Look for Me There
Grieving My Father, Finding Myself
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4.3 • 101 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
Updated with new afterword from the author.
In Look for Me There, Luke Russert traverses terrain both physical and deeply personal. On his journey to some of the world’s most stunning destinations, he visits the internal places of grief, family, faith, ambition, and purpose—with intense self-reflection, honesty, and courage."—Savannah Guthrie, coanchor of Today
“Look for me there,” news legend Tim Russert would tell his son, Luke, when confirming a pickup spot at an airport, sporting event, or rock concert. After Tim died unexpectedly, Luke kept looking for his father, following in Tim’s footsteps and carving out a highly successful career at NBC News. After eight years covering politics on television, Luke realized he had no good answer as to why he was chasing his father’s legacy. As the son of two accomplished parents—his mother is journalist Maureen Orth of Vanity Fair—Luke felt the pressure of high expectations but suddenly decided to leave the familiar path behind.
Instead, Luke set out on his own to find answers. What began as several open-ended months of travel to decompress and reassess morphed into a three-plus-year odyssey across six continents to discover the world and, ultimately, to find himself.
Chronicling the important lessons and historical understandings Luke discovered from his travels, Look for Me There is both the vivid narrative of that journey and the emotional story of a young man taking charge of his life, reexamining his relationship with his parents, and finally grieving his larger-than-life father, who died too young.
For anyone uncertain about the direction of their life or unsure of how to move forward after a loss, Look for Me There is a poignant reflection that offers encouragement to examine our choices, take risks, and discover our truest selves.
Customer Reviews
GENERATIONAL SELF-INDULGENCE
I was interested in reading this book to accompany Luke on his adventures, travel with him to places I have and haven’t been, and see what exposure to the real world delivered after his father passed away. Turning up on MSNBC and NBC right after his father died smacked of unvarnished nepotism. A king size helping of unearned opportunity. Electing to leave it all behind and embark on this ‘soul’ journey held all kinds of promise. Too bad it didn’t deliver. The media doors that opened for Luke, without the slightest nudge, weren’t his fault. The path was paved and smoothed for him by a famous and beloved father. The fact that he barely (if at all) acknowledges this fact makes his indulgent self-examination throughout the book barely tolerable. I didn’t see any particularly profound conclusions or insights to ‘help other people’ as was his proclaimed intention in the Afterward. I’m a world traveler myself, old enough to be his mother and then some, and found his checklist and incessant focus on social media photo ops, another exercise in self-aggrandizement. (Look at me! Roughing it on safari with mom, who, by the way, is footing the bill.) No wonder his friends back home lost interest. Not exactly hardship travel, as he would have you believe…tales of drivers, guides, five star hotels (with the odd hostel-stay here and there) and those reliable Ubers, got old. Maybe it’s a generational thing, but the desire to be seen, perpetually, and validated via thumbs up, perpetually, as if the number of likes means anything consequential, made this book sadly shallow. And now, because of his name and connections, Luke is getting all kinds of exposure on home base NBC, and other media platforms, to promote this rather mediocre, only adequately written book. A lot of people loved and admired his father - with good reason - and are extending Luke the kind of unearned leg up that people without connections, but more talent, will never enjoy. He’ll no doubt sell a lot of books this way and get the validation he appears to crave, but I hope he finds a morsel of humility - and gratitude, please - for the extraordinary blessings he continues to receive thanks to his parents. It’s not clear that he fully grasps that after three years of travel. My advice? Skip this one and crack open Travels With Charlie instead. Humor and insights abound. Timeless with GREAT writing!