Reading My Life

Let's Take the Long Way Home: A Memoir of Friendship by Gail Caldwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is about loss.

Of friendship because of cancer.  Of a dog due to age.  Of alcohol because of need.

It is the story of Caroline Knapp, who wrote Drinking: A Love Story and Gail Caldwell, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.  This was expectations of something well written and personal.  I just didn't expect it to be so personal to me.

The first line:

'It's an old, old story:  I had a friend and we shared everything, and then she died and so we shared that, too.'

Oh, so true.  And it ripped me open to read that line, so I knew this would be a poignant read which it was all the way through.


'We  found out that day, fairly quickly, how great and complex our fondness was for each other; I also had my first sense of something central about Caroline that would become a pillar of our friendship.  When she was confronted with any emotional difficulty. however slight or major, her response was to approach rather than to flee.  There she would stay until the matter was resolved, and the emotional aftermath was free of any hangover or recrimination.'

That was my friend, too, who died of breast cancer 19 years ago. This line defined how our friendship evolved from 12 to 40.  Only once have I had that and I miss it.�

A beautiful read, as long as you like a lump in your throat.