The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan

By Erin Collazo Miller, About.com

John Grogan connected with millions of people with his bestselling debut, Marley and Me. Like Marley & Me, The Longest Trip Home is a memoir, this time mining material from Grogan's childhood. In The Longest Trip Home, the connecting thread is Catholicism rather than a lovable Labrador. Unfortunately, Grogan's struggle with his parents' faith is not as affective at holding his anecdotes together as the dog was in his first book. Although some of the stories in The Longest Trip Home are funny, poignant or entertaining, overall the book feels disjointed. Grogan had trouble keeping my attention this time around.

Pros

• Grogan is good at writing anecdotes.
• Grogan captures an American childhood to which many will relate.
• There are poignant moments that are told well.

Cons

• The narrative felt disjointed without a "Marley" to hold it together.
• There wasn't anything that made me want to keep reading.
• 'The Longest Trip Home' was forgettable.

Description

• 'The Longest Trip Home' was released in October 2008.
• Publisher: William Morrow
• 352 Pages

Guide Review - 'The Longest Trip Home' by John Grogan - Book Review

Before writing Marley & Me, John Grogan was a newspaper columnist. That background is evident in his writing -- he excels at telling narrative nonfiction anecdotes that are a few hundred to a few thousand words long. There were chapters within The Longest Trip Home that connected to me and made me want to laugh or cry.

Why, then, wouldn't I recommend The Longest Trip Home more strongly? It was lacking in overall structure. There wasn't anything that made me want to read on to the next fun anecdote. In fact, the connecting pages lost my attention and felt forced. Even the overarching theme about turning from his family's religion felt unnatural and incomplete.

At several points when reading, I thought, "I wish Grogan had made this book a series of essays." If each chapter were its own unit, he could have kept the best material and dropped the awkward transitions. He may have been able to make his point about religion more strongly by having a series of stories around one theme rather than telling a linear narrative.

Unfortunately, Grogan attempted to write Marley & Me without the dog, and it turns out the dog was what made the first book so compelling.

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