pleased that while he was on his journey he found within him the courage to settle down with D. That woman deserves a medal!
fifijess's review
3.0
I enjoyed Andrew Mccarthy s writing-I have to admit I was more interested in his personal relationships than the nature aspect. (I am an 80's girl after all)
I would love a book solely based on his life with kids, wife, in laws etc. Interesting.
I would love a book solely based on his life with kids, wife, in laws etc. Interesting.
lovelymisanthrope's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is one of my husband's books and I wanted to read it before I added it to my bookshelves.
"The Longest Way Home" is a memoir written by Andrew McCarthy. As a young man, Andrew acquired a thirst for travel. He was able to create a life for himself that allowed him to make a living by writing about the things he witnessed as he got to explore the world. After he proposed to his second wife and the wedding planning really took off, Andrew began to question his life's choices. So, he took a myriad of jobs that took him all over the world so he could find himself before he tied the knot.
I did not know 100% what this book was about before I picked it up, but I was pleasantly surprised to read Andrew's story the week before my own wedding. I loved this idea that you need to know yourself well before you get married. Marriage is a joining of two people, and I think in any relationship it is critical to maintain your own identity. Andrew's first marriage fell apart, and he loved his new fiancé so much that he did not want the same thing to happen. He was worried that he did not know himself well enough to be the husband she deserved, so he traveled.
This book is additionally rich with stories of what Andrew saw as he traveled the world. There are some terrifying stories of dangerous encounters, and there are heart-warming stories about witnessing humanity. But what everything had in common was that every journey Andrew went on, led him back home to the life he so proudly built for himself and the family he created with his loving partner.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys seeing the world, or who feels lost and are trying to find their way back to themselves.
"The Longest Way Home" is a memoir written by Andrew McCarthy. As a young man, Andrew acquired a thirst for travel. He was able to create a life for himself that allowed him to make a living by writing about the things he witnessed as he got to explore the world. After he proposed to his second wife and the wedding planning really took off, Andrew began to question his life's choices. So, he took a myriad of jobs that took him all over the world so he could find himself before he tied the knot.
I did not know 100% what this book was about before I picked it up, but I was pleasantly surprised to read Andrew's story the week before my own wedding. I loved this idea that you need to know yourself well before you get married. Marriage is a joining of two people, and I think in any relationship it is critical to maintain your own identity. Andrew's first marriage fell apart, and he loved his new fiancé so much that he did not want the same thing to happen. He was worried that he did not know himself well enough to be the husband she deserved, so he traveled.
This book is additionally rich with stories of what Andrew saw as he traveled the world. There are some terrifying stories of dangerous encounters, and there are heart-warming stories about witnessing humanity. But what everything had in common was that every journey Andrew went on, led him back home to the life he so proudly built for himself and the family he created with his loving partner.
I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys seeing the world, or who feels lost and are trying to find their way back to themselves.
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Death of parent
kellyroberson's review
4.0
Solid. Choppy start but then I got into it. He’s gotten to be a better writer - Brat is excellent but this is quite good.