John Grogan (blog)
Harper (2009), Paperback (ISBN 0061713309 / 9780061713309)
Nonfiction/memoir, 352 pages
Opening Lines: “The call came on a school night in the autumn of 2002. Jenny was out, and I was fixing dinner for our three children, who were already at the table. I grabbed the phone on the third ring.”
The memoir is divided into three sections. “Growing Up” covers Grogan’s childhood and high-school years. The youngest of four children, his family lived in a lakeside suburb near Pontiac, Michigan, in a house that his very devout Irish-Catholic parents chose for its proximity to the church. John and his siblings all attended the parish school, he and his brothers served as altar boys, and he even had an after-school job in the office of the church rectory. His parents were active in parish life, and the priests were frequent mealtime guests at the Grogan table. Aside from the church involvement, though, John’s childhood stories will probably ring bells with anyone who grew up in the suburbs during the 1960’s and ’70’s. The tone Grogan takes in sharing stories of boyhood adventures and stunts reminded me a bit of Jean Shepherd’s in the tales that became A Christmas Story, and that’s not a bad thing at all.
John succeeded in convincing his parents to let him transfer to public school in the tenth grade. High school was where the seeds of his eventual career in journalism were planted, but it was also the time when he found himself beginning to shift away from his parents’ church. As he moves into young adulthood in the second section of the book, “Breaking Away,” he grows more comfortable with being less Catholic, except where his parents are concerned; he’s unable to be honest with them about his doubts, even as they become even more fiercely Catholic with age. The strain becomes impossible to ignore once John and his future (non-Catholic) wife, Jenny, move in together before they’re even engaged, and he can’t keep that fact from his father and mother. As John and Jenny eventually marry and start a family of their own, he and his parents start realizing that their relationship is defined by certain “safe” topics and others that they have an unspoken agreement to avoid. The last portion of the book, “Coming Home,” finds some of those walls breaking down again as the senior Grogans become incapacitated with age, and there are things that have to be talked about before time runs out – and those things include faith and prayer.
John Grogan is a born storyteller with a conversational writing style, and I found myself laughing out loud in numerous places while reading The Longest Trip Home, particularly during the first two sections. The last section of the book is more reflective and emotional, and readers with aging parents may feel it keenly.
Grogan’s issues with the Catholic Church particularly resonated with me, because I have similar ones of my own. He seems to have made some peace with being a “nonpracticing Catholic,” one who doesn’t participate at all because there are aspects of the faith that he can’t believe in, and yet continuing to identify himself as “Catholic” because of his upbringing. (I definitely relate to that – the stuff sticks.) He and his wife believe they can raise ethical, moral children outside of a religious framework, and are making their best effort to do so; I agree that it’s possible. He comes to respect what his parents’ faith, and their practice of it, means to them, even if he can’t embrace it the way they do. I think anyone who questions the religion they grew up with can relate to this – Catholics in particular, but the generalities may strike a chord for those of other faiths as well. Grogan doesn’t take on big philosophical questions here; he’s strictly recounting his personal experiences, but sometimes that can be equally thought-provoking.
I plan to share The Longest Trip Home with my sister and my husband – both raised Catholic, one still practicing, one not – and I’ll be interested in their impressions. I also think it will keep them reading, and make them laugh.
I love a good memoir, so I'll put this on my list. I'm glad this one has humor and a conversational style, and the subject matter sounds interesting to me 🙂
Tracy (Gentle Reader) – I enjoyed this one. I hope you do too…eventually :-).
Great review. I have not grown up in a practicing family, so I know exactly what you mean. All my family (both close and periphery) are non-practicing protestants, and that goes at least 3 or 4 generations back – but almost all children are babtized, many are married in the church etc so we are not exactly godless, but we never practiced and we seldom go to chuch, unless we are forced (babtism, wedding, funeral). That might come off as hypocritical, and in a way, I guess it actually is.
I loved this book and literally sobbed at the end of it. I just brought so many emotions to the surface for me since my parents are elderly. Great review.
I'll be interested to see where Grogan's writing takes him, since he's obviously talented.
I'm so glad you liked the book! It certainly sounds like most people could relate to *something* in the book. In my opinion, that, in itself, is a gift!
Thanks for being on this tour, Florinda!
Louise – Neither of my marriages has been in church, but my second was officiated by a non-denominational minister.
I know a lot of people who go to church semi-regularly and pick and choose what teachings to follow – and I've done the same myself – so I kind of admire Grogan's non-"cafeteria" stance.
Kathy (Bermudaonion) – I remember how much you liked it, and that was one of the reasons I've wanted to read it!
Trish – He was a pretty successful journalist since well before he started writing books, so I think he's doing OK :-).
Thanks for the chance to be on the tour! I seem to get more than I expect out of John Grogan's books, and I really like that.