Long Way Gone by Charles Martin
Book Description 
“No matter where you go, no matter whether you succeed or fail, stand or fall, no gone is too far gone. You can always come home.”
At the age of eighteen, musician and songwriter Cooper O’Connor took everything his father held dear and drove 1,200 miles from home to Nashville, his life riding on a six-string guitar and the bold wager that he had talent. But his wager soon proved foolish.
Five years after losing everything, he falls in love with Daley Cross, an angelic voice in need of a song. But just as he realizes his love for Daley, Cooper faces a tragedy that threatens his life as well as his career. With nowhere else to go, he returns home to the remote Colorado mountains, searching for answers about his father and his faith.
When Daley shows up on his street corner twenty years later, he wonders if it’s too late to tell her the truth about his past—and if he is ready to face it himself.
A radical retelling of the prodigal son story, Long Way Gone takes us from tent revivals to the Ryman Auditorium to the tender relationship between a broken man and the father who never stopped calling him home.
My Review
– 5 Smiles!
I first heard of Long Way Gone while attending the Christy Awards ceremony in 2017 where this title won the ECPA’s Novel of the Year. When I realized it was the modernized story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-24), I was intrigued enough to grab a copy on Audible.
I read (listened to) the first few chapters and was mildly intrigued with the mysterious past of the scratchy-throated main character and the down-on-her-luck woman he happens to see again after twenty years. When the extended flashback chapters began, I felt they moved a little slow. A couple of times I nearly set the book aside. I’m not a big contemporary fan and not a musician, but I was interested at the depth of research—or perhaps the author himself is an accomplished musician—that granted such a vivid behind-the-scenes glimpse into Nashville’s music world.
The first scene that absolutely left me gasping was when a storm hits the tent revival. Lightning strikes the tent, and through flames Coop’s dad hauls him from where he’s hiding beneath the piano bench and shouts at him, “Let it out!” the terrified boy begins to play and sing. I won’t say anymore because to do so would completely ruin the perfect prose Charles Martin crafted for that scene. It’s what anchors the entire book and what captured my heart and soul.
This is the first book I’ve read by Charles Martin, and though I don’t often read contemporary fiction, the tie to a biblical parable grabbed my heart and squeezed it in a way even most biblical fiction doesn’t. It is an absolute masterpiece. I can’t recommend it highly enough. I’ll likely listen to it again because I want to absorb more of the rich meaning I’m sure I missed the first time through. Fantastic read!
