Long Way Back
A Novel
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
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.
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)
