What do you think?
Rate this book
Heart's longing: Newfoundland, New York and the distance home
Book by O'Toole, Lawrence
200 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
4 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 26, 2019
Heart’s Longing is a memoir written in the early 1990s. It is unlike other memoirs I’ve read in a major way: O’Toole jumps back and forth between the past and present, between Newfoundland and New York, and also between fiction and non-fiction. In addition to reflections and anecdotes about his lived experiences, he writes about Heart’s Longing, a fictional town in Newfoundland that is similar to his hometown of Renews.
The book focuses on a few major topics: O’Toole’s childhood in Newfoundland, what it’s like to have come from a small town, what home means and what it means to leave it, and his life as a gay man in New York. At 200 pages, Heart’s Longing felt too short when I came to the end of it. Even so, there’s a fantastic amount of life packed into it. O’Toole has a talent for anecdotes and telling small stories about the things that everyday people go through. He writes with a lot of honesty and doesn’t gloss over the less beautiful parts of life at all. Together, all these things make this book both enjoyable and emotionally satisfying to read.
Unfortunately, I did not find the end of the book to be particularly effective. Instead of Newfoundland or New York, O’Toole writes of being on vacation on a European island. While there is symbolism in this (of other islands having a similar feel to his other homes, to continuing to live life, etc), it did not wrap up the book in a way I found particularly satisfying. Then again, that could have been O’Toole’s intention. He was in no way near the end of his life when finishing the book.
I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about any of the topics it covers, or in memoirs generally.
The book focuses on a few major topics: O’Toole’s childhood in Newfoundland, what it’s like to have come from a small town, what home means and what it means to leave it, and his life as a gay man in New York. At 200 pages, Heart’s Longing felt too short when I came to the end of it. Even so, there’s a fantastic amount of life packed into it. O’Toole has a talent for anecdotes and telling small stories about the things that everyday people go through. He writes with a lot of honesty and doesn’t gloss over the less beautiful parts of life at all. Together, all these things make this book both enjoyable and emotionally satisfying to read.
Unfortunately, I did not find the end of the book to be particularly effective. Instead of Newfoundland or New York, O’Toole writes of being on vacation on a European island. While there is symbolism in this (of other islands having a similar feel to his other homes, to continuing to live life, etc), it did not wrap up the book in a way I found particularly satisfying. Then again, that could have been O’Toole’s intention. He was in no way near the end of his life when finishing the book.
I recommend this book to anyone who is curious about any of the topics it covers, or in memoirs generally.
July 3, 2013
This is an unusual memoir which is not only autobiographical but also includes elements of fiction (well identified), history and travel.
The author is a well- known writer who grew up in a small fishing village in Newfoundland but as a young man was desperate to leave the island and see the world. He did that, heading first to Toronto and later to New York.
At one point in his life he experiences an intense longing to go back to his birth place, to go back home. He reminisces about his childhood, his family and friends and the experience of growing up in an isolated, barren and cold environment where people relied on what little the land could give them to eke out a living. He is thoughtful and appreciative in describing the things that large rocky island gave him, the things he still loves and cherishes. Despite his success in his adopted homes far away from Newfoundland, with no need to worry about his next meal or the ability to survive the next winter, he still wants to go back and find what he calls his “true home”.
In carrying out this physical search he comes to some kind of closure, and finds out something about home that he did not realize.
A lovely book.
The author is a well- known writer who grew up in a small fishing village in Newfoundland but as a young man was desperate to leave the island and see the world. He did that, heading first to Toronto and later to New York.
At one point in his life he experiences an intense longing to go back to his birth place, to go back home. He reminisces about his childhood, his family and friends and the experience of growing up in an isolated, barren and cold environment where people relied on what little the land could give them to eke out a living. He is thoughtful and appreciative in describing the things that large rocky island gave him, the things he still loves and cherishes. Despite his success in his adopted homes far away from Newfoundland, with no need to worry about his next meal or the ability to survive the next winter, he still wants to go back and find what he calls his “true home”.
In carrying out this physical search he comes to some kind of closure, and finds out something about home that he did not realize.
A lovely book.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews