Ebook253 pages4 hours
Long Way Back: A Novel
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
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About this ebook
Francis has two childhood encounters that shape his life: one with God, and the other with Dee Dee Ramone. When his life falls apart in adulthood, Francis, feeling betrayed by God, turns to his other spiritual mentor, emerging as that rarest of beings, a middle-aged punk rocker. A love letter to punk rock and the spiritual power of music, Long Way Back rocks through grief and tragedy toward a new beginning for Francis and an ending sure to make even the hardest of hardcore punks cry.
Author
Brendan Halpin
Brendan Halpin was a high school English teacher for ten years before penning his first novel. He is the author of How Ya Like Me Now and Forever Changes, as well as several novels for adults. He lives in Massachusetts. www.brendanhalpin.com
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Reviews for Long Way Back
Rating: 4.34999993 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
10 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I've been reading a lot of memoir recently. No big surprise, I suspect, but I figure that if I'm going to try and write it, I would do well to study it. But this last week, I took a break from memoir and decided to re-read Brendan Halpin's novel “Long Way Back”. I remembered it as a book with a great balance of humor and grief, something I continue to struggle with in my own work.
What I was struck by this time through however, was the spirituality of these characters. I'm funny about religion in books. The first sign of “churchy talk” or platitudes and I'm outa there. (A result of my fundamentalist upbringing, I suppose.) But the faith of Halpin's characters feels organic. It is an intrinsic piece of the story, but the plot does not resolve with grand Hallelujahs. More than once, he manages to be both spiritual and sacrilegious in the same breath.
As I remembered, it is a powerfully engaging read, equal parts laugh-out-loud funny and tearfully sad. An unpretentious and unexpectedly hopeful novel which should be added to your To-Read List posthaste.
Book preview
Long Way Back - Brendan Halpin
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