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In her younger years, Caldwell defined herself by rebellion and independence, a passion for books, and an aversion to intimacy and a distrust of others. Then, while living in Cambridge in her early forties, Caldwell adopted a rambunctious puppy named Clementine. On one of their bucolic walks, she met Caroline and her dog, Lucille, and both women's lives changed forever.
Though they are more different than alike, these two fiercely private, independent women quickly relax into a friendship more profound than either of them expected, a friendship that will thrive on their shared secrets, including parallel struggles with alcoholism and loneliness. They grow increasingly inseparable until, in 2003, Caroline is diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer.
In her signature exquisite prose, Caldwell mines the deepest levels of devotion and grief in this wise and affecting account about losing her best friend. Let's Take the Long Way Home is also a celebration of life and all the little moments worth cherishing—and affirms why Gail Caldwell is rightly praised as one of our bravest and most honest literary voices.
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 10, 2010 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9781400195602
- File size: 133834 KB
- Duration: 04:38:49
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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Gail Caldwell had a best friend named Caroline Knapp, who died from lung cancer at the age of 42. Caldwell and Knapp shared a love of dogs, writing, rowing, and swimming; fierce independence; and an alcoholic past. LET'S TAKE THE LONG WAY HOME is an exceptional testament to their inseparable friendship. It's also a perfect combination of beautiful writing and an outstanding narration. Joyce Bean's pitch and accent reflect Caldwell's early move from Texas to New England. Bean's matter-of-fact tone is faithful to Caldwell's unflinching and deliberately unsentimental writing style. The naked emotional impact of Caroline's death, and the later death of her beloved Samoyed, Clementine, will have the listener in tears without a hint of manipulation by the author or narrator. A.B. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine -
Starred review from May 24, 2010
Caldwell (A Strong West Wind) has managed to do the inexpressible in this quiet, fierce work: create a memorable offering of love to her best friend, Caroline Knapp, the writer (Drinking: A Love Story) who died of lung cancer at age 42 in 2002. The two met in the mid-1990s: "Finding Caroline was like placing a personal ad for an imaginary friend, then having her show up at your door funnier and better than you had conceived." Both single, writers (Caldwell was then book critic for the Boston Globe), and living alone in the Cambridge area, the two women bonded over their dog runs in Fresh Pond Reservoir, traded lessons in rowing (Knapp's sport) and swimming (Caldwell's), and shared stories, clothes, and general life support as best friends. Moreover, both had stopped drinking at age 33 (Caldwell was eight years older than her friend); both had survived early traumas (Caldwell had had polio as a child; Knapp had suffered anorexia). Their attachment to each other was deeply, mutually satisfying, as Caldwell describes: "Caroline and I coaxed each other into the light." Yet Knapp's health began to falter in March 2002, with stagefour lung cancer diagnosed; by June she had died. Caldwell is unflinching in depicting her friend's last days, although her own grief nearly undid her; she writes of this desolating time with tremendously moving grace.
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