A friend recommended this book to me when I was using bookstore gift cards, so I purchased it, thinking I wouldn't be out anything if I didn't like it, and it seemed to get good reviews. Then it sat on my shelf for a few months until a vacation on a beach with a plane ride: perfect time to read all the unread books on my shelves. I picked this one up first on the plane, but when I read the book, I stopped. "A radical retelling of the prodigal son story..." No thank you. I'll save it for last. Then when I ran out of books, I had no choice but to return to Long Way Gone. And boy, am I glad I did.
My hesitation was that so many people take Scripture and try to "modernize" it to make it more applicable or entertaining, and in doing so, completely miss the purpose of Scripture. I tend to stay away from any thing that claims to retell a story from the Bible. When I finally did read Long Way Gone, I didn't focus on the prodigal son story. There are some obvious connections, but I was able to just ignore those, look at the story as a story of fiction, and then, when I finished, I was able to look back and appreciate the less obvious connections and hints at the parable Jesus told.
What a journey. It was such a difficult path that Cooper traveled, and my heart bled for him so many times. I felt his pain and several times I found myself wiping away tears. Several times I tried to yell at Cooper and tell him what to do, tell him to go home, but I couldn't. He took the path he needed to travel, and when he did finally find his way home, it was the perfect timing. His journey was exactly what he needed, and he came back stronger for it.
I'm somewhat of a musician, and I loved the music of this book. Martin weaves music in so well and it's very beautiful. The songs he chose are great ties to the story, and I'm longing to hear Daley and Cooper perform, especially Long Way Gone; I'm sure that would be an incredible piece.
I loved the connection with Blondie. I thought that was a fun thing to add, especially the scene where his face changes to show how he had been with Cooper the whole time.
One of the praises for this book really struck me as a theme for this novel: "Cooper and Daley's story will make you believe that even broken instruments have songs to offer when they're in the right hands" (Lisa Wingate, National Bestselling Author of The Story Keeper and The Sea Keeper's Daughter on Long Way Gone). This is what Cooper needed to discover. This is what his father tried to show him. This is what Daley learned. And this is what Cooper continued to teach. And it's true for us today. We are all broken instruments, sinful and unclean, and we can do nothing. We can do nothing apart from God. He's those "right hands" that we need in order to sing our songs, our songs which are not our own at all, but His.
Really beautiful work.
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