Review: Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell

Let's Take the Long Way Home by Gail Caldwell

Publisher: Random House 

Pages: 190

Format: ebook 

Buy the Book: Amazon  

Goodreads:  They met over their dogs. Both writers, Gail Caldwell and Caroline Knapp, author of Drinking: A Love Story, became best friends, talking about everything from their shared history of a struggle with alcohol, to their relationships with men and colleagues, to their love of books. They walked the woods of New England and rowed on the Charles River, and the miles they logged on land and water became a measure of the interior ground they covered. From disparate backgrounds but with striking emotional similarities, these two private, fiercely self-reliant women created an attachment more profound than either of them could ever have foreseen. 

The friendship helped them define the ordinary moments of life as the ones worth cherishing. Then, several years into this remarkable connection, Knapp was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer.

Kritters Thoughts:  An honest look at friendships between women - a relationship that should hold just as much value as the one between spouses.  My mom always told me that your significant other can not be your only relationship, they can't be everything for you.  This book drove that lesson home page after page.   

Yes, the vital role of friendships between women is the platform for this book, but I took home something a little more close to my soul.  The relationship between dog and human.  As you may all know if you follow along for awhile, I have a pup (Charlotte) who is my child, companion and best gal.  (Especially when the boy is on duty in the late evening hours)  So as it stands right now Charlotte is also my child and I treat as such, I am maternal and the disciplinarian.  This Christmas will be 3 years of Charlotte in our household and I still can't imagine our lives without the little 16 pound bundle.  Both of the women in this book found their dogs to be a vital part of their lives, yes relationships with humans matter, but a relationship with a dog is a whole different thing.

Although, I am not the target age audience for this book, I would still urge a younger group to read this book to remind ourselves that relationships beyond the romantic ones we have with our spouses need to be nurtured and help shape who we are.

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2012 Challenge: 60 out of 25