Who knew that McCarthy, a familiar face on the big screen (St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink) and the small (Law & Order, Monk), is also a noted travel writer! An editor at large for National Geographic Traveler and winner of several awards (including Travel Journalist of the Year), he contributes travel articles to numerous publications, and his work has appeared in the anthology The Best American Travel Writing. This is not some memoir written by an actor who fancies himself a world traveler. McCarthy really is a world traveler—and a damned fine writer, too. The book features eight destinations—New York, Patagonia, the Amazon, the Osa, Vienna, Baltimore, Kilimanjaro, and Dublin—and, along the way, McCarthy explores himself, too, introducing us to a man whose love for life is matched only by his love for the woman he would eventually marry (and whose growing importance to McCarthy is a thread that runs throughout the book). To readers who think, “Andrew McCarthy? Really?” the answer is a resounding and emphatic yes. Really. --David Pitt
Review
“Soulful and searching . . . McCarthy’s prose shines with intelligence and intimacy . . . A long, strange trip on the direction of full-throttle love.” (Cheryl Strayed
New York Times Book Review)
“A candid, touching, and often humorous new memoir.” (
The San Francisco Chronicle)
"Combining the best aspects of Paul Theroux’s misanthropy in books like
Old Patagonian Express and Elizabeth Gilbert’s emotions in
Eat, Pray, Love, this book is hard to put down. Bound to be popular, this compelling and honest chronicle will not disappoint readers." (
Library Journal)
“Andrew McCarthy treks from Baltimore to the Amazon, exploring his commitment issues as fearlessly as he scales Mount Kilimanjaro." (
Elle )
"Brave and moving...McCarthy’s keen sense of scene and storytelling ignites his accounts...[t]hreaded with an exemplary vulnerability and propelled by a candid exploration of his own life’s frailties." (
National Geographic)
"McCarthy ponders some of the biggest and most frightening questions surrounding intimacy: How does a loner connect? How does a traveler settle down? How do we merge into families without losing ourselves? The answer seems to be that all these things are impossible...and yet somehow we do it anyway. There is much to be learned, and much to be admired, in this elegant, thoughtful story."—Elizabeth Gilbert, bestselling author of
Eat, Pray, Love
"This is not some memoir written by an actor who fancies himself a world traveler. McCarthy really is a world traveler – and a damned fine writer, too…To readers who think, “Andrew McCarthy? Really?” the answer is a resounding and emphatic yes. Really." (Booklist)
"Rarely have I seen the male psyche explored with such honesty and vulnerability. This is the story of a son, a father, a brother, a husband, a man who finds the courage not only to face himself, but to reveal himself, and, in so doing, illuminates something about what it is to be human, fully alive, and awake.” --Dani Shapiro, Author of Devotion
"It's hard to write books that are both adventurous and touching, but Andrew McCarthy manages to pull it off and more! A smart, valuable book." --Gary Shteyngart, bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story and Absurdistan
"Where lesser writers might reach for hyperbole and Roget to describe such exotic lands as Patagonia, Kilimanjaro and Baltimore, in The Longest Way Home, McCarthy leans on subtlety, a straightforward style and hard-won insights to allow his larger stories to unfold. It’s not hard to imagine him as the solitary figure in the café, scribbling in a notebook by candlelight, making the lonely, tedious work of travel writing look romantic and easy."--Chuck Thompson, author of Better Off Without 'Em and Smile When You're Lying
