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A review by joerichards90
Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road by Neil Peart
3.0
A deeply personal insight into one man's experience of coping with tragedy.
If you're reading this then you more than likely know that Neil Peart is the drummer and lyricist of Rush, an avid reader and established author. His writing style is that of exquisite detail; he is highly observant and appreciative of his environment, both externally and internally, and as such this detailed account of his 55,000 mile journey across Canada, North America and Mexico, along what he calls 'The Healing Road', leaves little to the imagination.
Unfortunately this is where the book falls down slightly. Overly detailed updates of what Peart has eaten for dinner that night, the mechanical intricacies of his motorcycle, some fairly harsh and occasionally arrogant critiques of people he observes on his travels, and a vast amount of letters written to his friends - often describing such observations for a second time - lead me to the conclusion that the book really could have done with a harsher editor.
There is also often a tangible sense of detachment from the lives of others, particularly the audience of the book. Although, of course, originally written as a personal journal, there is little post-production awareness added to ackowledge the position of privilege: where your average reader might have to grieve whilst maintaining work and social norms, Peart is able to put his life on hold for fourteen months, and it's a little harder to empathise with his experience of riding between nightly luxury hotels, fine dining and 18-year old scotch whiskeys than it perhaps should be.
This is not to undermine the emotional or physical strain of the journey itself, and whilst stylistically there is an occasional lack of pathos, it becomes all the more amicable, approachable, sympathetic and emotionally potent a read when Peart focuses in on his feelings, when he quotes from his favourite authors, reflects on happier familial memories or regails the reader with a series of interesting historical or geographical facts he has learned on that particular day.
Rush fans simply looking for an insight into his musical career would do well to look elsewhere. However, fans of Neil Peart who bear an awareness of his hyper-intellectual (and arguably socially skewed) personality, or simply anyone with a passing interest in coping mechanisms for grief, would certainly find a considerable wealth of material here.
If you're reading this then you more than likely know that Neil Peart is the drummer and lyricist of Rush, an avid reader and established author. His writing style is that of exquisite detail; he is highly observant and appreciative of his environment, both externally and internally, and as such this detailed account of his 55,000 mile journey across Canada, North America and Mexico, along what he calls 'The Healing Road', leaves little to the imagination.
Unfortunately this is where the book falls down slightly. Overly detailed updates of what Peart has eaten for dinner that night, the mechanical intricacies of his motorcycle, some fairly harsh and occasionally arrogant critiques of people he observes on his travels, and a vast amount of letters written to his friends - often describing such observations for a second time - lead me to the conclusion that the book really could have done with a harsher editor.
There is also often a tangible sense of detachment from the lives of others, particularly the audience of the book. Although, of course, originally written as a personal journal, there is little post-production awareness added to ackowledge the position of privilege: where your average reader might have to grieve whilst maintaining work and social norms, Peart is able to put his life on hold for fourteen months, and it's a little harder to empathise with his experience of riding between nightly luxury hotels, fine dining and 18-year old scotch whiskeys than it perhaps should be.
This is not to undermine the emotional or physical strain of the journey itself, and whilst stylistically there is an occasional lack of pathos, it becomes all the more amicable, approachable, sympathetic and emotionally potent a read when Peart focuses in on his feelings, when he quotes from his favourite authors, reflects on happier familial memories or regails the reader with a series of interesting historical or geographical facts he has learned on that particular day.
Rush fans simply looking for an insight into his musical career would do well to look elsewhere. However, fans of Neil Peart who bear an awareness of his hyper-intellectual (and arguably socially skewed) personality, or simply anyone with a passing interest in coping mechanisms for grief, would certainly find a considerable wealth of material here.