Long Way Gone
by Charles Martin
My Rating: 4 Stars
Goodreads Synopsis: 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 to his remote home in the Colorado Mountains, searching for answers about this 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.
A radical retelling of the story of the prodigal son, 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: This was my first Charles Martin book, but I've been interested in reading his books for a while. It didn't take long to realize that he is the Christian version on Nicholas Sparks, which I'm okay with, as I really enjoy Nicholas Sparks' books. Martin's story was less predictable and had faith elements weaved throughout the story, which I really enjoyed. This book was broken up into three sections, two were present day, and the middle section was the past, which provided the backstory and was the meat of this book. One thing that I learned from reading this book is that Charles Martin has a way with words - his writing is profound and much of what was said were things that I pulled out to chew over. I highlighted quotes in this book, which I normally don't do in fiction stories. While it is said to be a retelling of the prodigal son story, I felt that element could have been a little bit stronger throughout the story, however, I did get a sense of the story in this book. I loved how music played a big role in this story - even so much as to be considered a main "character" in this book. After reading this book, one definitely sees that we can never stray too far from our Father for Him to lose His love of us. The ending of this book had me in tears reading about the love of a father and the lengths he'll go for his son. One of my favorite parts of this book was the gospel message in the letter from the author at the end of the book.
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