Long Way Back

by Brendan Halpin

From Brendan Halpin, author of the hilarious novel Donorboy and the intimate memoirs It Takes a Worried Man and Losing My Faculties, comes Long Way Back, a bighearted, thought-provoking story of faith, love, and punk rock.
Growing up with hippie activist parents, Clare and Francis Kelly share a strong bond. It’s firmly rooted in familial embarrassment (the Kellys’ house is “decorated like the inside of somebody’s hut in Guatemala”), reinforced by an abiding love of Dee Dee Ramone and other (lesser) gods of the rock pantheon, and cemented by the secret of a remarkable religious epiphany Francis experiences at the age of twelve.
Clare and Francis become happy adults with rewarding careers and loving spouses. But when tragedy strikes, Francis finds his faith shattered and his life horribly transformed, and Clare doesn’t know how to help the brother she loves but has never fully understood.
Nearly flattened by sadness, Francis turns to the angry, propulsive music that sustained him through adolescence and finds that you’re never too old to be punk rock. With the help of a bass guitar and the support of Clare and some unlikely new friends, Francis gradually finds his way back from the depths of despair to a life that feels worth living.
Told in Clare’s wry, compassionate voice, Long Way Back is an original, moving novel about grief, guitars, and grace. It shows that the Velvet Underground didn’t Your life really can be saved by rock and roll.

Genres: Fiction, Music, Young Adult, Novels

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

I grew up in Cincinnati, went to college in Philadelphia, and also lived in Taipei and Edinburgh along the way. I've lived in Boston since 1991.

I became a professional writer in 2000, writing about my late wife Kirsten's breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Kirsten died in 2003, leaving me and our daughter Rowen. I married Suzanne in 2005 and got her kids Casey and Kylie in the deal too. Bargain! Suzanne and I live with our three kids and dog in the shadow of Franklin Park in Jamaica Plain, best neighborhood on earth.

Reviews

[Agathafrye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Punk rock, Catholicism, death, and redemption- an unlikely combo, but Mr. Halpin seems to have made it work in this coming-of-age-again book. Told from the perspective of sister Clare, the books begins when God moves through baby brother Francis in church while Clare observes. This epiphany remains Clare and Francis's secret and serves as a major plot element through the book. The book moves quickly through Clare and Francis's intimate youthful experiences with punk rock (their rebellion is slightly spoiled by their dad, who starts listening to their music and becomes a huge fan of Minor Threat), including their first Ramones concert, then fast forwards to Clare and Francis in adulthood. Clare works as a hospice nurse and is married with a second child on the way, Francis is meandering through his twenties working as an exterminator and living in a nasty bachelor pad with a bunch of dudes until Clare convinces him to start helping with a youth group at church, which proves to be a match made in heaven (pardon the pun). Fast forward again, Francis meets his perfect partner Lourdes, they get married, there is total happiness until Lourdes dies freakishly of a brain aneurysm and Francis loses his mind with grief. The real story comes into play here as Francis struggles through his grief with Clare's help and slowly rejoins the world by teaching himself bass guitar, joining a gay punk rock band named "Happy Jack," and ultimately finding his true purpose in life. Although there was a lot of religion in this book which usually turns me off, Halpin manages to temper it with lovable, realistic characters and hilarious dialog (and the music references help too). I would have given this book five stars if it weren't for some abrupt plot transitions in time that left me somewhat confused at moments. Halpin's characters and writing style remind me a little of Nick Hornby. I'll be reading more of Halpin's books soon.

[Jules Vilmur · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'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.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clare Kelly is the narrator of this novel about family, faith, and what it means to lose someone you love. Clare and her brother Francis are children of hippie activists; Clare reacts by attempting to become a punk rock rebel, but goes on to become a nurse, while Francis latches onto the Catholic faith, eventually going on to work with youth — and he does it well. The narrative begins in their childhood, and jumps and skips around until Clare is married with children, and Francis meets and marries a doctor named Lourdes (the summary is intentionally vague because of spoilers).

The characters in this novel wrestle with the idea of faith in the face of tragedy and heartbreak, and are sometimes brutally honest about their idea of God. To one character, music becomes a way to counter and come to grips with grief, and the hole that is left in a life when a beloved one dies.

There are several plot twists in this novel, which make it difficult to write about without spoiling any of them. It is an engaging and fast-paced read which explores ideas of faith and the power of music.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Long Way Back is an honest tale of great joy, sorrow, and a loss of faith. All of the characters are extremely giving; in fact, both main characters are named after Saints, and in their own ways, nearly live up to expectation. Even when God seems to have turned the other way, the characters never stop caring about each other and those around them. The book seems to carry the message that no matter where we are in life, we can always lend a hand to others in time of grief and suffering. Just playing a song or being there with comforting words can make our existence a little more meaningful. This world is cruel; our lives are totally unpredictable. Yet, we can find solace through one another. Once again, Halpin gives us a killer soundtrack to accompany an intensely emotional journey. It is a book that produces tears at times and laughter at others. It is a book that will have us reflecting on our own lives and religious beliefs. Could we be as strong as Clare, or as giving as Francis? One can only hope.

[Jenessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, this one started out pretty slow and I was starting to feel pretty annoyed with the narrator, who seemed like a shallow and poorly written woman. I complained to my husband that she seemed so simple and void and far too focused on the size of her butt, like a frustratingly stereotypical woman-written-by-a-man character. But I'm a dedicated reader, so I resolved to finish the book anyway, and I'm glad I did.

The story is a little clunky, but that makes it feel more true to reality. It feels more like the true events of a struggling set of siblings because the dialogue includes a number of "um"s and "uh"s. Unfortunately, it did also feel like parts were dragging on unnecessarily and like there were some loose ends I would have liked to have seen resolved.

Overall, it isn't an amazing and profound book, but I did enjoy it.

[Jenn Estepp · Rating 4 out of 5]

a quickly absorbing story of love, faith, grief, music, family, meaning, punk rock and the ramones. far better than any sort of quick annotation would lead you to believe. i had some minor quibbles and i have a major issue with the cover of the edition i read, but those are insignificant compared to my overall experience with the book, which i totally stayed up too late to finish and haven't entirely stopped thinking about all day. and even if i had been feeling totally cynical and hatey about the book, i would have to give it lots of props for the tom raper r.v. shout-out.

[Audrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one just really hit me right in the gut. Maybe it's because my dad and I had such a great relationship through music and the 8-year anniversary of his death is coming up in a month...but I was sobbing at the end like nobody's business. I'm getting ready to go find out more about the author and his other books, because the central events to this novel have too much rawness to them not to have happened to the author himself.

[Rosa Dixon]

A Long Way Back to me was different then I thought.When I read the summary in the back of the book. I thought it was going to be about kids growing up with hippie parents. It's actually about a guy name Franis and his sister is the one telling his story in the book. How her brother losses his wife and his catholic faith and eventually turns into this punk rock fan at an older age and sister feels that he's acting immature. I love the book I feel thta it' funny, sad but interesting.

[Reena · Rating 4 out of 5]

You find it in the strangest places.

Last line from Long Way Back. Glad the Ramones made me select this book, as it’s full of musical references to rock awesomeness like: Motörhead, The Who and The Kinks. Reminded me a little of Salinger’s Franny and Zooey, unsure why, since the only obvious parallel is that there’s a brother and sister in it, here called Francis and Clare. Anyway, I enjoyed reading it from all the Happy Jack emotions the characters experienced, to the Sad Alice.

[Christopher Giroir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was actually worried that this was a christian propaganda book at first (Akin to Left Behind or other shit like that). I went online to make sure it wasn't, finished it and loved it. Great book about dealing with loss.

[Mikel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic book about how we can find our way back to faith in unexpected ways. A great summer read and certainly one I look forward to readig again over the years!

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great suggestion from Ruth. I loved it!

[Safron Mitchelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about a sad subject, the death of family members, and how the loved ones cope, but told with much humour, and plenty of music references to keep me happy!