Title: The Longest Way Home
Author: Andrew McCarthy
Number of pages: 288
Started: 20 February 2013
Finished: 1 March 2013
Opening words:
“Are you awake?” Something in the tone of the
voice cut through to my sleeping brain.
“Coming,” I called back.
“What time is it? D murmured.
“Four fifteen.
We’re late.” The night was still
black. The canvas flapped in a dry
breeze. I grabbed our bags, pulled at
the zipper, and we were out. We slashed
along a path through the dry bush lit by a waning moon, loaded into the jeep,
and were gone in minutes. Occasionally
at the edges of the beam of light cast by the single working headlamp, a pair
of shining red eyes was briefly lit in the darkness. We bounced on over the dirt track and after
half an hour we came to a locked gate.
From somewhere in the night a man appeared and opened it, and we drove
into the Chitengo compound. A few limp
fluorescent lights lit the area. A small
young man grabbed our bags and threw them into the back of a decrepit minivan –
the kind that are the lifeblood of Africa.
He jumped behind the wheel; we climbed into the backseat.
Plot summary:
Andrew McCarthy explores the tumultuous, complicated, and
circuitous route he's travelled to finally settle down with one woman, whom he
married last August. Telling this story through the lens of a series of seven
exotic trips he's recently taken all over the world (Patagonia, the Amazon,
Costa Rica, Baltimore, Vienna, Kilimanjaro, Galway), he'll write about his
wanderlust-and other lusts-and connect his obsession with travel with his
phobia of commitment. The story will culminate with one of the most
momentous-and terrifying-days of his life: his wedding day. A thoughtfully observant
writer, McCarthy touches on his personal life, his acting career, and his
fascination with travel in a truly captivating manner. Genuine and spirited,
The Longest Way Home is the fascinating story of how one man's insight into his
relationships with both the people closest to him and the places very new to
him allowed him to fully commit to another person.
What I thought:
In my youth, I was a big fan of Andrew McCarthy. I was therefore really pleased to see that he
had written a book. It sort of falls
into the biography genre, but is not a retelling of his Brat Pack days or
stardom. Instead, it primarily focusses
around his world travels and his relationship with his partner – where these
two things came together and where they diverged.
I found the book very readable and I liked his reflections on
the past and the present. In many ways,
it was quite a gentle book, but it was also quite insightful.
This is not a book about glitz and glamour, but is instead
about facing our demons and finding our place in the world. A good book.
