Karen J. (rhyta) reviewed on 1/12/2014 + 10 more book reviews

I am a big fan of Rush, the Canadian rock group and this is the 3rd book by Neil Peart I have read. It details Peart's tragic loss of his daughter and wife in less than a year. Feeling lost like a ghost, he embarks upon a motorcycle trip to find himself over a span of 55,000 miles in over a year.

Peart's writing style is very engaging yet quite verbose. He tends to duplicate his story through travel observations, journal entries and in his letters to Brutus (his motorcycle buddy who was incarcerated during Peart's grieving time). I would set it aside for a few weeks when it became too wordy. Like Peart's journey, reading the story required an investment of time and I would have missed so many good parts if I had not finished it. Peart is a man bereft of meaning in his life and who mourns that loss in his own style. Not an easy read but well worth it for the thought provoking aspects he raises in addition to purging his demons and soothing his "little baby soul." The travelogue portions were detailed and fascinating, I wish a map was included in the back of the book to see the physical reality of where he went on those 55,000 miles.

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