Missy's Reviews > Long Way Gone

This is a solid 4.5 stars. I will just put this out there, this was my lunch read and I sometimes added extra salt to my food because of this book. My grandpa and his brothers were big singers, they sang at church in the choir, at church dinners for entertainment while you waited, and always at funerals. They sang what I call the great church hymns, the old hymns, the ones you don’t always hear anymore. One of my favorites they sang was “How Great Thou Art”. They sounded great all their bass and baritone voices together. To this day, I have a hard time hearing that song, I always cry and try to hide it during church, because in the back of my mind I can still hear them singing at the front of the church or in the choir loft.

This is a story of Cooper O’Conner, the son of a tent preacher, who loved to sing the great songs, including “How Great Thou Art” (so you can imagine when they start talking about singing and in come those verses, my food got a little saltier). The story of a single father raising his son, who was extremely musically talented. Who raised him to let it out, to let the people hear his talent and stand in awe. But as with all teens, Cooper became rebellious. He went to Nashville, a place he knew he could use his musical talents; however, not as easily as he thought. He had many times where things did not go his way, he lost his money, his truck, and his beloved guitar “Jimmy”, but he found opportunities that eventually did get him to that place he wanted to be. Then he met Daley Cross, a singer who was meant just for the songs he wrote. After great success, and with a manager he didn’t necessarily trust, Cooper went to a party and found “Jimmy”. Getting Jimmy back did not go as planned, a mysterious rescuer, and many years of pain and finding himself finally led Cooper back home, but only to find out it was too late to apologize to the one person he needed to most.

This was a great book of parent/child relationships. How sometimes you just need to let them go and find themselves, and when they need that pick me up, you are there no questions asked. I would highly recommend this book, I enjoyed it immensely.