Long Way Back: A Novel (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: white stripes, Happy Jack, Father Tim, Dee Dee (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Halpin (Donorboy) puts sensitive, studious Francis Kelly in the loving if slightly snarky hands of his older sister, Clare, who tells Francis's story with tenderness, admiration and affection, along with an occasional barb. Fran, a Catholic youth-group leader, is 35; his wife, Lourdes, has recently died of cancer, before they could start a family. Clare, taking care of Fran as he tries to climb out of depression, describes their youth near Cincinnati (both now live in the Boston suburbs), including two hippie parents and a shared passion for punk and related forms of rock. As Fran comes back to himself by connecting with a local rock chick 12 years younger (and whom he used to mentor), Clare has her own vicissitudes, dealing with marriage and children while working as an ER nurse, lamenting her lost youth and acting as the family liaison. Clare rolls her eyes as Fran takes up the bass and gets a tattoo, but is mostly nice to him. Halpin matches his prose to Clare's ordinariness and makes the progress of Fran's band less of interest in and of itself than as a regressive coping mechanism that works. Clare herself is not quite compelling, but her care for Fran carries the book. (On sale Jan. 3)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Unexpected death and the grieving process have long been preoccupations of author Halpin, who lost his wife to breast cancer. In his new novel (following Donorboy, 2004), devout Catholic and hard-core Ramones fan Francis suffers the ultimate loss when his loving, supersmart wife is felled by a brain aneurysm. The story of his healing, which takes many surprising turns, is told in the funny, sympathetic voice of his sister, Clare. For a devastated Francis, onetime church youth-group leader, the road to recovery starts with a bass guitar and eventually includes a tattoo and membership in a gay punk band whose most popular song is dedicated to describing the allure of Astroglide lubricant. It's a testament to Halpin's skill for mixing the sacred with the profane that such scenes are often juxtaposed with others featuring Clare's whispered prayers and refreshingly unabashed declarations of faith. Similarly, Clare's irreverent sense of humor acts as a check on the bathos forever threatening to swamp the narrative; nevertheless, some readers will be completely undone by this tender novel's final passages. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Villard (January 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400062780
• ISBN-13: 978-1400062782
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,719,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fictional reality=perfection, March 16, 2006

By	Rose Ann Nelson "krazylady" (Hazleton, PA USA) - See all my reviews

I have read most of Mr Halpin's books and find they all have that same haunting realism that you know is not fiction. This is an author who writes from the heart not only his own but through experiences that have touched all of us in our own lives one way or another. This is a book you want to put down while reading to savor it but you can't put down because you need to be "in" it to the end. So, give yourself some me time,a nice warm beverage and just enjoy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You gotta get this book!, January 3, 2006

By	Trixie Belle "Music-loving reader" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

I absolutely loved Long Way Back. Written in a totally original voice, this story of love, loss and ultimately, redemption, is tender and poignant and thoroughly enjoyable. I could completely relate to the characters. I mean, who hasn't questioned their faith after bad things have happened, or wanted to totally reinvent themselves when the old version just didn't seem to be working out anymore? Bottom line: You gotta get this book. Also, a warning--read the last chapters somewhere private...I was in a public place and everyone wondered why I was crying.

5.0 out of 5 stars fantastic book, May 27, 2008

By	Mark Oestreicher (El Cajon, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Long Way Back: A Novel (Paperback)

i bought this book a year or more ago based on a recommendation in a review (in some magazine). of all the fiction i've read in the past month or so, this was BY FAR my favorite.

the book is narrated by the sister of an adult male (i'm always impressed when a male author can write convincingly from a female narrator's perspective) who meets, marries, then loses an amazing wife to cancer. really the book is about his "long way back" to life, through and semi-out of a deep and massive grieving process.

as an added bonus, the brother is a catholic youth worker who mostly loses his faith through this process. but the narrating sister keeps her faith (so it's not a slam on religion or faith). there's a good splash of punk rock and band stuff thrown in the mix, which added fun. lots of great reflections on dying and death (the sister is also a hospice nurse), grief, families, faith, healing, and how events can completely redirect our lives.

i highly recommend this great book!