We interrupt living room reveal week with a book review: Let's Take The Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell. This was a book that ended up on Amazon's Best Books of 2010 list, and as luck would have it, I found it at the library a few weeks ago.
One of the reasons I wanted to read it was because the premise reminded me of one of my favorite books, Truth and Beauty. Both books tell stories of a friendship between two writers who are kindred spirits, to borrow a word from Anne Shirley, or soulmates, to borrow a word from a reviewer. Both books also explore some more serious topics; in Let's Take The Long Way Home, it's alcoholism. And both books also explore what happens when one person is left behind.
The story of friendship in Let's Take The Long Way Home is moving, but what I liked most about this particular book that's different than Truth and Beauty is that the friendship also extends to dogs. Both women were writers, but more than that, both women were dog lovers. And this takes the friendship aspect present in both books to a whole new level, in that this kind of friendship, the soulmate friendship, can also apply to relationships with animals. The book does a really nice job of looking at how animals can become family members, best friends, and dear companions. And pets, too, can be left behind when lives end.
I think the best part of the book is the end, because you think you know what happens, where the story is going, and you do. But the story isn't over, the friendship isn't over, and this turns out to be the most tearjerking part of the book. We also see how to move on from tragedy and live a life that those who have left us would want us to.
One of the reasons I wanted to read it was because the premise reminded me of one of my favorite books, Truth and Beauty. Both books tell stories of a friendship between two writers who are kindred spirits, to borrow a word from Anne Shirley, or soulmates, to borrow a word from a reviewer. Both books also explore some more serious topics; in Let's Take The Long Way Home, it's alcoholism. And both books also explore what happens when one person is left behind.
The story of friendship in Let's Take The Long Way Home is moving, but what I liked most about this particular book that's different than Truth and Beauty is that the friendship also extends to dogs. Both women were writers, but more than that, both women were dog lovers. And this takes the friendship aspect present in both books to a whole new level, in that this kind of friendship, the soulmate friendship, can also apply to relationships with animals. The book does a really nice job of looking at how animals can become family members, best friends, and dear companions. And pets, too, can be left behind when lives end.
I think the best part of the book is the end, because you think you know what happens, where the story is going, and you do. But the story isn't over, the friendship isn't over, and this turns out to be the most tearjerking part of the book. We also see how to move on from tragedy and live a life that those who have left us would want us to.
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