The Next Better Place: A Father and Son on the Road [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Michael C. Keith Ph.D. (Author), Oliver Wyman (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 13, 2003

At the age of eleven, Michael Keith left a stable life with his mother and sisters and set off to cross the country with his irresponsible hobo of a father--a real bum. The memoir, narrated without sentimentality by this funny, world-wise little boy, describes their life on the road--the characters they meet hitching rides, their adventures with bed bugs in Salvation Army bunks, the joys of finally encountering a decent meal, and the periods when Michael's father works odd jobs to make enough money for them to move on. Despite their sad, dysfunctional life, real love exists between them. The Next Better Place explores the thin line between wanderlust and compulsion, between running away and arriving, and leaves us with the understanding that the journey is often more powerful than the destination.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former radio broadcaster Keith, a Boston College communications lecturer, tours his childhood in this charming, often poetic memoir, a hitchhiker travelogue that reads like Little League Kerouac. The journey begins in Albany, N.Y., in 1959, two years after Keith's parents divorced. Together, 11-year-old Mikey and his alcoholic father, Curt, plan their trip to California: "The West beckons, and I am dizzy with anticipation." The duo travels by Greyhound, stopping in New York City, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, St. Louis and Denver along the way. They seek shelter in missions, motels and back-street rooming houses, finally arriving at the Encino Paradise Motel: "I think I'm happier than I have been in my whole life," Keith writes. They survive on stolen sardines and graham crackers between the odd jobs that Curt occasionally lands and encounter plenty of quirky characters, including a paranoid embalmer's assistant who has his umbrella filed into a weapon. From Los Angeles, they proceed to Las Vegas, Fort Worth and finally back to Albany. Keith brings to life these long-ago people and places. He doesn't shy away from his father's "bout with the bottle," but the boozy past is bathed in a wistful, rosy hue: "Sitting in a moving Greyhound is the closest I come to experiencing the bliss of home. If I could, I would live on one forever."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Although this autobiographical narrative is hardly an American version of Angela's Ashes, there are several parallels. The book recounts Keith's 11th year, in 1959, when his mother allowed him to live with his father because she could not care for her son and his two younger sisters. In the dubious charge of this man-a feckless alcoholic and drifter, dependent on the charity of others and the Catholic Church-Keith was always filthy, often hungry, and seldom in school. The quest for a better life in California took the hapless pair from Albany, NY, to Los Angeles and back again, with stops in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Denver, Las Vegas, and Fort Worth. It was a life-changing odyssey for both, managed via Greyhound and hitchhiking, peppered with unusual characters (including bums and bedbugs), and brightened by the kindness of strangers-all in search of "the next better place." Keith, now a broadcast media expert and the author of numerous books, skillfully and humorously re-creates his experience and his vision of a world that is rarely threatening and always full of promise and adventure. Recommended for all public libraries.
Janet Ross, formerly with Sparks Branch Lib., NV
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: HighBridge Company; Unabridged edition (January 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565117441
• ISBN-13: 978-1565117440
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,924,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael C. Keith was born in Albany, New York. After serving in the Army, he spent a decade as a broadcaster and then became a college professor and eminent radio studies scholar. He has authored dozens of books, articles, and short stories. Among the former are a critically praised memoir (The Next Better Place), the most widely used text on radio (The Radio Station), a young adult novel (Life Is Falling Sideways), and two collections of stories (And Through the Trembling Air and Hoag's Object). His short stories have appeared in countless webzines and printed anthologies and have been nominated for the Pushcart Award and PEN/O.Henry Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic review of a traveling boyhood, October 12, 2002

By 

Chris Sterling "Castle maven" (Annandale, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Next Better Place: A Father and Son on the Road (Hardcover)

This delightfully written novelized memoir will hold your interest throughout. Now a professor of electronic media at Boston College, Keith takes us back to his boyhood and the always-on-the-road travels he shared with his well-meaning but ill-fated father who was always in quest of "the next better place" to find acceptance if not a viable livelihood.

Along the way we meet a perfectly amazing cornucopia of characters and places and situations all of which were more typical of a 1950's America before Interstate highways made everything the same. Keith's descriptions and characterizations are both visual and compelling showing that, though he was only briefly in formal schools, he surely learned a lot about life with this seemingly aimless bus and hitchhiker mode of travel.

Keith's tale combines a sometimes wistful tone with the insight that comes early when you are forced on your own resources for lack of much parental guidance. He has done well in recreating his thoughts and ideas in the context of a twelve-year-old amidst an adult world into which he is thrust all too quickly. The writing is compelling---you want to know what place is coming next, and what people he (and we) will meet along the way.

Recommended!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what a life . . . and then some!, October 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Next Better Place: A Father and Son on the Road (Hardcover)

I had a chance to see a preview copy of this wonderful book. Never read anything quite like it. The author writes with a unique poetic flare about his childhood, which at once is bend over funny and lump on the throat sad. In both cases it is a marvelous read. He strikes the perfect note in the portrayal of his rogue dad. What an outrageous character! This is a story that really sticks with you. I think it will achieve the stature of classic in the memoir category. Hope the author is writing a sequel. I'll be the first one in line to buy it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Book, February 3, 2008

By 

Robert Braithwaite - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Next Better Place: A Father and Son on the Road (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book. "A road trip with an alcoholic father and a child? Must be a downer," you'd think. Not so. Never sliding into self-pity, the author just lays out a personal cross-country saga in mesmerizing detail. At times heartbreaking, this book is ultimately an inspirational story of survival by a child who deserved better. I've read a lot of travel narratives, and this is as good as they come.